Jonathan Khuner, artistic director
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Jonathan Khuner, artistic director |
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Berkeley Public Library Events 
SPECIAL FREE EVENTS AT THE BERKELEY PUBLIC LIBRARY
The Berkeley Public Library is at 2090 Kittredge Street (at Shattuck) in downtown Berkeley. Berkeley Opera in the News Read about Bluebeard and L'Enfant in the San Francisco Chronicle, and about maestro Khuner the Wall Street Journal.Something New... Getting Acquainted with Tosca Wednesday, June 4, 7:30 p.m., at Chapel of the Chimes, April 13 - Save the Date 
Berkeley Opera's ANNUAL GALA will be Sunday, April 13, 4:00-7:00 p.m.at Berkeley's Town and Gown Club.Tickets are $65 per person, and can be ordered by calling (510) 841-1903 or e-mailing berkeleyoperagala@gmail.com. Please leave a message and someone will return your call to take your information. Advance tickets only; no tickets wil be sold at the door. 
A delightful afternoon of food, wine, music, silent and live auctions. Internationally-acclaimed soprano Christine Brewer, who was last year's Isolde at the San Francisco Opera, will be our special Guest of Honor and will perform for us.You can visit her website at www.christinebrewer.com. Food and Wine courtesy of Café de la Paz, Grace Catering, Venezia Caffe & Ristorante, Farallon Caterers, In the Mood for Food, Whole Foods Berkeley, La Farine, DonSueMor Madeleines, Virgina Bakery, Urban Blend. Bid on these exciting items!
Thanks to all the businesses and individuals who have donated to the auction, both silent and live: American Bach Soloists Jim Aron Aurora Theatre Back in Action Chiropractic Clinic Bartholomew Park Winery Berkeley Ballet Berkeley Bowl Berkeley Opera Berkeley Path Wanderers Berkeley Repertory Theatre Berkeley Symphony Bette's Oceanview Diner Breads of India Café Clem California Shakespeare Festival California Symphony Central Works Chabot Space and Science Center Chapel of the Chimes Cline Vineyards Cody's Books Contra Costa Civic Theater DeYoe Wealth Management Robyn Dondero DoubleTree Hotel Berkeley Marina East Bay Nursery Eddie's Liquors Elmwood Theater Bob Epstein & Amy Roth Ethnic Arts Festival Opera Filippo's Restaurant Foggy Bridge Winery Freight and Salvage Glendeven Inn harmonia mundi usa Hs Lordship's Restaurant Hula Gift Shop Ici Ice Cream Jack's Antiques Marian Kohlstedt La Mediterranée Restaurant La Note Restaurant Provençal Lamplighters Lawrence Hall of Science Maritime Restaurant Merola Opera Montclair Baking Mrs. Dalloway's Books North Berkeley Wine Oakland Ballet Oakland East Bay Symphony Oakland Museum O'Ollie's Entertainment Orinda Country Club Pacific Horticulture Peet's Coffee & Tea Pegasus/Pendragon Bookstores Periscope Cellars Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Rose Garden Inn St. George Spirits San Francisco Early Music Society San Francisco Opera San Francisco Performances Scharffenberger Chocolate Martin Schoell See's Candies Shotgun Players Skates By the Bay Terri Stuart Paul and Susan Sugarman Sunflower Chiropractic Talavera Ceramics The Gem Gallery The Musical Offering Café The Musical Offering The Spanish Table The Wine Mine TheatreFIRST Trader Joe's Trumer Pils Janet Welch Wine Appreciation Guild * * * * * * * "Berkeley Opera is one of the more interesting small companies in the nation." - San Francisco Classical Voice (sfcv.org)Quotes from our 2007 Season 
Jennifer Roderer as Amneris in Aïda, with Yelena Segal and Sara Lindsey
From the Critics "Berkeley Opera is one of the more interesting small companies in the nation."— Janos Gereben, San Francisco Classical Voice "Taking risks is one of the Berkeley Opera's more endearing and admirable traits ... the cast as a whole gave excellent portrayals. Maestro Khuner kept his 25-piece ensemble in admirable form, and the chorus work was delectable ... all in all, this was an adventurous and thoroughly enjoyable performance for both theater and opera lovers. It's one you should plan on seeing." — Jaime Robles, Berkeley Daily Planet (Romeo & Juliet) "The wonderful thing about small opera companies is that what may be lacking in grandeur often is compensated with ingenuity. Berkeley Opera's Romeo and Juliet has much to recommend it ..." — Suzanne Weiss, culturevulture.net "This Aïda ... yielded an evening of musical thrills ... the cast turned in strong performances across the board." — Georgia Rowe, Contra Costa Times This is the real Aïda, without all the gorgeous ceremonial window-dressing: a personal human tragedy like that of today's British Royals. It is also a painfully realistic political parable, as referential of Caesar's Rome, the Third Reich, or Stalin's USSR as it is to contemporary world events. — Susan Steinberg, Livermore Independent Read Susan Steinberg's full review. 
Charlotte Khuner as Patriotic Girl in Aïda
From the Audience (at Aïda) "This was a wonderful production.""The best ever" "The best one you have ever done!" "We go to San Francisco Opera too, and I like this just as well." "Very clever staging." "I couldn't imagine how you could do it without the elephants, and loved the way you brought them in." "The singing, the orchestra, the chorus, the way it looks — marvelous." "Wonderful voices" "Very imaginative and I liked it very much." "Thank you for doing this." "We enjoyed it — I will send a check." Aïda Review From the August 9, 2007 issue of The Independent, Livermore, California. Copyright © 2007 Inland Valley Publishing Co. Used by permission. See original at www.independentnews.com/AUG%209-07%20NP.pdf Don't Always Believe Those (Other) Critics
By Susan Steinberg I was prejudiced against Berkeley Opera's Aïda without ever seeing it. After reading two scathing reviews by other critics, I envisioned the new production as an ugly throwback to Berkeley's 1960's "Guerilla Theater." Alan Frank, founder of our Livermore Valley Opera, and a member of the Aïda chorus, persuaded me to go judge the show for myself, for which I am humbly grateful. This new take on an old classic was an exciting, effective, and vocally stunning collaboration by director Yuval Sharon and artistic director/conductor Jonathan Khuner. Stripped of all the pretentious pageantry and traditional stylized staging, Aïda is as intense an interpersonal drama as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with enough sex and violence, rivalry and betrayal to match any popular TV series. It's always been there, but buried and smothered under the burden of formalized productions. Here we have the most visually believable Aïda in memory: a thin, stoic-faced slave-princess, hiding her true rank from the conquering princess she now serves. She is also hiding a hopeless love for the warrior who has just vanquished her people, and been promised to her mistress as husband and co-ruler. Surprise — this slim young woman sings with passion, volume, conviction, and a vibrato that throbs with heartbreaking anguish. It was an emotional vocal performance that connected viscerally with the audience, as did her electrifying acting, from desperation to courageous resolve. Welcome Juyeon Song to the roster of brilliant new artists we hope to hear again soon. Aïda's haughty mistress, Princess Amneris, jealously suspicious of a possible rival, was sung by impressive mezzo Jennifer Roderer. Her rich powerful voice practically raised the roof of the Julia Morgan Theater with the force of her frenzied emotions. Her carefully controlled cajoling of Aïda to elicit her secret love was a believable and chilling change of voice and style, showing the range of her acting versatility. A rare artist who always sings full-throttle, even in rehearsals, she is also a "must-see-again" star. Caught between these two strong women is the unfortunate soldier-hero Radamès, in love with Aïda, but officially betrothed to Princess Amneris. Kevin Courtemanche's ringing tenor and fearlessly-flung high notes made even long-time Aïda-lovers sit up, take notice, and yell "Bravo"! When these lead singers began the Act I trio, expressing their conflicting emotions, it was a high-powered dramatic experience. Confined to a small stage, their passionate energy was intensified by physical proximity, unlike the spread-out ensembles in big-stage productions, and more like scorpions in a bottle. The same energy carried through the rousing scene of Radamès's public sendoff to battle, and the grand Triumphal March. Not surprisingly, even the "small" duets exploded with unusual force and tension, especially the Amneris-Aïda rivalry scene, the powerful psychological confrontation between Aïda and her disguised father Amonasro, Aïda's subsequent seduction of Radamès to flee with her, and Amneris final desperate bid for Radamès' life and love. The immediacy of this theatrical energy was obvious from the enthusiastic audience reaction. A long-time opera lover who had even seen Aïda (com- plete with elephants) in Rome's Baths of Caracalla, exclaimed, "Why would anyone do it any other way than this?" I agree completely. This is the real Aïda, without all the gorgeous ceremonial window-dressing: a personal human tragedy like that of today's British Royals. It is also a painfully realistic political parable, as referential of Caesar's Rome, the Third Reich, or Stalin's USSR as it is to contemporary world events. The naked ugliness of war and the clichéd patriotism trotted out by militaristic leaders to popularize the carnage of combat were also basic to Verdi's humanitarian message. But productions parading nearly-naked Nubian warriors, writhing slave girls, and blaring blood-stirring trumpets in the Grand Triumphal March usually smooth over the horror of war with glorious pomp and circumstance. Not in this production, which bared the cynical workings of manipulative government, controlling the media to show a carefully-calculated façade, and rouse the populace to a war-committed frenzy. "Glory to God, and let's rush on to victory" is the rallying slogan from king and high priest alike — the united power structure — until the people's cries of "War, War, War!" are deafening. Behind-the-scenes (or rather on the upper stage level) coldblooded acts of torture, murder, and debauchery played out very aptly while idealistic platitudes of religiosity, patriotism, and ideal love were being sung. Some of the explicit nastiness was admittedly hard to take, and even distracted at times from the music, but it effectively evoked the world of tyrannical governmental corruption, hypocrisy, and abuse of power. Does any of this sound familiar? After an initial quick victory, there was even a triumphal banner inscribed "Missione Compiuta" (Mission Accomplished). Unfortunately, reviewers repelled by this aspect of the production published some very negative opinions, a decided disservice to the ticket-buying public. To their credit, they did praise the voices of the entire cast, as well as the off-stage chorus, all richly deserving of plaudits. Livermore Valley Opera's favorite Figaro, Jo Vincent Parks, in the role of Amonasro, King of Ethiopia, literally commanded the stage. Even in the rags and humble demeanor of a conquered prisoner, he was obviously a larger-than-life force of fighting spirit. His powerful voice and strong acting ability elicited spontaneous "bravos" hardly ever associated with the stiff father- figure of most traditional stagings. Ramfis the High Priest, another traditional cardboard cutout character, was also personalized by popular basso William Pickersgill. A cold and menacing minion of the repressive government, he showed himself a shameless hypocrite: all professional piety in public and an abandoned sensualist in private. Even that ultimate cipher, the King of Egypt, came to life in Paul Cheak's preening persona: the benevolent smiling patriarch on camera, but the cold-blooded tyrant off-screen. Without the impressive regalia of their high offices, these three male characters emerged as recognizable power-figures on the contemporary world stage, and it was genuinely frightening. In fact, that was the key to this small-scale production's impact: the powerful intimate passions of the vital young protagonists and the painfully bitter realism of its timeless political message. The cheering audiences obviously "got it." Why didn't all the critics? Congratulations from this critic to Stage Director Yuval Sharon for his insightful vision. Seeing the triumphant commander Radamès returning "vincitor" (conqueror) in a wheelchair grimacing in pain brought to mind all-too-vivid images of today's disabled vets. Great praise is due to Conductor Jonathan Khuner for an amazingly effective "mini-orchestration" of a major big-pit score, and for one of the truest libretto translations in memory. Eschewing the usual graceful euphemisms, it finally gives audiences the straightforward words of Verdi himself. Chorus director Mark Sumner pulled off a minor miracle with a strong-voiced well-timed chorus singing completely hidden behind the set, but almost never sounding ragged or off-beat. Projection Designer Jeremy Knight provided most amazing special effects. His combined live and pre-recorded imagery in the Triumphal March video was a theatrical tour-de-force of realistic and surrealistic imagery that enhanced the sense of artificially-contrived political pageantry. Finally, hats off to young Charlotte Khuner for her cheerful patriotic dance routine, which devolved into the vicious beating and killing of an "enemy figure." As a fresh-faced and innocent-looking 11-year-old, she symbolized the cadres of children currently being indoctrinated with the glorious virtue of murdering their enemies all over the world. It was one more chilling dose of "Reality Theater" that re-emphasized Verdi's relevance to world politics. As they still say in Italy, "Viva Verdi!" like Shakespeare, a voice for the ages. (The production has closed.) |
