SAN FRANCISCO OPERA’s CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Sensational, nostalgic, and powerful

BY OLIVIA HSU DECKER PHOTOGRAPHY DREW ALTIZER

THE SAN FRANCISCO OPERA’S 100TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT TOOK place at War Memorial Opera House on June 16, 2023. The musical program spanned their first century, featuring the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conductor Eun Sun Kim, formal music director Sir Donald Runnicles, and former principal guest conductor Patrick Summers, along with a host of star soloists in selections inspired by SFO’s history. The one-night-only concert spectacular was augmented by a special dinner with the artists fundraiser.

Founded in 1923 and only the third American opera company to reach the centennial milestone, the San Francisco Opera united Bay Area audiences and the global music community in this celebration. The evening’s specially curated program traversed the company’s musical styles, artistic traditions, and thrilling moments. Pairing many of SFO’s beloved artists with unforgettable music and archival imagery spanning their first 100 years, this celebratory retrospective was sensational and powerful. I was overwhelmed with emotion and pride.

Befitting SFO’s early emphasis on Italian repertoire under founder Gaetano Merola and reemphasized throughout the past century, the centennial program represented the Italian opera canon with selections from the works of Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Umberto Giordano, Gioachino Rossini, and Arrigo Boito. Riveting choral scenes from Puccini’s Tosca and Boito’s Mefistofele, prepared by San Francisco Opera Chorus Director John Keene, closed the program’s two halves.

The evening featured selections from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Tannhäuser, three works that marked a dramatic acceleration for SFO on the way to opening the 1935 season with its first-ever Ring cycle. European masterpieces of the 20th century were signified with selections from the works of Benjamin Britten and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Excerpts from Piotr Ilyich

Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades) and Leoš Janáček’s Její pastorkyňa represent the proud Slavic traditions first explored by the company in the 1930s and later presented with unforgettable performances and premieres that reintroduced many powerful masterworks into the repertory of American opera.

San Francisco Opera’s status as a pioneer in staging long-overlooked baroque (and earlier) operas was highlighted with selections from Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, which entered their repertoire in 1975, an aria from Handel’s Xerxes, and the rarely heard mezzo-soprano aria “Amour viens rendre à mon âme” from Hector’s Berlioz’s 1859 French version of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. The operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which entered SFO repertory comparatively late, and the French repertoire, a staple since the first season, were denoted with music from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.

The evening’s program blended contemporary song into the program via John Adams’ “Batter My Heart” from Doctor Atomic, one of three operas by the Bay Area composer to have its world premiere on the War Memorial Opera House stage. A highlight from Stephen Sondheim’s Follies was presented as a tribute to SFO’s presentations of American musical theater.

The evening’s program performed by artists who have performed in San Francisco for many decades: sopranos Karita Mattila, Ailyn Pérez, Patricia Racette, Nina Stemme, Heidi Stober, Adela Zaharia; mezzo-sopranos Susan Graham, Daniela Mack; tenors Lawrence Brownlee, Michael Fabiano, Brandon Jovanovich, Russell Thomas; baritones Lucas Meachem, Brian Mulligan; and bassbaritone Christian Van Horn.

My top four favorite performances were: my friend, tenor Michael Fabiano, founder of ArtSmart mentorship programs for talented students in underserved area which I have been supporting, performed “Vicino a te” from Andrea Chenier. This most powerful and romantic voice of the evening was not a surprise, as Michael starred the leading role of poet Andrea Chenier in the San Francesco Opera’s 2016 season. This beautiful aria spoke of Chenier falling in love with the young aristocrat Magdalena during French Revolution while in prison awaiting the guillotine.

Soprano Patricia Racette, who completed the Merola Opera Program in 1988 and Adler Fellowship in 1989 and performed in three productions I sponsored at Marin Opera in 1992: La Boheme, Carmen, and The Merry Widow. She has blossomed into an operatic superstar. At the centennial concert, she performed Stephen Sondheim’s “Losing My Mind” from Follies.

Baritone Lucas Meachem performed Pierrot’s “Tanzlied” from Die Tote Stadt by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, which contains this nostalgic lyric: “My yearning, my obsession, they take me back in dreams.” This 1920 masterpiece had its San Francisco Opera premiere in 2008.

Bass-baritone Christian Van Horn performed Scarpia’s Act I in “Te Deum” from Tosca by Giacomo Puccini. In his role as the chief of police, Scarpia gloats at the thought of having Cavaradossi executed for hiding a prisoner, thereby facilitating his possession of Cavaradossi’s lover, Tosca. This popular opera was performed at the San Francisco Opera’s first season in 1923, at the inauguration of the War Memorial Opera House in 1932, and for SFO’s re-opening after the pandemic shutdown in 2021, when Michael Fabiano performed Cavaradossi.

The festive celebration had a special dinner with the artists. Very rarely do artists have dinner with audiences after performances. Those attending the dinner enjoyed this celebratory occasion amid décor inspired by the company’s past, present, and future. I was seated next to bass-baritone Christian Van Horn and enjoyed getting to know him: he is from Long Island, New York, not the Netherlands. The co-chairs for the dinner with the artists were San Francisco Opera Association board members Anna Fieler, Sue Marineau, and Jason Phillips. Proceeds benefit SFO’s commitment to artistic excellence and innovation for a second century.

One other special treat of the evening was an invitation for all concert attendees to a complimentary pre-show champagne toast in the lobby of the War Memorial Opera House from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

President Joe Biden sent the below congratulatory letter to San Francisco Opera on June 16. San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock read the letter as part of his speech on stage.

Lydia is a passionate advocate of healthy living. She has launched and positioned many health and wellness-related companies, products, technologies and organizations receiving more than 100 awards nationally and internationally. Her focus in the health sector is specifically on healthy living, aging and longevity. She is a partner and investor in several recognized national brands. She sits on the board of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging whose mission is to eliminate the threat of age-related disease for today’s and future generations. It is the only independent research organization globally dedicated to extending the healthy years of life. Like the scientists at the Buck, Graham envisions it will be possible for people to enjoy life at 95 as much as at 25. To support Buck’s mission, please visit www.buckinstitute.org.