San Francisco Symphony presents John Adams: The Gospel According to the Other Mary
2017-02-16
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
8:00 PM, Thursday, February 16, 2017

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John Adams: The Gospel According to the Other Mary, a Passion oratorio in two acts (2012)
Libretto compiled by Peter Sellars from Biblical sources and original texts by Dorothy Day, Rosario Castellanos, June Jordan, Louise Erdrich and Primo Levi.

<(wip)>

[7:58 PM SFS members noodling and ready]
[8:00 PM lights down, announcements, conductor out]

1. [8:m PM] Scene One: Jail / House of Hospitality - “The Next Day in the City Jail”
2. [8:m PM] “Now a Certain Woman Named Martha”
   [Scene Two: Mary]
3. [8:m PM] “And She Had a Sister Named Mary”
4. [8:m PM] “I Am Surprised That I Am Beginning to Pray Daily”
5. [8:m PM] “En un día de amor yo bajé hasta la tierra”
   [Scene Three: Lazarus]
6. [8:m PM] “Now a Certain Man Was Sick”
7. [8:m PM] Lazarus Dies While the Sisters Await Jesus
8. [8:m PM] “Why Standest Thou Afar Off, O Lord?”
9. [8:m PM] “In My Own Quietly Explosive Here”
10. [8:m PM] “Don't Touch My Left Arm”
11. [8:m PM] “When Mary Was Come Where Jesus Was”
12. [8:m PM] “Jesus Said, Take Ye Away the Stone”
13. [8:m PM] “And When He Thus Had Spoken”
14. [8:m PM] “Drop Down, Ye Heavens, From Above”
    [Scene Four: Supper at Bethany]
15. [8:m PM] “Then Jesus Six Days Before the Passover”
16. [8:m PM] “For the Grave Cannot Praise Thee”
17. [8:m PM] “Then Took Mary a Pound of Ointment”
    [Scene Five: Passover]
18. [8:m PM] “And There Were Some That Had Indignation”
19. [8:m PM] “We Know There Will Be No Utopias”
20. [8:m PM] “Tell Me: How Is This Night Different”
    [set ends 9:19 PM]

[9:41 PM lights down, tuning]

1. [9:m PM] “Who Rips His Own Flesh Down The Seams”
   [Scene One: Police Raid]
2. [9:m PM] “Martha And Mary, Not Knowing”
   [Scene Two: Arrest of the Women]
3. [9:m PM] (Instrumental Introduction)
4. [9:m PM] “Up at Two A.M., Picketed All Day”
5. [9:m PM] “The Said Defendants”
6. [9:m PM] “Jesús, incomparable perdonador de injurias”
   [Scene Three: Golgotha]
7. [9:m PM] “And They Were Come Unto a Place Called Golgotha”
8. [9:m PM] “Daughters of Jerusalem, Weep Not for Me”
9. [9:m PM] “Now There Stood by the Cross of Jesus”
10. [9:m PM] “When Jesus Saw His Mother”
    [Scene Four: Night]
11. [10:m PM] “When the Rain Began to Fall”
12. [10:m PM] “His Son Cried Out to Him”
    [Scene Five: Burial / Spring]
13. [10:m PM] “Now in the Place Where He Was Crucified”
14. [10:m PM] Mary Awakens on the Third Morning
15. [10:m PM] “It Is Spring”
    [Scene Six: Earthquake and Recognition]
    16. [10:m PM] “And, Behold, There Was a Great Earthquake”
16. [10:m PM] “Why Seek Ye the Living Among the Dead?” [show ends 10:48 PM; applause for a few minutes, John Adams appears to take a bow with the cast, then all off]

San Francisco Symphony & Chorus

• Grant Gershon: conductor;
• Michael Tilson Thomas: music director;
• Ragnar Bohlin: director;

symphony and chorus performers vary by program.

• Daniel Bubeck: countertenor vox;
• Brian Cummings: countertenor vox;
• Jay Hunter Morris: tenor vox;
• Nathan Medley: countertenor vox;
• Tamara Mumford: mezzo-soprano vox;
• Kelley O'Connor: mezzo-soprano vox.

<(wip)>

Woulda been nice to hear the pre-show talk with Alexandra Amati-Camperi at 7 PM, but today's inclement weather really messed up traffic, and instead of getting to Davies Early, I barely made it on time.

Walking out, I stupidly realized that I'd been confusing this work with Adam's earlier Nativity piece, El Niño, which I saw in 2001 or 2010.

• Jeff Kaliss posted a promo interview with John Adams at SFCV.
• Joshua Kosman posted a promo interview with John Adams with the SF Chronicle.
• Jessica Balik posted a review at SFCV.

peeps: Randy, Monique Kaufman

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!