[From the 4/11 SFCV.org]

   A New Dracula for San Francisco?
   Classical Voice's Lisa Hirsch has followed up "whispers and
   rumors" by going directly to the source: she asked Little Women
   and Lysistrata composer Mark Adamo if he happens to be working
   on something for San Francisco Opera and general manager David
   Gockley, with whom he has long collaborated.

   Adamo's reply: "Fingers crossed, yes. We are having serious
   talks about my third opera, but the first for San Francisco -
   a grand-opera scaled variation on Bram Stoker's Dracula. We'd
   actually been talking about this since 1999, as what would have
   been the third commission for Houston Grand Opera [Gockley's
   former company] but the first for the 2,700-seat Brown Auditorium,
   rather than the 1,200-seat Cullen Theater." [Following the Enron
   collapse and 9/11, and Houston Opera's subsequent financial
   crisis, Gockley substituted Mozart and Lehar for the world
   premiere Adamo's Lysistrata and the local premiere of Jake
   Heggie's Dead Man Walking, making good on both expensive and
   box-office risky novelty plans later.]

   As for timing, Adamo says Gockley has indicated that the new
   opera could be scheduled as early as the 2009-2010 season, "but
   I am very grateful that he is being patient with me as I figure
   out what the piece is about. This is always the most time-consuming
   - because the most important - part of the process: what does
   Dracula have to say to us now that hasn't already been said a
   thousand times?

   "There's no point in making just an opulent thriller, or some
   sarcastic, `ecole de Buffy' version in a 3,200-seat house with
   full chorus and winds in threes. I truly don't want to commit
   to a date, having been late with both previous operas and a
   concerto until I know that I've found - forgive the pun - the
   lifeblood of this material and that I really will finish the
   opera when I say I will."

   Adamo who has been composer-in-residence at New York City Opera
   since 2001, was last heard in these parts at the Cabrillo Festival,
   when Marin Alsop conducted Little Women at the Cabrillo Festival
   (http://www.sfcv.org/arts_revs/cabrillo_8_6_02.html). Incidentally,
   when it comes to a "local Dracula opera," Alva Henderson (of San
   Francisco State and S.F. Conservatory of Music) premiered his
   Nosferatu just a little over a year ago
   (http://www.sfcv.org/arts_revs/letterfromboise_11_9_04.php).

   Karen Ames, the Opera's director of communications, responded
   to our request for comment by saying on Monday that "Mark Adamo
   is one of many composers that David mentions frequently when
   asked about future planning. The discussions are ongoing and no
   formal plans or timeframes have been settled."

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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