Arts & Events

It’s been more than thirty years since I last heard Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette (in San Francisco Opera’s 1987-88 production starring Ruth Ann Swenson). So this year’s new production, which opened the season on September 6, was eagerly awaited by me, especially given that soprano Nadine Sierra was scheduled to sing the role of Juliette (or, as Shakespeare spelled it, Juliet). Then, however, only a few days prior to opening night, tenor Bryan Hymel, who was scheduled to sing Romeo, withdrew suddenly for unspecified “personal reasons.” Into Hymel’s place stepped Pene Pati, who is familiar to local audiences from his years with the Merola Program and the Adler Fellowship Program. In this context my initial decision to skip opening night and attend a later performance seemed all the wiser, since Pene Pati had very little time to prepare himself for opening night, even if he was scheduled to sing the last performance of Roméo et Juliette on October 1with his wife, Amina Edris, as Juliet. -more-

In reviewing Daniil Trifonov’s exciting performance last spring of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, I wrote that Trifonov played like a man with his hair on fire. Now, playing Rachmaninoff’s much less frequently heard Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Daniil Trifonov offered a performance full of his usual intensity yet one that brought out in exquisite detail Rachmaninoff’s late style. This concerto’s middle movement, a Largo, was a lyrical masterpiece in Trifonov’s hands. His piano opens this movement with an exquisite phrase, which is immediately picked up by the strings. Then Trifonov plays Rachmaninoff’s simple embellishment of this theme, followed again by the strings, and so on. The theme itself is forever changing registers and colours, offering ever new harmonizations. Some find this Largo’s main theme brooding, but I find it hauntingly beautiful. -more-

I’ve seen quite a few productions of Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd in the past, including the first two — in 1978-9 and 1985-6 —of three prior productions at San Francisco Opera. I’ve enjoyed and learned something from each of these productions, as well as from those I’ve seen elsewhere. However, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a production until this one that effectively highlighted the intensity of the morality play inherent in Herman Melville’s unfinished novel of Billy Budd, and did so in Benjamin Britten’s strikingly idiosyncratic musical terms. In short, for me, this San Francisco opera production of Billy Budd, which opened on September 7, and which I attended on Sunday, September 15, is a Billy Budd for the ages. -more-

Erik Jekobson's 17-piece jazz ensemble of fine local players, featuring guest vocalist Kalil Wilson--one of our swingingest young singers--will play this Sunday at 5:30 in Rendon Hall of the California Jazz Conservatory, 2040 Addison (just off Shattuck), where they've been in residence with the Conservatory. Wilson appeared with Jeckobson's other, smaller jazz ensemble, String-tet, featuring some of the same players, at the Hillside Club recently, a fine show. The CJC Student Band will precede the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra Sunday at 4. $10-15. Info & tickets: https://cjc.edu/concerts -more-

Worth Noting and Showing Up:

Tuesday – City Council

Wednesday – The Disaster and Fire Safety Commission agenda includes parking and fire truck access in the hills. The Joint Subcommittee for the Implementation of State Housing Laws agenda includes objective standards for density.

Saturday – Berkeley has designated Opportunity Zones – the Opportunity Zone Forum explores how a Trump administration created mechanism for reducing capital gains taxes through real estate development affects / may affect Berkeley residents



Sunday, September 22, 2019

District 5 Residents, Town Hall with Councilmember Sophie Hahn and Mayor Jesse Arreguin, 10:30 am at Beth El Synagogue & “BYO” Picnic for noon to 2 pm, at Live Oak Park in front of the Berkeley Art Center -more-