Arts & Events

Written in 1948 during Franco’s Fascist regime in Spain, Albert Camus’s L’État de siège (State of Siege) may have gained a new relevancy in Trump’s America. Brought to our shores by Théàtre de la Ville-Paris, State of Siege was performed October 21-2 under the auspices of Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall. Director Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota calls State of Siege “a grand allegory,” one that may help us face “the horrific perils such as we are now experiencing.” Though this play has clear albeit oblique references to both Fascist Spain and Nazi Germany, Camus’s State of Siege has eerie resonance in today’s world of Trump’s megalomania. Though nominally set in Cadiz, Spain, State of Siege offers a Kafkaesque view of totalitarian government everywhere it rears its ugly head. In some ways, this play reminded me of George Orwell’s 1984, for here too the meanings of words are turned on their heads. When a vote is scheduled in this play, one totalitarian functionary explains to another that the electorate is free. If they vote for the existing totalitarian government, he says, it proves they are free. If they vote against the oppressive regime, he says, it proves they are misled by sentimentality and are therefore not free. Such is the logic of dictators. I can imagine Trump saying this. -more-

Substituting for Sol Gabetta, who recently gave birth to her first child, cellist Joshua Roman gave a finely honed rendition of Antonin Dvorák’s great Cello Concerto in B minor. In a series of San Francisco Symphony concerts at Davies Hall, October 19-21, Joshua Roman teamed up nicely with conductor Krzysztof Urbanski, avoiding the mismatched difficulties that plagued the team of Urbanski and violinist Augustin Hadelich ten days or so ago in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Though I laid most of the blame on Hadelich for that highly unsatisfactory rendition of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, conductor Urbanski must shoulder some responsibility, for, ultimately, it is up to the conductor to bring in line a recalcitrant soloist. Happily, with Joshua Roman as soloist in Dvorák’s Cello Concerto, there was no need for Urbanski to right the ship, for Roman and Urbanski seemed to be on the same course from the outset. -more-

To cap off their weeklong residency at UC Berkeley, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major and his Symphony No. 3 in F Major on Sunday afternoon, October 15, at Zellerbach Hall. Having heard Riccardo Muti conduct the CSO’s Friday evening concert, which featured a superb performance of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 in E flat Major, “Romantic,” I couldn’t resist taking advantage of an opportunity to hear this great orchestra once again, even if Sunday’s all-Brahms program was, to my mind, the least interesting of the CSO’s three concert programs here. -more-

Théâtre de la Ville of Paris has staged creative productions here before--an impressive version of Ionesco's 'Rhinoceros' with something like virtual automata for the beasts, and more recently a fine version of a truly great play, Pirandello's 'Six Characters in Search of an Author's in 2014.

Now Cal Performances has brought them back this weekend with their production of Albert Camus' fourth play, 'State of Siege,' 1948 ('État de siège,' The original meaning closer to 'State of Emergency'), about a Spanish city--Cadiz--reduced to silence under authoritarian rule when a comet is seen overhead, and a citywide gag rule is declared concerning the omen, with a chorus parroting: "Nothing's happening, nothing will happen!" -more-