{"id":25967,"date":"2025-10-27T20:42:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T20:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/25967\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T20:42:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T20:42:14","slug":"review-san-francisco-operas-new-parsifal-a-standout-on-all-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/25967\/","title":{"rendered":"Review:\u00a0San Francisco Opera\u2019s new \u2018Parsifal\u2019 a standout on all levels\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

On occasion,\u00a0an opera performance is so pitch-perfect, so theatrical, that the audience asks for more when the final curtain descends.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0what happened at Saturday\u2019s opening of San Francisco Opera\u2019s new production of Richard Wagner\u2019s \u201cParsifal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0audience\u00a0in the sold-out War Memorial Opera House\u00a0sat rapt for\u00a0nearly five\u00a0hours as Wagner\u2019s quirky tale of compassion and redemption rolled out on the big stage.\u00a0
\u00a0
The opera, Wagner\u2019s\u00a0last\u00a0music drama, is not easy to stage.\u00a0 Big themes\u00a0and elements\u2014good vs.\u00a0evil, a melding of Western and Eastern spiritual\u00a0philosophies,\u00a0Wagner\u2019s\u00a0weird racial hangups, a hero tasked\u00a0with\u00a0nothing less than\u00a0saving\u00a0mankind\u00a0\u2014unfurl over hours of magnificent music, but sometimes with murky theatrics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The Temple of the Grail scene in Act 1 of San Francisco Opera\u2019s \u201cParsifal\u201d is striking. (Cory Weaver\/San Francisco Opera via Bay City News)<\/p>\n

Director Matthew Ozawa\u2019s take on \u201cParsifal\u201d\u00a0is literal when it needs to be.\u00a0\u00a0Wagner\u2019s\u00a0idea to\u00a0explore\u00a0the values of\u00a0 mythic symbols to get to universal truths\u00a0is played out\u00a0in the Act 1 communion scene:\u00a0the ritual, which has\u00a0Christian, Buddhist\u00a0and\u00a0Hindu symbolism, is presented materially:\u00a0the\u00a0Holy\u00a0Grail, the spear, even the hunted swan,\u00a0appear, with touches of Noh\u00a0 and\u00a0Butoh\u00a0choreographed in for good measure.<\/p>\n

Designer Robert Innes Hopkins\u2019 sets and Jessica Jahn\u2019s costumes are elegant and descriptive.\u00a0The anguished\u00a0ruler\u00a0Amfortas, wounded by\u00a0Klingsor\u2019s\u00a0spear,\u00a0appears to be\u00a010\u00a0feet tall in a white mantled gown;\u00a0the\u00a0evil\u00a0Klingsor\u2019s\u00a0bleached body and dress scream his villainy. Parsifal\u2019s rustic tunic gives way to jeweled black and blood-red\u00a0leather as he matures.\u00a0Klingsor\u2019s\u00a0flower maidens out to tempt Parsifal\u00a0dance in a\u00a0wave of sea blue. The striking images go on and\u00a0on.
\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"L-R, Brandon Jovanovich portrays Parsifal and Kwangchul Youn is Gurnemanz in San Francisco Opera\u2019s new production of \u201cParsifal\u201d by Richard Wagner onstage at the War Memorial Opera House through Nov. 13. (Cory Weaver\/San Francisco Opera via Bay City News) <\/p>\n

However, setting aside the scenery,\u00a0Saturday\u2019s performance was all about the music.\u00a0Under\u00a0SFO Music Director Eun Sun Kim,\u00a0a master\u00a0of the score in every detail, the orchestra\u2019s performance was\u00a0fresh and exciting. Likewise,\u00a0the opera chorus,\u00a0directed\u00a0by\u00a0John Keene,\u00a0was at\u00a0its\u00a0most lustrous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cast works\u00a0together like a charm. <\/p>\n

Korean bass\u00a0Kwangchul\u00a0Youn\u00a0as\u00a0Gurnemanz\u00a0delivers\u00a0the narrative with softness and an exceptional humanity, and Brandon Jovanovich\u2019s sturdy, sweet tenor makes\u00a0for an appealing and believable Parsifal, as if he were made for the role.\u00a0
\u00a0
The role of\u00a0Amfortas\u00a0is a trial for any singer. Brian Mulligan\u2019s arched,\u00a0heroic\u00a0baritone brings\u00a0a notable level of nobility to the fore, and mezzo soprano Tanja Ariane Baumgartner in her\u00a0company debut\u00a0is\u00a0a madcap, rich-voiced Kundry, a bewitcher of many lives. Bass-baritone\u00a0Falk Struckmann as\u00a0Klingsor\u00a0is\u00a0made to menace.<\/p>\n

\u201cParsifal\u201d\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0come around very often.\u00a0There have been only six\u00a0productions in San Francisco Opera\u2019s history. This one is a standout on all levels.<\/p>\n

San Francisco Opera\u2019s \u201cParsifal\u201d continues at 6 p.m. Oct. 28, Nov.\u00a07\u00a0and Nov. 13, and 1 p.m. Nov. 2 at the War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. For tickets ($35-$447; $25 for Nov. 2\u00a0livestream), call (415) 864-3330 or visit\u00a0sfopera.com<\/a>.\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On occasion,\u00a0an opera performance is so pitch-perfect, so theatrical, that the audience asks for more when the final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[19037,19035,19756,19038,19757,19758,19759,19760,19033,19761,101,103,102,19032,104,106,105,19036],"class_list":{"0":"post-25967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-brandon-jovanovich","9":"tag-brian-mulligan","10":"tag-eun-sun-kim","11":"tag-falk-struckmann","12":"tag-jessica-jahn","13":"tag-kwangchul-youn","14":"tag-matthew-ozawa","15":"tag-parsifal","16":"tag-richard-wagner","17":"tag-robert-innes-hopkins","18":"tag-san-francisco","19":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","20":"tag-san-francisco-news","21":"tag-san-francisco-opera","22":"tag-sf","23":"tag-sf-headlines","24":"tag-sf-news","25":"tag-tanja-ariane-baumgartner"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}