Lusty romances open SF Opera season
Popular one-acts ‘Cavalleria Rusticana,’ ‘Pagliacci’ return to company after long absence
Remember “Cav” and “Pag”? Opera’s best-known double bill — Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” — is returning to the San Francisco Opera as the first production of the company’s 96th season. The one-act operas have been absent from the company’s repertoire for nearly 15 years — San Francisco Opera last produced them in 2003 — and they open Friday evening at the War Memorial Opera House to launch a gala opening weekend that also includes Donizetti’s “Roberto Devereux” and the company’s annual free outdoor concert, Opera in the Park.
“Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci” have been perennial favorites since their first performances — “Cavalleria” in 1890 and “Pagliacci” in 1892. With their depictions of torrid love affairs among common folk — a radical departure from the gods and kings portrayed in previous eras — these one-act masterworks epitomize op- era’s slice-of-life verismo style. They remain among the opera world’s most frequently performed works.
“There’s something so powerful about these operas,” says Jose Maria Condemi, who is directing the double bill. “They just go straight to the heart.”
Both operas take place in small communities — “Pagliacci” in a traveling commedia dell’arte troupe, “Cavalleria” in a rustic Italian village — and this production, which was originally conceived, designed and directed by Argentine tenor José Cura, places them in the La Boca district of Buenos Aires. Now a tourist hot spot known for its colorful architecture and tango performances, it was once, says Condemi, who grew up in Buenos Aires, a close-knit community made up largely of Italian immigrants — rendering it an apt setting for “Cav” and “Pag.”
“The neighborhood of La Boca is very much a Little Italy — or at least it was at the beginning of the 20th century, when this opera is set,” the director said in a recent interview at the War Memorial Opera House. “With the massive immigration that took place then, many Italians landed there. It reminded them of Genoa, and they created something that still has that earthy,
authentic immigrant feel to it.”
According to Condemi, the production re-creates that feeling in loving detail. “When I first saw it,” he said, “it looked just like a postcard of that place.”
Cura, whose only singing appearance at S.F. Opera was in 1996, as Don José in “Carmen,” brought many authentic touches to his production, which premiered in Liege, Belgium, and was subsequently presented to great acclaim in Argentina. Condemi, who spent time with the tenor-director in Prague before restaging the operas in San
Francisco, says it links the two works in in- teresting ways, creating a single community present in both.
Condemi, who chairs the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s music-theater de- partment in addition to his work on the S.F. Opera staff, says he finds the verismo style endlessly fascinating. “There’s an equalizing quality to certain works of art — at some point, we can all relate,” he said. “The heated passions, the raw emotion — it’s all just beneath the surface. And the music is gorgeous.”
The “Cavalleria Rusticana” cast includes mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk as Santuzza and tenor Roberto Aronica as Turiddu; appearing in “Pagliacci” are tenor Marco Berti as Canio, soprano Lianna Haroutounian as Nedda and baritone David Pershall as Silvio. Baritone Dimitri Platanias sings the roles of Alfio in “Cav” and Tonio in “Pag.” Daniele Callegari conducts.
After opening night, the company moves on to “Roberto Devereux.” Donizetti’s opera, opening on Saturday, also promises a rare dramatic experience. The third of Donizetti’s “triple crown” trio of Tudor operas
(following “Anna Bolena” and “Maria Stuarda”), it centers on Queen Elizabeth I, or Elisabetta. The role was a career-making one for soprano Beverly Sills; today, Sondra Radvanovsky, one of the leading dramatic sopranos of our time, has made it her own. Joining Radvanovsky are mezzosoprano Jamie Barton as Sara; Andrew G. Manea, replacing the originally scheduled Artur Rucinski, makes his role debut as the Duke of Nottingham. The production is by British director Stephen Lawless; the conductor is Riccardo Frizza.
Then there’s Opera in the Park. Among the Bay Area’s many musical traditions, San Francisco Opera’s annual free concert is one of the best outdoor events of the year. If “Cav” and Pag” and “Roberto Devereux” haven’t left you completely spent, head to Robin Williams Meadow in Golden Gate Park Sunday afternoon. Artists from the 2018-19 season will sing arias, duets and ensembles from the company’s season; the music starts at 1:30 p.m.