Fall Preview: SF Symphony & SF Opera

After a busy summer for the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera, both big-league teams are still keen to get back onto the field. The fall rosters hold an array of enticing events, and single tickets are already on sale at Davies Symphony Hall and the War Memorial Opera House (box offices and online).

Symphony Sounds

The SFS is first up with the Opening Night Gala Concert on Wed., Sept. 7. The party starts with superstar guests Renee Fleming and Susan Graham joining Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas as he begins his 22nd season. The Gala features American and Italian songs, and kicks off a weeklong celebration of Steve Reich's 80th birthday, with a performance of his Three Movements included.

Reich's legacy to American music is also honored with concerts Sept. 9-10 adding the Double Sextet, performed by contemporary chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird and SFS musicians, to his Three Movements and Copland's Billy the Kid Suite. The birthday bash ends Sun., Sept. 11, with Steve Reich: An American Maverick at DSH. Eighth Blackbird returns with Kronos Quartet, guitarist Derek Johnson, students of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and members of the SFS performing Electric Counterpoint, Six Marimbas, Double Sextet and the powerful Different Trains.

September's concerts continue with MTT conducting Haydn, Sibelius and Beethoven's Fifth one week and Viva Verdi: Italian Masterworks the next. New favorite tenor Michael Fabiano, SFS principal oboist Eugene Izotov and legendary vocal ensemble The Swingle Singers are on board, along with Ragnar Bohlin's SFS Chorus.

Two more stars round out the month as brilliant pianist Yuja Wang shares a bill with talented SFS Principal Trumpet Mark Inouye. Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng's "Overture to Dream of the Red Chamber," an SFS commission, opens the concert, and Stravinsky's thrilling "The Firebird Suite" gives MTT the last word.

Mid-October departs from the norm as Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece "2001: A Space Odyssey" is projected on the big screen while the SFS Symphony and Chorus perform the stunning soundtrack music.

San Francisco favorite Pablo Heras-Casado returns to DSH as guest conductor in October. He is joined by gifted young cellist Alisa Weilerstein. MTT closes the month with the Brahms Second Symphony. Pianist Rudolf Buchbinder plays Mozart's Concerto No. 20, and the Pacific Boychoir sings Allegri's exquisite "Miserere."

Yuja Wang returns in November with Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2, and MTT tackles Bruckner's Seventh. We'll look to the holidays later. This should be enough to get our engines running for now.

Opera Glasses

On Fri., Sept. 9, the SFO's 94th season begins in grand style with an apt selection for opening night, Giordano's verismo gem "Andrea Chenier." There are a lot of Puccini fans at odds with critics who crave more varied repertoire. Here's a chance for everyone to enjoy a less obvious choice from the menu of late-19th-century Italian opera.

Director David McVicar has a marvelous way of adding depth to his thoughtfully traditional stagings. His intelligence brings fresh relevance to works that could use a contemporary touch-up. Giordano's passionate tale of idealism, love and jealousy, set against the backdrop of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, is a verismo treat deserving of McVicar's insight. It veers towards melodrama, but the libretto is solid and fast-paced, and the music is lovely. The director's knack for telling detail and the lavish sets designed by Robert Jones and costumes by Jenny Tiramani will be displayed in the SFO's co-presentation with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing. The production won raves when it opened in London in 2015.

South Korean tenor Yonghoon Lee, Italian soprano Anna Pirozzi and Georgian baritone George Gagnidze are all making their Company debuts, conducted by Music Director Nicola Luisotti. Intense and handsome Lee and dark-voiced Gagnidze are familiar from their successes at the Met, and Pirozzi's glowing international press adds interest to the casting. Giordano may have been a one-hit wonder, but what a hit. There will be six performances through Sept. 30.

After the Gala, it is hard to imagine more excitement the following night, but the world premiere of Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng's "Dream of the Red Chamber," with a libretto by Sheng and Tony Award-winning American playwright David Henry Hwang, has already generated some powerful buzz. Commissioned by SFO, the new opera is a co-production with the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Based on the famous 18th-century novel by Chinese author Cao Xueqin, the new work is another sweeping epic with a love triangle at its core. The cast is mainly composed of notable Asian singers. Chinese tenor Yijie Shi and South Korean soprano Pureum Jo make their SFO debuts, and South Korean mezzo-soprano Hyona Kim is also making her Company debut. Japanese-American mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts, this summer's smoking hot "Carmen," joins with Chinese contralto Qiulin Zhang as she makes her United States and Company debut. The libretto is sung in English, with English and Chinese supertitles.

Photos of the sumptuous production, staged by playwright and director Stan Lai (SFO debut), look great. Academy Award winner Tim Yip has designed the sets and costumes. George Manahan conducts the SFO Orchestra with Ian Robertson leading the SFO Chorus. Six performances through Sept. 29.

A co-production with Santa Fe Opera and Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Donizetti's delightful "Don Pasquale," directed by Laurent Pelly, with eye-popping sets by designer Chantal Thomas, opens on Sept. 28. For some comic relief, the fun starts here. In repertory through Oct. 15.

Director Olivier Tambosi's memorable staging of Janacek's sardonic "The Makropulos Case" gets a welcome revival Oct. 14-29 with soprano Nadja Michael in the leading role. If anyone can match Karita Mattila's amazing portrayal for sheer star power, La Michael can.

Verdi's "Aida" returns in a new production inspired by contemporary artist RETNA, Nov. 5-Dec. 6, starring SFO rising stars Brian Jagde and Leah Crocetto.

The fall season ends with Puccini in a revival of production designer Jun Kaneko's wonderful visualization of "Madama Butterfly," starring soprano Lianna Haroutounian. We loved her in "Tosca," and can't wait to hear her as Cio-Cio-San, Nov. 6-Dec. 4.