With a jam-packed schedule conducted by Finnish maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen, June is an exciting month for the San Francisco Symphony.
First up was Alonzo King Lines Ballet & Peter Sellars The Concert, debuting on Friday, June 7. The first half featured a collaborative performance with the legendary Alonzo King Lines Ballet, and then we saw a fresh take on an older opera staged by Peter Sellars in the latter part, sung by Mary Elizabeth Williams. The program encapsulates what makes the Symphony a world-class, internationally renowned arts organization.
Since announcing his unexpected resignation in March, Salonen’s creative choices as music director have taken on new meaning. Walking into the gorgeous Davies Symphony Hall, I couldn’t help but wonder what was happening behind the scenes. Was the unpacked theater a sign that the symphony is a dying art form? As Salonen took the stage to roaring applause and the first notes of Maurice Ravel’s 1912 ballet Ma mère l’Oye (Mother Goose) rang out, the movement and sound were enthralling.
Each orchestral movement coincided with a popular fairytale like Sleeping Beauty or Beauty and the Beast. While Salonen led the symphony in light, playful, and enchanting pieces, the dancing was haunting and heavy. In sheer and metallic fabrics and unflattering shades of yellow, the Alonzo King Lines dancers appeared strongest together as one undulating mass of motion and roll-offs.
Many questions raced through my mind, mimicking the speedy movements of the dancers. Why weren’t the dancers making eye contact with the audience? It felt intentional, like the viewer was being ignored. But all questions were forgotten when star ballerina Adji Cissoko took the stage in a glittering mini-halter dress. With elegant flexibility and incredibly long legs, she commanded the stage and captivated the audience. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
Mary Elizabeth Williams held the crowd’s rapt attention during the second act. At center stage was the shrouded body of a dead person while Williams sang.
Arnold Schoenberg’s 1909 one-act monodrama, Erwartung (Expectation), features a female searching for her lover, finding him dead — or did she kill him? As she grows more hysterical and descends into madness, the audience wonders: What on earth is happening? Sellars’s staging was interesting, but the black-and-white dress over cargo pants felt distracting, and while Williams was exceptional Friday, I felt uncomfortable.
Does a 115-year-old story about a woman going insane due to the loss of her lover need to be told today? My date and I discussed this over Negronis at Absinthe after the show. The unsettling program required a post-performance download; We had to dissect it to understand it. A symphony doesn’t always have to be butterflies and rainbows; It can be eerie and intense with an unsavory plot. The art made me feel apprehensive, and if that’s what Salonen, King, and Sellars intended, they succeeded.
Katie Sweeney is a San Francisco-based writer.
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