David Gockley talks to a gay paper about fisting. (Well, when you're running the San Francisco Opera, knowing these things is surely part of the job description.)
David Gockley talks to a gay paper about fisting. (Well, when you're running the San Francisco Opera, knowing these things is surely part of the job description.)
6 comments:
I'll tell you what's with von Buchau -- she is the only critic in this town with any real understanding and informed opinion on opera. I have been going to SFO since 1966, and a subscription subscriber since 1972. I have seen virtually every production here since then, and been a part of all the highs and lows through Adler, McEwen, Mansouri, and dear Aunt Pamela. Without a doubt, the Rosenberg years (in my opinion) were by and large an utter disaster. There were a few highlights -- Saint François d'Assise, Doctor Atomic, Pearl Fishers come immediately to mind. But for the most part we have had pedestrian or pseudo-intellectual Eurotrash productions (if I see one more black trenchcoat and fedora hat I will scream) and second (or worse) rate singing and conducting. I think Von Buchau hits the nail right on the head. If she happens to read this blog (would not surprise me), I say keep on keepin' on, girl -- you are one of the very few who knows what she's talking about.
Thanks, Ike, for getting my dander up this morning.
"Exactly. We won't be having Mr. Bieto or his ilk in San Francisco." Phew! There may be some B.A.R. readers who think this is a bad (or unprogressive) policy, but I have never heard one single real opera-lover — no matter how spicy or unusual his private life — tell me he liked a Bieto production, or that it added anything to his knowledge of and/or passion for the art form."
Bravi to Mr. Gockley and Ms von Buchau
Interesting to read the whole article.
Gockley sounds like he'll at least produce some pleasurable seasons of singing. Emphasis in Houston was most always on voice, as I recall. Rarely was anyone kept on past their prime (Malfitano's Lady Macbeth was an exception). I recall Freni as Aida, Marton in Andrea Chenier, and about ten years ago, Fleming as the Marschallin. I think Studer sang something there too, but who cares!
He also sounds like a 63 year old h********l. I expect San Franciscans will be seeing more productions featuring a shirtless Nathan Gunn (or someone similar with, one hopes, a bit more voice). It'll put butts in seats.
If his track record with Houston is any indication, San Franciscans will be seeing as many premieres as before, perhaps more. It was already a "new work" company, like Houston. The can do Tobias Picker's "Emmeline" for Fleming.
I wonder if he and Peter Gelb know each other.....Could be a match made in heaven.
Actually, Mr. Glockley is not a self-professed h********l, though he certainly reads as one, and I believe he's been married to women a couple of times. In any case, the entire opera house was ready for a change and he's starting off with an enormous amount of good will and hopeful expectations.
The Karajan-worshiping Stephanie von Buchau has always been a raucous and personally vicious reviewer. The late Kurt Herbert Adler took away her press seats in the 1970s after she wrote some nasty cracks about Rostropovich and his wife Galina Vishnevskaya during a "Queen of Spades" production they were involved in soon after their exile from Russia. Still, she's a good writer and I've always enjoyed reading her. Plus, her prejudices are so upfront that at least you know what you're getting.
My favorite Rosenberg production, by the way, was a "Cunning Little Vixen" a couple of years ago with Dawn Upshaw that just about perfect.
A couple of comments:
To the point "it's understandable that SF audiences aren't ready for (or aren't particularly interested in seeing) his work," I think quite the contrary. A Bieto production with fisting, scatological visuals, or any of the other sensational tricks he pulls out of his ass would likely sell the house out for the entire run. I would probably be first in line to see it (and hate myself in the morning). Hell, the Mefistofele some years back with Ramey and a variety of body suits, prosthetics, and writhing chorus members (which was really pretty tame stuff) packed 'em in. In SF just as anywhere else, controversy and titillation are a big draw. I'm heartened that Gockley is not willing to pander to Bieto and his ilk to fill seats by using pure sensationalism and directorial egotism in the absence of real artistic integrity. But I think SF is and has always been more than ready for creative, interesting, thought-provoking productions of new and/or challenging repertoire (witness the success of Saint François and Doctor Atomic).
Regarding von Buchau's supposed "viciously personal" attacks on Ms. Rosenberg, I went back and reread the entire article and simply don't find any such attacks. The points she makes about Rosenberg are: 1) she disagrees with her "noble if entirely misguided intention to drag SFO kicking and screaming into the 21st century," 2) she points out that Gockley is a trained musician and PR is not, 3) she discusses the status of future productions previously announced by PR, 4) she discusses changes in the artistic and administrative staff, and 5) she comments on PR's flawed marketing approach. None of these points are personal in nature. They are all opinions related to PR's work as General Director and the current status of the company which von Buchau sums up as "debilitating operatic cluelessness that blighted the last five years." To which I say, Amen.
Someone should point out that being married no more makes one heterosexual than wearing fur makes one a mink.
I won't repeat the gossip about DG's sex life in Houston...that is unless you buy me a couple of cocktails. LOL
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