Living in the shadow of the world-renowned San Francisco Opera might be rather daunting to some small opera companies, but for the petite San Francisco Lyric Opera it’s the kind of challenge that makes the company hum with creativity and innovation as it pursues its artistic purpose and mission. SFLO’s website (www.sflyricopera.org) states the mission clearly. The company, which mounts three mainstage operas per season, seeks to offer fine productions of classical opera at affordable prices, inspire the next generation of opera patrons, and, most important, provide a venue for young singers to perform.
This may not sound drastically different from the mission of other small opera companies, but it’s SFLO’s philosophy and the way it fulfills its particular vision that makes it a company to watch.
SFLO plans to keep growing and expanding during the next few years but also remains committed to providing up-close-and-personal encounters with opera for its audiences. That consideration comes first and foremost in the decision-making process about each production SFLO mounts.
“We want to engage excellent, interesting younger singers and mount works of all sorts—whether it be huge, grand masterpieces or avant-garde works—that give the audience an exciting experience,” says Artistic Director Barnaby Palmer. “If you see a little dot on stage singing—versus if you’re really seeing the person who’s singing, every button on their jacket, every detail—and you’re surrounded by it, you almost become a silent character in the piece. That’s a powerful experience.”
To talk about both the past and future of SFLO, Maestro Palmer and I met for conversation at Mission Pie in the venerable Mission district of San Francisco. After devouring a slice of freshly made mixed berry pie—topped with a dollop of equally fresh, sweet, whipped cream—the 33-year-old leader of this scrappy, up-and-coming arts organization told me of its origins and how he became involved.
Four entrepreneurial chorus members of San Francisco Opera who wanted the opportunity to sing main-character roles started the company in 1996. Leading the typical peripatetic existence of a newly formed arts concern, the fledgling organization mounted productions in various small theaters in and around San Francisco. A few years later, one of the original singers became general director. Palmer joined the troupe in early 2001 as an assistant conductor for Das Rheingold. (SFLO, from the beginning, has not been shy about mounting sizeable works.)
Soon thereafter the company asked Palmer to conduct a production of La traviata. Then, in the fall of 2001, SFLO offered Palmer the post of music director and conductor. On the heels of this, the general director stepped aside to pursue other interests, and as Palmer puts it, “I was already choosing the singers and the production team for the upcoming production so the board and I talked, and it was decided that I would become artistic director.”
Since then, Palmer has led SFLO in mounting 20 productions. He has overseen its move from performing in the small, 200-seat Eureka Theater, to the 300-seat Florence Gould Theater, to the company’s current venue, the 437-seat Cowell Theater at Fort Mason. The latter’s bigger stage and state-of-the-art technical facilities allow the company to be even more adventurous in its production values and programming.
Throughout these many changes, fostering an intimate atmosphere and personal connection with audiences has remained a hallmark of SFLO’s efforts. The company, which is not a repertory company per se but has a stable production team, clearly relishes its niche in the artistic scene of San Francisco. As Palmer points out, the smaller scale of its venues and productions reaches audiences in ways that larger companies simply can’t.
“There are advantages to having a huge opera company,” he says. “You can generally afford the most expensive singers, but you give up something in intimacy when it’s big, and I think people really get excited about our productions because our quality is so high and it’s so intimate. We have a fantastic orchestra, imaginative sets, a clear concept for each work, and with the audience being only 15 to 150 feet away, even people in the back row can see the sweat on a singer’s nose. So, it requires the singers to be more real, to be more honest and lifelike, more extemporaneous and detailed in their acting—and because of that, the audience really responds to them. We usually get strong points of view from the audience—whether people like it or don’t like it—because of the intimacy and the level of quality. Hearing a great singer 15 feet away is a visceral experience.”
Don’t take Palmer’s word for it. The company’s work is in demand and well-received. Of its most recent production, Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “Like the best ghost stories, The Turn of the Screw draws its power . . . from the intimacy and taunting plainness of its approach. Intimacy and precision are the hallmarks of San Francisco Lyric Opera’s splendid production of the opera. Conducted with exemplary care by artistic director Barnaby Palmer and sung by a uniformly fine cast, Sunday’s matinee performance allowed the audience to witness the work’s magic right up close, without flinching or cheating.”
Asked about the challenges of space and budget limitations he and his staff face, and the compromises they may need to make, Palmer speaks with remarkable conviction on how such challenges force the company to be creative. No fly space for scenery? Small stage? Limited back stage area for set pieces? No problem, says Palmer.
“We don’t look at it as making compromises. Rather, we find solutions that stimulate the curiosity of the audience,” he says. “We use wonderful projections and suggestive sets that more engage the imagination of the audience, as opposed to telling them what to think, that suggest to them the mood and feeling, and they can fill in the details. It’s much like reading a book where you develop an exact interpretation of what that character or setting looks like. It’s a reflection of what you imagine.” This, Palmer feels strongly, requires the audience to contribute to the production, rather than allowing them to just sit back and be entertained.
An example of this comes, again, from The Turn of the Screw. “We had an ornate, enormous door to show the entrance to the mansion where the family lived. The rest were projections, and lighting played a great part in conveying the strange, veiled mood of the house. Also, it can be very difficult to show the woods. Projections and drops helped that immensely.” Palmer went on to say that if you’re tasteful and imaginative, a few touches can create an atmosphere that pulls an audience in.
Even with works that are considered “big” operas, such as Aida (the company’s upcoming production), Palmer asserts that the same approach can work well. “Again, you have to be imaginative enough to take on the difficulties of big works. Most operas that are considered big are made up of mostly intimate scenes with only two or three bigger scenes, so that’s where the challenge comes in.”
Palmer refused to specify how he and his production team are addressing the particular challenges Aida poses. “You’ll have to come see it,” he teased, but he assured me that the production would not suffer for lack of big budget or space.
“You know, most of the key people on the staff—the stage director, set designer, costume designer, chorus master, etc.—are around my age, somewhere between early and late thirties,” he explained. “And many of us have done the bulk of the standard repertoire—and we’re definitely not interested in settling back with the company. We want it to stay interesting and imaginative.
“The nice thing about having a smaller company is that you’re certainly not staying on for the money. So, if people are staying there for three, five, seven years, it means that they’re still being stimulated by the work that’s happening. It’s artistically satisfying for us. That’s a very good insurance policy against malaise and tedium.” And of course, as Palmer noted, adventurous programming and a good production team often attract good performers.
So where would Palmer and the company like to be in five years? Again, he wouldn’t answer specifically because he wants to discuss his ideas with the staff and board before making a public pronouncement on the direction of the company. He did say, however, that he wants to do more adventurous programming, further define the organization’s niche and specific place in San Francisco’s highly active and diverse performing arts community, and broaden its audience.
“I have, in my opinion, very exciting ideas about where the company should go,” says the intrepid director. “And it means growing the company in a really exciting new direction. I hope to go more public with that in the next few months.”
If SFLO’s past is any indication of its future, the next few years should give San Francisco-area opera lovers something to look forward to.
