San Francisco Opera
Saturdays starting at noon
October 3, 2009
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Stewart Wallace, with libretto by Amy Tan after her novel
Adapted from the best-selling novel by beloved Bay Area author Amy Tan, this world premiere tells a resonant story of belated intergenerational understanding that leads to emotional healing. A troubled Chinese-American woman learns the horrible secrets of her immigrant mother’s past in this touching and terrifying tale, set in both modern-day San Francisco and the Chinese countryside during the tumultuous events surrounding World War II.
Composer Stewart Wallace incorporates the timbres and textures of Chinese music into his highly expressive and lyrical score -- an American opera with roots in China. Mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao, the splendid Suzuki in San Francisco Opera’s recent Madama Butterfly, heads the cast of this deeply personal work. Star of the Lincoln Center Festival’s historic production of The Peony Pavilion, Kunju singer Qian Yi has been acclaimed by the The New York Times Magazine as “China’s reigning opera princess.”
Sung in English.
October 10, 2009
Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City) by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
A man's obsession with his dead wife threatens his sanity in Erich Wolfgang Korngold's intense psychological study -- a harrowing mix of hallucinatory fantasy and painful reality that has been compared to Hitchcock's Vertigo. This emotionally gripping trip into the dark side of a troubled psyche features a voluptuous, colorful score reminiscent of both Puccini and Richard Strauss. Donald Runnicles conducts the San Francisco Opera premiere of the renowned film composer and two-time Academy Award-winner’s greatest work for the stage.
Sung in German.
October 17, 2009
Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart's first operatic masterpiece, which premiered two days before his 25th birthday, is a thrilling mix of florid vocal writing and eloquent orchestral episodes. The great Mozartean tenor Kurt Streit returns to San Francisco in one of his signature roles: a powerful king who, in the aftermath of the Trojan War, makes a pact that he comes to regret. Vienna critics raved, "Kurt Streit masters the monster role of Idomeneo with confidence," and "his tenor radiates power, brilliance, grandeur." The superb cast, conducted by Donald Runnicles, also includes the acclaimed British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote.
Sung in Italian.
October 24, 2009
Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky
In this Mussorgsky masterpiece, a Russian ruler is haunted by a horrible act he committed years earlier. The concise original version of the opera, focusing on the emotional disintegration of the title character, creates a theatrical experience of searing intensity. Samuel Ramey, recipient of the 2003 San Francisco Opera Medal, returns in the title role. The Washington Post raved: "His electrical presence, his bounding athleticism, his keen intelligence, his dark and chimerically versatile bass voice were all put to the noblest of purposes: a fully fleshed-out, highly complicated portrayal of the flawed Czar."
Sung in Russian.
For more information about the San Francisco Opera radio broadcasts, including cast lists for each broadcast, please visit www.sfopera.com/broadcast.aspx.
2323 W. 14th Street Tempe, Arizona 85281 | phone: 480-833-1122 | fax: 480-774-8475 | mail@kbaq.org
KBAQ is an Equal Opportunity Employer