On Saturday, more than 25,000 fans took to the stands and field to enjoy a free, live simulcast of The San Francisco Opera performance of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” on the 103-foot-wide HDTV screen at AT&T Park.It was an amazing thing to see opera -- for free -- in a baseball park. Even more amazing was sharing the park with 25,000 others who (like me) probably don't pay to see productions like this at the War Memorial Opera House very often -- if at all.
My father, a season ticket holder to the Nashville Opera, once told me that he often ran into a man who routinely drove from Atlanta to Nashville to watch the opera there. Surprised at this -- Atlanta has a perfectly good opera of its own -- my father asked him why he would make that long drive. The gentleman's response was that the opera scene in Atlanta had turned into just that -- a scene. It was where the wealthy went to be photographed in fine clothing; it wasn't about the music. This man drove more than 200 miles because he wanted to ENJOY THE MUSIC rather than MAKE THE SCENE.
It's a story like that which makes opera at the ballpark make so much sense. Twenty-five thousand people were happy to enjoy the music without buying a fancy outfit or paying a ridiculously high price to do so.
Nicola Luisotti makes his debut as San Francisco Opera's music director with this audience favorite, in which fast-paced action is propelled by an irresistible stream of melody. Verdi's favorite themes of destiny and desire are threaded through this suspenseful story of a corrupt count, a dashing warrior and a Gypsy who plots to avenge her mother's wrongful death. David McVicar's visually striking new production is inspired by the haunting imagery of Francisco de Goya. Tenor Marco Berti and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, whose beautiful tone and emotional intensity thrilled audiences in last season's Simon Boccanegra, head a charismatic cast featuring mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky.
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