Doors in front of the War Memorial Opera House are locked these days, but the stage entrance is busy as the San Francisco Opera is in high gear, preparing for the fall season. The production that's sure to get the most attention, Gyorgy Ligeti's "Le Grand Macabre," requires more work than others because of its difficult music, complicated staging and big chorus numbers. Controversy is writ large over the piece, beginning with that word in the title, which means "gruesome, shockingly repellent, inspiring horror." Even in Ligeti's mostly humorous treatment, there is no denying what has been said after the European premiere: "Ligeti has not done anything more calculated to enrage and bemuse than `Le Grand Macabre,' an opera that portrays everything from sadomasochism and nymphomania to infantilism and a failed apocalypse." Responses to the music - a mix of shades of Monteverdi, Verdi, Rossini and "repellent" cacophony - range from "...magical, funny and delicious, as `The Magic Flute'... powerful and filled with beauty," to words that cannot be readily repeated except in the opera itself. When its run begins at SFO at the end of October, critical and audience response to "Macabre" is likely to be cacophonic itself. For production information, see http://sfopera.com/04_castcrew.asp?operaseasonid"1. Members of the Opera Chorus (still waiting for their contract) have reported on the eventful first rehearsal for "Macabre": it took place on the very day when in-house notices were posted of Pamela Rosenberg's decision not to seek extension of her contract as general director. Our own Choral Deep Throat writes: "The chorus read the announcement on the bulletin board as we signed in for the rehearsal. No one said anything, but the rehearsal started off in an energized mood. By total coincidence, the first thing we rehearsed was a scene in which we sing "Our great leader! Our great leader!" again and again, followed immediately by the words, "Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" many times over. Talk about surreal!" Here are some snippets of the music: from the Car Horn Prelude, http://tinyurl.com/4kn4t; "Shut Up," http://tinyurl.com/6apmh; "Amanda, can do no more," http://tinyurl.com/4pnl7. Janos Gereben/SF www.sfcv.org [log in to unmask]