La Traviata @ SF Opera 11/16/22

[Drunk Monk]

It’s late and I gotta get up in a few hours for work (sucks when the rest of my company is on the other side of the USA - or in one guy’s case - the other side of the Atlantic). I’ll fill out this post later.

Suffice to say for now, we all had a splendid time.

[Drunk Monk]

Any night spent at SF Opera is a good night. Stacy bought tix as a birthday present for Tara. It's the most played opera of them all. 

Being SF, the cast was diverse, which was cool. Eun Sun Kim conducting. Violetta was Pretty Yende from South Africa and she rose to the occasion. What a voice. I thought Alfredo (Jonathan Tetelman) was being too dramatic at first, too much bombast, but then I recognized that this was Italian opera so it worked. Alfredo's dad (Simone Piazzola) was my favorite. He could make his opera voice sound almost conversational which is amazing considering that opera is all about belting out the biggest notes to an auditorium full of people without any amplification. Opera stars are basically yelling singers, and to hit those sustained notes at that volume is just superhuman. 

There was a Fight Director, but there really isn't a fight. There's a gauntlet slap but the duel is offstage, in between acts. How much did that dude get paid? I want that job. 

If you don't know this opera, Act 1 is happy and peppy with the catchiest signature tune. Act 2 has 2 parts (a set change) and it's a downward spiral. Act 3 is one long death scene. 

We had a fine time. Tara requested her birthday dinner be at Jijime, a Korean place on Geary, and it was excellent. I had the seafood ramen, medium spicy, and it was delicious. Highly recommend this place. Not too expensive. Plus it's just a short walk from her apartment. 

I was really struck by the architecture of the War Memorial this time. We were seated in the grand tier (2nd balcony) at the rail against the wall on house right. It offered a spectacular view of the stage and the ceiling - the centerpiece chandelier (if that's what you'd call it) was blowing my mind with its design. 

A fine night in SF.

[Greg]

Excellent. I've seen two operas at SF Opera. La Boheme and La Traviata. Both when I went to Hoover elementary.

[Drunk Monk]

I've seen 2 operas at SF Opera this year: this and this http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=7077

The first concert ticket I ever bought for myself was opera. Die Walkure. That was in High School - a double date.

[Greg]

Well, you are the most cultured member of the Brotherhood, kind of like yoghurt in that regard.

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

THE DO LIST
A Tale of Two 'Traviatas'

Gabe Meline[/url]
Nov 23

Pretty Yende as Violetta in Verdi's 'La Traviata' at San Francisco Opera. (Cory Weaver)
I’m used to New York looking down on the Bay Area, but I never realized until recently that its condescension extended to, of all things, opera. 
Scene: I’m at Lincoln Center in New York a couple weeks ago to see Verdi’s La Traviata, and a man nearby strikes up a conversation. When he learns I’m from the Bay Area, he furrows his brow: “Oh, I have heard about San Francisco opera. Not so good.” 
Coupled with The New York Times [url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/arts/music/john-adams-antony-cleopatra-opera.html]weirdly slamming Berkeley-based composer John Adams’ San Francisco premiere of Antony and Cleopatra, an original and engrossing work, I had to wonder: what gives?
Seeing La Traviata as a first-time visitor to the Met in New York, I couldn’t help but be a little awed by its elegant red-and-white lobby, ascending chandeliers and famous facade. As for the top-notch performance of Nadine Sierra as Violetta? It brought me to tears. 
But if the package comes with haughtiness, like so many things in New York do (see: the Yankees’ fanbase, Notorious B.I.G. zealots, whatever this Grade-A horse manure is), then gimme San Francisco’s brand of opera any day.
Pretty Yende as Violetta among members of the ensemble in Verdi's 'La Traviata' at San Francisco Opera. (Cory Weaver)
I decided to see La Traviata again, at SF Opera, just a week after seeing it at the Met, to compare. The primary difference is that the casting is simply more interesting. At the Met, Sierra may have the more gossamer timbre. But in San Francisco, soprano Pretty Yende brings a wholly different dimension to the role, extracting more of the wonder and pathos of Violetta’s predicament. (Jonathan Tetelman as Alfredo and Simone Piazzola as Giorgio, both making their SF Opera debuts, deliver convincing performances as well.)
The set in New York? Virtually unchanging, save for some furniture swaps, as well as towers of wooden lattice to convey “the country.” In San Francisco, meanwhile, the audience audibly gasped when the curtain rose on the beautiful, decor-laden deep red set for Act II’s party scene. 
San Francisco’s Traviata is also directed by a woman, Shawna Lucey — which, considering its tensions over a woman’s place in society and the men who have the power to reduce it, should be the rule for every staging of La Traviata. 
In short, the Met is nice, but we’ve got something special here in the Bay Area. I can guarantee one other difference, too: unlike at the Met, a cup of coffee and a cookie at intermission won’t set you back $19.


‘La Traviata’ runs through Saturday, Dec. 3, at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco

I couldn’t agree more. Not that I’ve ever been in the Met but it’s a west coast thang…