FILIPINO TANDEM TALES IN A.C.T.’S ‘MONSTRESS’

FILIPINO TANDEM TALES IN A.C.T.’S ‘MONSTRESS’

Everything is new about “Monstress”, the production of the American Conservatory Theater. The venue is the new Strand Theatre, the script comes from two short stories adapted for the stage and the subject is Filipino-American life both in San Francisco and in Manila. “Monstress” comes from two short stories by Lysley Tenorio. They have been adapted by Philip Kan Gotanda and Sean San José for the stage. Its music is sung beautifully by Melody Butiu and dancing also accompanies the…

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BIGGER-THAN-LIFE ORATORIO, ABOUT ALL HUMANITY

BIGGER-THAN-LIFE ORATORIO, ABOUT ALL HUMANITY

Garrop’s Eloquent World Premiere Given by Local Chorus The choral-orchestral “Terra Nostra” given its world premiere here Nov. 14 is a colossal effort, the largest-scale oratorio introduced in these parts in decades. The eloquent work running some 80 minutes is a secular one in three parts, from the world’s early beginnings and the dawn of humanity. Had composer Stacy Garrop been content with the first two parts and stopped, I might have been jumping off bridges, given the ending lament…

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IN OAKLAND, THE DEAD COME BACK TO LIFE

IN OAKLAND, THE DEAD COME BACK TO LIFE

Via Asian Operas New and Old OAKLAND—Festival Opera pulled off a double surprise, venturing to Oakland with a pair of unfamiliar Asian-themed one-act operas. The precarious east-west blending of the music came off better than expected, the western tuning pairing up with traditional Indian sitar and its myriad microtones. The execution of the works on stage however left a lot to be desired when heard Nov. 14, apart from the foundation-shaking bass of the veteran Philip Skinner playing Death. That…

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NEW TWISTS IN BOY-GIRL MUSICAL

NEW TWISTS IN BOY-GIRL MUSICAL

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“Dogfight” at the SFPlayhouse is a “Musical Love Story,” the old-fashioned kind of American musical where boy meets girl, there is a crisis and then they re-meet and everything is perfect. But this has a twist and even though it is placed during the Vietnam wartime in 1963 it feels very modern. The music is modern as well. The music and lyrics of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul come from the school of Steven Sondheim or even Leonard Bernstein with…

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CONTEMPORARY GALLIC-BERKELEY LINKAGE

CONTEMPORARY GALLIC-BERKELEY LINKAGE

Parisian Ensemble Visits the West Coast BERKELEY—An earth-shaking, all-contemporary, all-imported concert was saved with two ensemble pieces offering real music, not just sonic experiments. For the first time since its founding in 1976, Pierre Boulez’s renowned Ensemble Intercontemporain came to Cal from Paris, borrowing a good many percussion instruments from the university for the occasion. For Cal Performances, the booking marks a milestone. Musicians from Paris, yes, but only one of the four composers, Franck Bedrossian, was French. Ascribe it…

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DAZZLING RHYTHMIC INTRICACIES

DAZZLING RHYTHMIC INTRICACIES

Cheng-Ades’ Two-Piano Tour de Force One of the masters of modern rhythmic complexity, Thomas Adès, paired up with Gloria Cheng for a 20th-century two-piano recital that still has my ears ringing. Their percussive repertory, delivered with muscular dispatch, offered more than 100,000 notes that may still be resonating through the facility, leading me to marvel at the dynamic pair’s sheer immunity to fatigue. None of their music is easy to play, or even to listen to. But the tour de…

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THAT FORMIDABLE MOZART CLARINET QUINTET

THAT FORMIDABLE MOZART CLARINET QUINTET

Dali Quartet Linked with Virtuoso Ricardo Morales SAN JOSE—Most orchestras have a No. Two conductor/consultant. Chamber groups have no such luck. The orchestra can send the #2 around during rehearsals, hear from the audience side, and judge whether all the balances between sections are good. The Dalí String Quartet from Philadelphia could use a similar sonic consultant to get optimum outcomes. They played a novel program here Oct. 25, pairing up with a stellar clarinetist, Ricardo Morales, principal in the…

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THE MAESTRA’S A NATURAL FOR SIBELIUS

THE MAESTRA’S A NATURAL FOR SIBELIUS

I was about to write off the S.F. Symphony concerts this week until the guest maestra led a gorgeous and profound Sibelius Symphony No. 5 for a finale. The Fifth is a majestic century-old masterwork, full of the Finnish neoromantic’s distinctive Nordic coloration, achieved with instruments playing with enigmatic emotion in their lower register, festooned with somber French horns and soft timpani rolls. The podium guest was the glamorous young Susanna Mälkki (pronounced MELL-key), sending the music soaring heavenward with…

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MY LAI WAR DISASTER DRAMATIZED

MY LAI WAR DISASTER DRAMATIZED

Berger Monodrama Tears at Complacency STANFORD—Jonathan Berger’s new operatic monodrama “My Lai Lullaby” is a searing cry in the wilderness over one of the darkest incidents of the lamentable Vietnam War. I wish it could have been unveiled 40 years ago, when the war, its unprecedented protests, and the bringing down of Richard Nixon were still a deeply divisive force punching in America’s face and boring holes in our skulls. Berger’s ingenious creation calls on the blending of string quartet…

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POPULIST FOCUS AT S.F. SYMPHONY

POPULIST FOCUS AT S.F. SYMPHONY

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Dispelling the Starch With the fluff and frills of the Gala opener out of the way, the San Francisco Symphony got down to business this week with a new work, and an East Coast conductor assisting the recuperating Michael Tilson Thomas on the podium. Clearly, both the SFS and the SFOpera had made an unaccustomed push toward new audiences via some Broadway programming—the opera actually opening the season in unprecedented fashion with the show “Sweeney Todd” instead of an opera….

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