# San Francisco Cosi



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Well last night was my first performance here, and it was wonderful.

I've seen the opera enough that I was really kind of expecting more to appreciate the music than to get caught up in the humor and the drama, but I found myself laughing along pretty frequently through the production. I guess every production will have little bits of humor that they stick in that aren't actually in the stage directions - it was just funny to watch Despina and Fiordiligi edging towards the coffee all through the "Ah! Scostati!" like they were kind of hoping she would wrap it up ... or is that Dorabella? I can never keep it straight which is which. The whole thing was updated to somewhere around the time of the second world war, and so instead of a magnet the good Doctor-spina had what looked like an early heart shock machine, with enormous car-battery clips and flashing lights. The costumes and the scenery were all very nice, no issues at all. For the "garden party" the two guys "sailed in" on a little sailboat from back of center stage, it was very effective.

I was kind of expecting the voices to be louder. When I got my tour of the hall last year the guide told me that the acoustics were such that when actors who are used to singing elsewhere come in they always have to tell them not to sing so loud. And it seemed like that to me too, in the empty auditorium it sounded like you could have heard a pin drop. Well, the Met might be like that too if it was empty, who knows? I was up in the balcony, but the balcony is a lot closer than the one in NY, so ... it wasn't terribly disappointing but just a little surprising.

The men sang significantly better than the women. I was really impressed with Marco Vinco as Don Alfonso, and kind of wished we'd had him in New York a few seasons back instead of William Shimell. And they sang so well together. It was pure pleasure.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Glad you had a good evening. I remember the first time I saw that opera. I couldn't believe anyone could write such beautiful music.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

Thanks for the review. SF is definitely one house on my opera to-do list.

Also, I know you are as big a Natalie fan as I am, so I wanted to put you on high alert, in case you haven't heard about this. Hopefully you'll still be in town:

_Director Philippe Béziat's documentary, Becoming Traviata opens this Friday, June 14 in San Francsico at Landmark's Opera Plaza Cinema and in Berkeley at Landmark's Shattuck Cinemas. The film's "Violetta", soprano Natalie Dessay will be at the Opera Plaza Cinema for an audience Q&A on Saturday, June 15 at the 7:00 screening and again on Sunday, June 16 at 2:00 pm._

They also spill the beans in this article that Dessay seems to be announcing her retirement from opera, so your SF trip to see her Antonia was prophetic. Congratulations, you are in possession of one of the hottest tickets on the planet right now!

http://www.examiner.com/review/natalie-dessay-on-becoming-traviata-french-soprano-bids-adieu-to-opera-stage


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

she's retiring?! ain't that a bit early?


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

With apologies to gtg for the threadjack:



> "I want to change my life," she says to me. "I want to go into straight theatre."
> 
> In September, Natalie will be in Toulouse to sing Massenet's Manon. It may be her last appearance on the operatic stage.
> 
> "Yes, I think so. I did my real 'debut' in Toulouse, in the chorus. I had started off as an acting student. That was my real passion. That is my real passion. It's just a detour of thirty-three years-to finally get back to my first goal. There's nothing left for me to sing. I've done most of the roles I could do. I don't want to play Juliette. At my age? Please! Or Lucia or Adina or anything else like that. That's why I'm quitting. You have to love your repertoire. For a while I thought it was fun, but no. On to something else."


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

looking forward to seeing her in theatre, then  sorry for the hi-jack, just a bit of shock.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

DavidA said:


> Glad you had a good evening. I remember the first time I saw that opera. I couldn't believe anyone could write such beautiful music.


Oh I know ... it's the best, isn't it?


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Cavaradossi said:


> Thanks for the review. SF is definitely one house on my opera to-do list.
> 
> Also, I know you are as big a Natalie fan as I am, so I wanted to put you on high alert, in case you haven't heard about this. Hopefully you'll still be in town:
> 
> ...


Thanks so much for the update. Yeah, there was info about it in the program guide, so I'm set to go and I'll be there!


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Gosh, it's so awful that she's retiring! It's hard to believe she doesn't get pleasure any more out of something she does so well. Maybe like Rumi, it's just more poetry...


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## sparsity (Apr 10, 2012)

Did you see it on opening night? We're going next weekend. Too bad Fiordiligi wasnt that good.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

I think opening night was the 9th. I saw it on the 12th. I'm sure you'll have a good time, I did.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Well, my last ticket for Cosi was last night, and I have to say, I'm more in love with the opera than ever. Actually I'm now burning with motivation to get my 2013-2014 tickets because Danielle de Niese and the Met are doing it as one of their first operas of next season!

Last night was special. I don't know what happened, but the whole team really cut loose. I can't say Dorabella or Despina sang better, but everybody had some bit of business they hadn't had in earlier performances, both vocally and in the acting department. The orchestra played better, Nicola Luisotti really had them together and on the same page last night. Not that they were sloppy earlier, but it just wasn't noticeably an ensemble. Last night they swung. And the Fiordiligi - Ellie Dehn - has raised her game, or maybe I'm hearing the music better, but at any rate, she was great. Katdad may know her work, she was the Countess in HGO Nozze a few years ago. Philippe Sly - Guglielmo - I feel certain you're going to be hearing from in the future.

And for myself, I appreciate the music much better than I did before this trip. I had never noticed before how appropriate the music seems to the stage action some times. Especially in the seduction scenes - you can't say music depicts this or that action, really, and you can't say it forms a "proper accompaniment" either - I think the closest to reality you can come is to say it reminds you of or is suggestive of certain actions. It's a very indirect communication. And how Mozart's music reminds me of surprising new tenderness, at those moments in the opera! And Fiordiligi's lament for her own fall- so touching, musically. So just right for the thoughts being conveyed.

Well, I'm glad I didn't leave early. If I can get into town on Wednesday - BART struck, so 400,000 commuters have been relying on a bus system designed for 40,000 - I've got one more Tales, and then almost a week before my ticket home.

I've been appreciating their Tales of Hoffmann more than I did too. Natalie Dessay gives a real, thorough, rounded picture of Antonia as a human being. Well, I didn't think it was possible, I didn't think the libretto gave the scope for it, and it didn't come through in the first viewing (I think I listen too slowly), but her acting ability has made the show for us. That part of it, anyway. And her moments in the very front of the stage, singing the love duet with Polenzani - unforgettable. The ending of the opera is still - and actually more - bewildering, since it's crystal clear now that it really DOESN'T make sense, but that's a small part of the whole production. Very enjoyable overall. 

Dessay said I think that she was planning to move over to stage acting. I wonder how her acting ability will hold up once the music isn't there to shoulder its share of the load. Opera acting is different from straight stage acting, I think. Well, what do I know. Good luck to her, eh?


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

I'd love to have seen Dessay's Antonia, just the kind of vulnerable, fragile character that she inhabits so well. But I could see where she might get tired of playing the wilting flower, seems totally opposite of her real life character. Any tidbits of revelation to report from her appearance at the film screening?


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Exactly right - vulnerable, fragile characters. She does em well. I didn't actually go to the personal appearance, I caught the film on its own, as it were. Something about meeting stars in person just puts me off, I'm certain I'm going to embarrass myself somehow or other and I don't like to do it.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

guythegreg said:


> Something about meeting stars in person just puts me off, I'm certain I'm going to embarrass myself somehow or other and I don't like to do it.


Aah you too - I'm glad I'm not the only one. I prefer just to see them on the stage. I mean, what are we going to talk about, the weather?

It would be different if you met them at a social occasion, or were sitting next to them on a plane (that did happen to me once, with someone I'd seen at ENO singing Rigoletto and had greatly admired, and that was different. We had lunch together a few times over a few years and then lost touch).


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

mamascarlatti said:


> Aah you too - I'm glad I'm not the only one. I prefer just to see them on the stage. I mean, what are we going to talk about, the weather?
> 
> It would be different if you met them at a social occasion, or were sitting next to them on a plane (that did happen to me once, with someone I'd seen at ENO singing Rigoletto and had greatly admired, and that was different. We had lunch together a few times over a few years and then lost touch).


I suppose it depends on the person. In my case, I am naturally a bit shy, despite my job which forces me to adopt a fake "outgoing" persona, so I will rare walk up to someone unless I force myself to, but can generally hold my own in a conversation about any topic. My wife on the other hand would want to walk up to them and not only engage them in some lively conversation but then sign them up to participate in her latest "project", whether related to her work (art business) or some sort of philanthropic or social endeavor. When she gets on a roll, I just have to run away to another corner of the room myself, because I'm too naturally shy to even watch her in action! :lol:


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

tyroneslothrop said:


> I suppose it depends on the person. In my case, I am naturally a bit shy, despite my job which forces me to adopt a fake "outgoing" persona, so I will rare walk up to someone unless I force myself to, but can generally hold my own in a conversation about any topic. My wife on the other hand would want to walk up to them and not only engage them in some lively conversation but then sign them up to participate in her latest "project", whether related to her work (art business) or some sort of philanthropic or social endeavor. When she gets on a roll, I just have to run away to another corner of the room myself, because I'm too naturally shy to even watch her in action! :lol:


Ha you and me both mate. I'm also in a job where I have to be "outgoing" - oh how I dread the first day of a new class, before I've tamed them- and I hate big parties, cold calling and door-to-door fundraising.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> I didn't actually go to the personal appearance, I caught the film on its own, as it were. Something about meeting stars in person just puts me off, I'm certain I'm going to embarrass myself somehow or other and I don't like to do it.


Ha! I hear you, I'm also one that is loathe to impose. Though for an appearance like that, I imagine she might just walk out on stage, make a few comments, have a Q&A, with an optional meet and greet for the more effusive types afterwards. I've been to several of those kinds of things, and they give me a more rounded impression of the artist and the person.

I'm lucky though. The significant other is both fearless and charming when it comes to that kind of mingling. Of course, as a fellow singer they have more to talk about, but he also has a knack for seeing them and treating them just a regular people which I think they appreciate and respond to. I usually just standby with a general compliment and camera at the ready for his photo op. None have been anything less than gracious.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

I'm sure sospiro could have done it. I can't get over her asking Anthony Pappano to move his big fat head lol ... that shy demeanor masks balls of steel!!


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