L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 5 5 San Francisco Opera: new season, old romance The San Francisco Opera opens its 2014-2015 season, the company's 93 rd , on September 5 th , with a new production pre- miere of Bellini's masterwork Norma, starring Sandra Rodanovsky in the role made famous by Maria Callas, and conducted by SFO music direc- tor Nicola Luisotti. The season runs in two seg- ments, one from September through December 2014, the sec- ond from June to July 2015. The works selected for the coming year reflect a company drawing from its roots while also break- ing new ground. The list ranges from revivals of SFO classics including Puccini's La Boheme, Rossini's La Cenerentola, and Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, to new productions of older works in the company repertoire, such as Berlioz's Les Troyens and Bellini's Norma, company premieres (Floyd's Susannah and Handel's Partenope), and a world premiere of Marco Tutino and Fabio Ceresa's La Ciociara. Looking further ahead, the com- pany also announced a complete- ly new commission for a future world premiere set for Fall 2016, of Dream of the Red Chamber, by composer Bright Sheng and playwright/librettist David Henry Hwang. SFO delivers these masterworks with the high- est international quality of talent, placing it on a level with the world's greatest opera compa- nies. Sondra Rodanovsky in the title role of Norma is being hailed as a once in a generation voice. Set in ancient Roman Gaul, Norma is a tragic story of love and betrayal between a Druid high priestess and the Roman proconsul. The Roman setting of the opening evening's perfor- mance will extend across the street to San Francisco's magnif- icent city hall for the annual Opera Ball, a glamorous black tie fundraiser marking the begin- ning of the opera season as well as the social season for high society events overall. This year, following the theme Passione, guests will be escort- ed down the red carpet to a cock- tail reception by Roman Legionnaires, followed by a lav- ish banquet in Julius Ceasar's imperial palace. Consistent with today's asso- ciation of opera with highbrow culture and the nature of support for the classical performing arts in the United States, the Opera Ball's $1500 ticket price makes this event the preserve of the few. This belies the more egali- tarian origins of the San Francisco Opera as well as its historic appeal across the social spectrum. When Gaetano Merola established the San Francisco Opera Association in 1923, the financing plan that underwrote the venture was unique in not drawing from the generosity of a few wealthy indi- viduals, but instead on $50 dona- tions from 2,700 founding mem- bers. Before the city had its own elisabetH Vasile opera company, particularly in the early days, opera of one sort or another could be found in sev- eral theatres across the city. San Francisco was in love with opera from the first rough and tumble days of the Gold Rush, when shopkeepers, tycoons, miners, and dance hall girls alike flocked to hear the latest works, and sim- ple local fishermen and peddlers could be counted on to augment the chorus as needed. Italian operas enjoyed particular favor in those early years. The first opera ever staged in San Francisco was Bellini's La Sonnambula, produced by the visiting Pellegrini Opera Troupe in 1851. Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment topped the list as the most frequently performed work of this period. As one commentator put it, "no city in the New World was more eager to hear the latest importation from Italy than the turbulent new town by the Golden Gate". San Francisco's Opera house is similarly unique, in that the building belongs to the city, and was built with public funds. The first SFO performances in the city were staged in the Civic Auditorium, where major efforts to rework the space with inge- nious seating and staging were nevertheless not adequate to the standards of a world-class com- pany. With support from the American Legion and a bond measure passed by the voters, construction began in 1926 on the War Memorial Opera House. A tribute to the fallen soldiers of the World War I, it is widely regarded as one of the world's finest opera edifices, and is the first municipally owned opera house in the nation. The opening performance, in 1932, was Puccini's Tosca; NBC broadcast the first act all over the United States, and by transconti- nental radio hook up, also to Italy. Perhaps the single most pub- 650.400.4747 AdeleDS@aol.com www.AdeleDS.com BRE# 00911740 Certied Trust, Probate and Estate Specialist Expert in preparation, promotion, and negotiation! SELLING HOMES THROUGHOUT THE BAY AREA Adele Della Santina "e Right Realtor makes all the difference." lic opera moment in San Francisco history occurred on Christmas Eve, 1910, when Florentine soprano Luisa Tetrazzini, who made her operat- ic debut here in 1905 and went on to great success in New York and London, returned after a dis- pute with Roger Hammerstein, saying famously "When they told me I could not sing in America unless it was for Hammerstein, I said I would sing in the streets of San Francisco, for I knew the streets of San Francisco were free." On a spe- cially built platform at Lotte's Fountain on a still quake-rav- aged Market Street, she sang for 30 minutes, with no microphone, to a rapt crowd – of 250,000. Elizabeth Vasile is an urban geographer, independent schol- ar, and consulting public histori- an. She writes about the chang- ing cultural landscapes of cities and regions, and creates public history programs for communi- ties and institutions. The new season of the San Francisco Opera features two works, Norma and La Boheme, that were among the first operas performed in San Francisco, in the 1850s San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House is the nation's first municipally owned opera house. It was completed in 1932 with support from the American Legion and a city bond measure.

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