BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//The Wagner Society of Northern California - ECPv6.2.3//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://wagnersf.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Wagner Society of Northern California
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Los_Angeles
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20260308T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20261101T090000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20270314T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20271107T090000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261017T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261017T143000
DTSTAMP:20261025T043413
CREATED:20260123T204903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260519T010802Z
UID:57357-1792242000-1792247400@wagnersf.org
SUMMARY:The TRANSformation of Mime a Zoom talk with Holden Madagame
DESCRIPTION:Holden Madagame recently performed the role of Mime in Das Rheingold and Siegfried with Regents Opera (London\, UK) where his performance so impressed Wagner Society President\, Andy Rombakis\, that he decided to invite Holden to share his experience with us. Holden is an American tenor and University of Michigan School of Music\, Theatre\, and Dance alumni. He studied with bass-baritone Stephen West as a mezzo soprano\, and currently lives in Germany. They are Odawa and a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Peshawbetown\, Michigan. \nHolden is a passionate trans activist forging the way for trans-identified artists to work openly in opera and classical music. He has built a robust resume in traditional operatic repertoire while also being driven to create and perform new works. One such project was the collaboration with Kerstin Steeb at Kampnagel in Hamburg for IT’S A MASS in 2023. Holden’s goal is to disrupt the opera industry not only through his identity as a queer\, transgender\, Indigenous artist but also through the innovative content of his performances. Holden’s artistic accomplishments include performing in the workshop premiere of Good Country in Austin\, Texas\, where he sang one of the first operatic roles written specifically for a transgender voice\, marking a deeply fulfilling artistic milestone. \nHis artistic persona is deeply tied to movement and the pursuit of optimum performance\, as is often talked about in sports psychology. Holden seeks to connect this experience of optimum performance with the healing and somatic experience of an ‘embodied voice’. A recent project representing this is Ninishkaadiz: I am angry\, a project presented as part of Hogfish’s artistic residency in Portland\, Maine centered around his research on rage and the embodied voice. \nHis more traditional achievements include winning the Kammeroper Rheinsberg Competition in both 2021 and 2022\, where he performed the roles of Hexe in Hänsel und Gretel and Zirkusdirektor in Die verkaufte Braut as well as the aforementioned Ring Cycle in London.
URL:https://wagnersf.org/events/the-transformation-of-mime-a-zoom-talk-with-holden-madagame/
LOCATION:Zoom Meeting
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://wagnersf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-23-123615-e1769200652739.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261114T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261114T150000
DTSTAMP:20261025T043413
CREATED:20260709T192538Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260709T195320Z
UID:57456-1794661200-1794668400@wagnersf.org
SUMMARY:How Elsa Showed Wagner the Way to Siegfried - A Zoom Lecture with Paul Heise
DESCRIPTION:Paul Heise’s zoom talk “How Elsa Showed Wagner the Way to Siegfried” is an update of his article of the same name originally published in the May\, 1995 issue of Wagner\, the peer-reviewed journal of The Wagner Society (London\, UK). Its subject is how Wagner’s last traditional opera Lohengrin paved the way for Wagner’s revolutionary music-drama The Ring of the Nibelung\, both conceptually and allegorically. It promises to be a fascinating lecture. \nMr. Heise is a lifelong Wagnerite\, having had his first taste upon hearing the Forest Murmurs from Siegfried on the radio at 18. He has devoted his life to creating a “global interpretation” of the Ring. As such\, he proposes that the entirety of the Ring‘s music\, libretto\, and dramatic structure can be construed in extraordinary detail within one universal frame of reference. Further\, Heise proposes that Wagner’s other canonical operas and music-dramas\, from The Flying Dutchman through Parsifal\, can be fruitfully construed in light of the coherent world-view which he maintains gives the Ring its conceptual and artistic coherence. \nBOOKS BY PAUL HEISE AVAILABLE FROM ACADEMICA PRESS: \nPrequel to The Ring of the Nibelung: How Wagner’s Three Canonical Operas (The Flying Dutchman\, Tannhäuser”\, and Lohengrin) Paved the Way to his Mature Music Dramas (Academica Press\, 2026: 470 pages) \nThe Wound That Will Never Heal: An Allegorical Interpretation of  Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung (Academica Press\, 2021:  592 pages) \nWagner’s Mature Music-Dramas (Tristan and Isolde\, The Mastersingers  of Nuremberg\, and Parsifal) in Light of their Allegorical Relationship to The Ring of the Nibelung (Academica Press\, 2025: 639 pages) \nThe hardback edition of each of these three books can be obtained for $59.95 per book by asking for the author’s discount of 40% at orders@academicapress.com.  Add $5.00 for domestic\, and $10.00 for international\, shipping costs. Furthermore\, the paperback edition of The Wound That Will Never Heal can be obtained for $40.00 from orders@academicapress.com. Mr. Heise believes that these three books are the most comprehensive studies of Wagner’s librettos\, his employment of musical motifs to enhance their meaning\, and the secondary documentary evidence offered by Wagner’s mentors Ludwig Feuerbach and Arthur Schopenhauer\, as well as Wagner’s own commentary on his artworks\, in the literature. Each book concludes with detailed guides to the musical motifs of each of Wagner’s seven artworks discussed in them. Mr. Heise expects to update his website www.wagnerheim.com by making the sound files and musical notation for all of the numbered musical motifs listed in these seven motif guides accessible for visitors to hear later this summer. \nNOTE THAT THIS LECTURE WILL BE RECORDED AND POSTED ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL. IN ADDITION A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS LECTURE WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE AFTER THE TALK.  \n 
URL:https://wagnersf.org/events/how-elsa-showed-wagner-the-way-to-siegfried-a-zoom-lecture-with-paul-heise/
LOCATION:Zoom Meeting
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://wagnersf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-09-125047.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261206T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20261206T140000
DTSTAMP:20261025T043413
CREATED:20260429T011633Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261023T231549Z
UID:57459-1796556600-1796565600@wagnersf.org
SUMMARY:2026 Cosima Wagner Holiday Celebration Brunch
DESCRIPTION:Our traditional Wagnerian Celebration returns once more to the Classic Marines’ Memorial Club and Hotel. This year\, in addition to a festive repast served in the beautiful Crystal Lounge\, the musical program will feature a performance by current Adler Fellows\, Sadie Cheslak and Ji Youn Lee. Mezzo-soprano Sadie Cheslak\, a first-year Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera\, was a winner of the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Award of the American-Scandinavian Foundation. She has won several other important competitions and will sing the Rheingold Erda at SFO in June. Coach/pianist Ji Youn Lee is a second year Adler Fellow. With degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and Julliard\, she recently worked on the music staff of Elektra\, Simon Boccanegra and Nozze di Figaro. For more detailed information on these great young performers check out more detailed bios here. \nThe performance by our guest artists will be followed by a delicious luncheon provided by our hosts at the Marines’ Memorial. Following are the menu choices. When booking please remember to use the drop down list at the bottom of the checkout page to request your preferred entree. \n\nChesty’s Chicken\, Tarragon Mustard\, Black Forest Ham\, Beefsteak Tomato\, Fingerling Potatoes\, Market Vegetables\nGrilled Salmon\, Saffron Vegetable Orzo\, Grilled Meyer Lemon\nVegetarian/Gluten Free: Grilled Portobello Mushroom stuffed with Spinach and Cherry Tomatoes\, Balsamic Reduction\, Fingerling Potatoes\, Carrots and Broccoli\n\nIMPORTANT NOTE: SECURE YOUR PLACE FOR THIS GREAT EVENT NOW! BOOKING CLOSE ON NOVEMBER 24th!\nPhoto Credit: Niels Noordhoek
URL:https://wagnersf.org/events/save-the-date-2026-cosima-wagner-holiday-celebration-brunch/
LOCATION:Marines’ Memorial Club and Hotel\, 609 Sutter Street\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94102\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://wagnersf.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/159px-Champagne_uncorking_photographed_with_a_high_speed_air-gap_flash.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20270123T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20270123T143000
DTSTAMP:20261025T043413
CREATED:20261016T200557Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261016T200557Z
UID:57578-1800709200-1800714600@wagnersf.org
SUMMARY:Leo Eylar Returns!
DESCRIPTION:An erudite and engaging speaker\, Leo Eylar returns for another fascinating lecture to the Society. His last talks with us covered “thematic transformation” – aka leitmotifs. This lecture will be a continue his examination of this key area of Wagner’s art\, focusing on aspects of this subject that he did not have time to cover in his previous talks. \nYou can check out his previous lectures featured on our YouTube channel: \n\n“Wagner’s French Connections” in June\, 2024 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-sc3qjA2rI )\n“Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Thematic Transformation (aka Leitmotifs)” in January\, 2025 (https://youtu.be/_epM6lu9Lxw )\n“Thematic Transformations – The Ring and other Wagner Operas” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2szt_Ln4aZo\n\nCurrently serving as the Music Director of the California Youth Symphony\, Leo Eylar is also an active composer. Born in Los Angeles to a musical family. He began studying violin at the age of nine and was accepted into the private studios of both Jascha Heifitz and Ruggiero Ricci. Eylar attended Northwestern University and the University of Southern California and in 1980 joined the Seattle Symphony. Shifting gears in 1982\, he was awarded a grant to study conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. After studies there with Otmar Suitner\, he returned to the U.S. and completed his Master’s Degree in conducting at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music while simultaneously holding the position of Co-Concertmaster of the San Jose Symphony from 1984-89. Eylar was on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1985-88. He is now Professor Emeritus at CSU\, Sacramento where he served on the full-time faculty for 30 years directing its symphony orchestra\, as well as teaching music theory\, history\, and composition. Since 1990 he has been Conductor and Music Director of the California Youth Symphony. Under his masterful and spirited direction the orchestra has enhanced its reputation as one of the finest youth orchestras in the world and has performed to great critical acclaim across four continents. He has also guest-conducted extensively throughout Europe and Asia\, including prestigious music festivals in Japan\, Austria\, France\, and Australia. \nAs a composer\, his works\, which blend a rich\, coloristic neo-romanticism with elements of jazz and driving Eastern European rhythmic vitality\, have been performed in Carnegie Hall\, as well as in England\, the Netherlands\, Japan\, Germany\, Russia\, China\, and Austria as well as multiple recordings.
URL:https://wagnersf.org/events/leo-eylar-returns/
LOCATION:Jewish Community Center – San Francisco\, 3200 California Street\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94118\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://wagnersf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Leo-Eylar-10.png.webp
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20270306T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20270306T143000
DTSTAMP:20261025T043413
CREATED:20261018T234537Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261018T234924Z
UID:57589-1804338000-1804343400@wagnersf.org
SUMMARY:What does the Ring actually do in Wagner’s Ring Cycle? with Prof. Thomas Grey
DESCRIPTION:Well known to Wagner Society members\, Thomas Grey will examine the meaning and functions of the “ring” Wagner’s epic cycle. Grey is a Professor Emeritus of Musicology and by courtesy\, German Studies\, at Stanford University. His special fields of study are: Wagner\, 19th-century opera\, the history of musical aesthetics and criticism\, Romantic music and visual culture. Professor Grey’s many publications include “Wagner’s Musical Prose: Texts and Contexts” (1995)\, “Richard Wagner: The Flying Dutchman” (editor and co-author\, 2000)\, and “Cambridge Companion to Wagner”\, (2008). He has published many articles and reviews as well as chapters in “The Wagner Compendium”\, “The Mendelssohn Companion”\, “Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera”\, “Cambridge History of 19th-Century Music”\, “New History Of German Literature”\, and “Cambridge Opera Handbooks: Tristan und Isolde“. He was Editor-in-Chief\, Journal of the American Musicological Society (1999-2001) and has been on the editorial/advisory boards of the Cambridge Opera Journal\, Nineteenth-Century Music Review\, Wagner Spectrum.
URL:https://wagnersf.org/events/what-does-the-ring-actually-do-in-wagners-ring-cycle-with-prof-thomas-grey/
LOCATION:Jewish Community Center – San Francisco\, 3200 California Street\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94118\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://wagnersf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/22Y_8tnmop2ve9p62rb56di2qc1ibspg1-e1792367016153.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20270424T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20270424T143000
DTSTAMP:20261025T043413
CREATED:20261019T010358Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261019T010358Z
UID:57595-1808571600-1808577000@wagnersf.org
SUMMARY:Wagner and Mendelssohn a Zoom talk with Erica Miner
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a Zoom meeting where Erica will examine the relationship between these two vastly different 19th-century composers. Wagner and Mendelssohn knew each other\, and Wagner expressed admiration for Mendelssohn early on\, but turned against him after his early death. Mendelssohn was a focus of Wagner’s infamous screed\, Das Judenthum in der Musik (Jewishness in Music). \nHere is a link to the archival recording of Erica’s most recent talk to the Society examining the relationship between Wagner and Berlioz: https://youtu.be/RCerW2sK_UY \nViolinist turned author Erica Miner now has a multi-faceted career as an award-winning author\, screenwriter\, journalist\, and lecturer. A native of Detroit\, she studied violin with Boston Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Joseph Silverstein at Boston University where she graduated cum laude; the New England Conservatory of Music; and the Tanglewood Music Center\, summer home of the Boston Symphony\, where she performed with such celebrated conductors as Leonard Bernstein and Erich Leinsdorf. Erica went on to perform with the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Company for 21 years\, where she worked closely with renowned maestro James Levine. \nWhen injuries from a car accident spelled the end of her musical career\, Erica drew upon her lifelong love of writing for inspiration and studied screenwriting in New York and Los Angeles with script gurus Linda Seger and Ken Rotcop. Erica’s screenplays have won awards in a number of recognized competitions such as WinFemme\, Santa Fe\, and the Writer’s Digest. \nInspired by journals she wrote during her travel adventures abroad\, Erica penned the novel and screenplay of Travels With My Lovers\, winner of the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. She also has written the feature screenplay and TV Series Bible for FourEver Friends\, the first in her journal-based novel series chronicling four teenage girls’ coming of age in Detroit in the volatile 1960s. Subsequent novels in the series are set in Boston and New York. In addition\, Erica wrote the screenplay of her mystery novel Murder In The Pit\, now renamed Aria for Murder\, which takes place at the Met. The entire series is being republished by Level Best Books\, with new titles\, covers\, updates\, and enhancements.\n\nErica’s lectures\, seminars\, and workshops on writing and on opera have received kudos in venues worldwide\, including the Seattle Symphony; the Wagner Societies of New York\, Boston\, Los Angeles\, San Diego\, Northern California\, North Carolina\, and Sydney\, Australia; the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of California\, San Diego\, and the University of Washington; for the Creative Retirement Institute at Edmonds College near Seattle; the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall; and on the High Seas\, where Erica was named a top-rated speaker for both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruise Lines. Her wide-ranging topics range from “The Art of Self Re-Invention\,” to “Journaling for Writers: Mining the Gold of Your Own Experiences\,” “Wagner and Bernstein: Parallels and Contrasts\,” “Opera Meets Hollywood;” and numerous others.
URL:https://wagnersf.org/events/wagner-and-mendelssohn-a-zoom-talk-with-erica-miner/
LOCATION:Zoom Meeting
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://wagnersf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Felix_Mendelssohn_Bartholdy_-_Friedrich_Wilhelm_von_Schadow_1834-e1792371137123.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20270605T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20270605T143000
DTSTAMP:20261025T043413
CREATED:20261019T013633Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261019T013750Z
UID:57600-1812200400-1812205800@wagnersf.org
SUMMARY:Aspects of the Ring with Katherine Syer
DESCRIPTION:As the San Francisco Opera starts the monumental undertaking of producing Wagner’s Ring Cycle with performances of Das Rheingold this month\, Katherine Syer’s presentation will enhance our experience with a talk focused on this pinnacle of musical and dramatic art. Further details on her talk will available later. \nKatherine Syer has taught at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the theatre studies and musicology departments and in the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA. Her areas of expertise include historical and contemporary opera/theatre production\, grounding her work as a dramaturg for spoken and lyric theatre. Syer’s scholarship focusing on Wagner’s creative development and legacy has been published in several volumes and journals. Her monograph “Wagner’s Visions: Poetry\, Politics and the Psyche in the Operas through Die Walküre” appeared in 2014 (Boydell and Brewer). An international opera critic for over 30 years\, Syer is an avid performing arts advocate and frequent public speaker. \nHere is a link to Katherine Syer’s most recent lecture to the Society on Richard Strauss’ relationship with Wagner’s influence: https://youtu.be/HBQ0gCHIFo4
URL:https://wagnersf.org/events/katherine-syer/
LOCATION:Jewish Community Center – San Francisco\, 3200 California Street\, San Francisco\, CA\, 94118\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://wagnersf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/K-Syer-1.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR