Our Group Ticket Organizer Joan Lam has worked tirelessly to put together a Group Ticket Offer to Cycle III of the Ring at the Washington National Opera in 2016. Dates are: May 17, May 18, May 20 and May 22, 2016 Cast includes: Wotan: Alan Held; Fricka: Jamie Barton; Fasolt: Julian Close ; Fafner: Soloman… Continue reading Washington National Opera – Ring 2016
The Wagner Society of Northern California is delighted to announce that we have been invited to present a recital and reception at the German Residence of Consul General Schlueter and his wife Ana Luisa de Carvalho-Schlueter. These special Wagner Society events are delightful, however, this year the recital will be especially exciting. The Society… Continue reading Recital at the German Residence
1:00 June 13, 2015 JCCSF - 2nd Floor Gallanter Hall 3200 California Street (intersection of California and Presidio) San Francisco, CA Les Troyens, the tragédie lyrique that forms the crown jewel of Berlioz's late career, stands comfortably alongside Meyerbeer's best, Don Carlos, and even its near-contemporary, Tristan. This talk considers Berlioz's lifelong obsession with the… Continue reading "Like Stalactites in Humid Caves: the Genesis of Les Troyens"
The Poet's Task: "It sounded so old, and yet was so new" (Es klang so alt, und war so neu) It is Wagner Society tradition to conduct a symposium in conjunction with Wagner opera performances in San Francisco. The symposium will discuss Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. Registration begins 9:30 and Symposium convenes at 10:00.… Continue reading Meistersinger Symposium
JCC-SF 3200 California Street (intersection of California and Presidio - San Francisco, CA) 2nd Floor Gallanter Hall The originally scheduled program "Genius in Exile" with Antoine Pasquier Wagner is postponed. We are in the process of rescheduling this program. The Society is delighted that Marty Kirschen has agreed to move his Fall program in to fill… Continue reading A Story Map of the Land of the Ring AND Wagner Societies Today
Space is limited, admission is available by reservation only The Washington National Opera is presenting for the first time 3 complete cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen from April 30 to May 22, 2016. This will be the same widely praised production by Francesca Zambello which many Society members saw in San Francisco in 2011. The Washington National Opera has engaged an exciting cast, many… Continue reading Francesca Zambello – WNO Ring Talk
JCC-SF 3200 California Street (intersection of California and Presidio) San Francisco, CA MEETING DATE HAS BEEN MOVED TO SEPT 19TH.* In this biographical and musical road movie by Andy Sommer, Antoine Wagner Pasquier heads to Switzerland on the trail of his great-great-grandfather, renowned composer Richard Wagner. In order to comprehend the composer's complex personality, Antoine… Continue reading Wagner Genius in Exile
JCC-SF 3200 California Street, San Francisco, CA (corner of California and Presidio) The Wagner Society welcomes back Professor Adrian Daub, Associate Professor of German Studies, Stanford University Wagner à quatre mains: Four-Hand Piano and the Wagner phenomenon It is easy to see that Richard Wagner's operas became cultural mainstays in the German-speaking world and beyond… Continue reading Wagner à quatre mains: Four-Hand Piano and the Wagner phenomenon
VISIT YOUR LOCAL THEATER! James Levine conducts Wagner’s early masterpiece in its first return to the Met stage in more than a decade. Today’s leading Wagnerian tenor, Johan Botha, takes on the daunting title role of the young knight caught between true love and passion. Eva-Maria Westbroek is Elisabeth, adding another Wagner heroine to her… Continue reading MET OPERA HD – Tannhaeuser
The Poet's Task: "It sounded so old, and yet was so new" (Es klang so alt, und war so neu) It is Wagner Society tradition to conduct a symposium in conjunction with Wagner opera performances in San Francisco. The symposium will discuss Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. Registration begins 9:30 and Symposium convenes at 10:00.… Continue reading Symposium – Meistersinger!
Join the Wagner Society as we wrap-up the year with this popular celebratory event. The event kicks off with a "bubbly" greeting and then our entertainment for the event. Noted Wagnerian soprano Maire Plette will perform her hilarious rendition of the Anna Russell's famous "The Ring of the Nibelungen". Marie is well-known to local audiences… Continue reading Cosima Party 2015
Wagner's Bayreuth and Hitler's Munich Professor David Clay Large Germany’s history between national unification in 1871 and the Third Reich can be read in part as a tale of two Bavarian cities, Bayreuth and Munich, which were linked culturally and politically by the protean heritage of Richard Wagner, among other ties. The toxic socio-political… Continue reading Wagner’s Bayreuth and Hitler’s Munich
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… Continue reading How Elsa Showed Wagner the Way to Siegfried – A Zoom Lecture with Paul Heise
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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… Continue reading 2026 Cosima Wagner Holiday Celebration Brunch
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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… Continue reading Leo Eylar Returns!
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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.… Continue reading What does the Ring actually do in Wagner’s Ring Cycle? with Prof. Thomas Grey
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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… Continue reading Wagner and Mendelssohn a Zoom talk with Erica Miner
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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. Katherine Syer has taught at the University… Continue reading Aspects of the Ring with Katherine Syer
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