Tenor Simon O’Neill sings the function of Lohengrin and soprano Julie Adams is Elsa within the San Francisco Opera staging of David Alden’s model of Richard Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” by Nov. 1 on the War Memorial Opera House. (San Francisco Opera/Cory Weaver)

Somewhat stunning: First one hit, then one other, and now a 3rd to proceed the fall-season productions at San Francisco Opera.

There was a masterfully sung model of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore,” the story of the ill-fated Roma troubador, to open the corporate’s a hundred and first season. Next was the illuminating story of the person whose gadgets streamlined communication however led a life marked by profound contradictions: Mason Bates’ and Mark Campbell’s Grammy Award-winning “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,” with a forged whose dedication to vocal artistry was apparent.

And now the staging of Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” the legendary story of the Swan Knight, sharply directed and expertly sung, because it explores themes of warfare, totalitarianism, and the way the results of lies and deceit can ravage a rustic leaning towards fascism. At the identical time, the subtext, on this manufacturing, is a well-known Wagnerian theme: a person’s search for a girl who trusts him and stays trustworthy it doesn’t matter what.

True to the inherent nature of a traditional, it gives commentary on our personal tenuous occasions throughout the globe. The deeply participating and never-boring manufacturing directed by David Alden and led ably by firm music director Eun Sun Kim, it continues to Nov. 1 on the War Memorial Opera House.

There have been so many placing issues, all of them memorable, about this “Lohengrin,” from starting to finish, in Alden’s staging, up to date from the tenth century right into a mid-Twentieth-century wartime Antwerp. However, the manufacturing design derives a particular Twenty first-century influence from Alden’s and set designer Paul Steinberg’s use of types and symbols, amongst them fascistic crimson, white and black banners, dozens of them, dominated by an imposing white swan, and cratered buildings. In brief, because the opera continues over its practically 4 1/2-hour course (with three acts and two intermissions), ideas of the lethal Israeli-Hamas battle and the bloody invasion of Ukraine by Russia are more likely to materialize. It is as related in the present day because it was when it premiered in 1850 in Weimar, Germany.

Arriving in a swan boat (a digital picture on this manufacturing), Lohengrin is the thriller man of Elsa’s dream. She has been falsely accused of killing her brother. All he wishes is that she not ask who he really is. Shortly after, he will get the higher of Telramund, Elsa’s accuser, in a sword duel, then marries Elsa. Later, goaded by the Lady Macbeth-like Ortrud, she insists on studying his id and he tells her: the son of Parsifal and a knight of the Holy Grail (in Arthurian literature the cup that was presupposed to have caught the blood flowing from Christ’s wounded aspect throughout crucifixion). But as soon as he does that, Lohengrin should depart Elsa and by no means return.

As in so lots of his works, Wagner begins the opera with serene and non secular sounds, a precursor of what was to return together with his mammoth, four-opera “Ring” cycle, thought-about by some to be best work of musical theater artwork ever created. Company music director Eun Sun Kim squeezes the essence of Wagner’s sound from the 71-member orchestra and does so all through in a clear-eyed studying of the rating.

As the curtain rises, King Heinrich, portrayed by Icelandic bass Kristinn Signumdsson with all of the requisite solemnity the function requires — which features a gold crown and a flowing however weighty-looking crimson gown — calls on his individuals, spear- and rifle-carrying troopers, to unify in opposition to the Huns. Telramund, sung with energy and depth by American baritone Brian Mulligan, then accuses Elsa of the homicide.

American soprano Julie Adams added dramatic drive to her vocal chores, punching by the orchestra’s wall of sound when essential, as she does on the poignant “Dream” aria (Einsam in truben Tagen) in Act 1. The king requires the homicide allegation to be settled by fight.

Lohengrin, a task sung with athletic heft and readability by New Zealand tenor Simon O’Neill, involves her rescue, and, after all, he defeats however spares Telramund’s life. Within minutes of assembly, the 2 focus on marriage (hey, it’s opera, a kind of theater with music, so go along with it within the second).

In Act 2, Ortrud, sung with appropriately darkish overtones by Romanian-Hungarian mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi, persuades Telramund, her husband, to hunt revenge. She goes as far as to counsel to Elsa that her champion is a magician. Her husband, humiliated and in a bitter temper, believes he was cheated, performing very very like a politician who falsely believes an election has been stolen. While the lie is tough to shake, like repeated falsehoods on the Internet, Elsa stays trustworthy, and the marriage goes ahead.

The Act 3 prelude heralds the enjoyment and love between Lohengrin and Elsa. The curtain goes up on their marriage ceremony chamber and the acquainted strains of “The Wedding March,” adopted by the “Bridal Chorus,” which typically is carried out as a stand-alone piece by symphony orchestras.

Of course, Telramund can’t swallow his wounded delight and goes after Lohengrin once more and dies. Elsa continues to pester the knight to cough up his actual identify and he does. It’s a pivotal scene within the opera, as O’Neill’s character says should then return to the Grail’s seat in Montsalvat. As the swan arrives to return Lohengrin to his house, he transforms the hen into Elsa’s brother, who emerges from a lure door.

And as Lohengrin leaves, the big, crimson fascistic banners fall to the stage flooring, symbolizing the tip of King Heinrich’s imaginative and prescient of a society unified by warfare and his autocratic management. The risk of peace emerges, as does hope for humanity on this opera concerning the triumph of religion and goodness so adeptly carried out by all and deserving of a hearty ovation.

IF YOU GO
What: “Lohengrin”
Where: San Francisco Opera
War Memorial Opera House
301 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
When: Through Nov. 1
Tickets: $10 to $426
Telephone: (415) 864-3330
Online: sfopera.com