November 5, 2007

Hope springs eternal
'I'm making the best of lemonade,' says soprano dumped by S.F. Opera
By Jackie Burrell

STAFF WRITER

Comparisons to operatic phoenixes seem a natural for soprano Hope Briggs, the high-profile singer ditched by the San Francisco Opera last June at the eleventh hour. And when she speaks of what she's experienced since then, it's with the dazzling smile and confidence of a musician whose star is back on the rise.

Not only was she quickly snatched up by the Oakland East Bay Symphony for its fall premiere, she's just back from a whirlwind performance of "Aida" with the Nevada Opera -- where it was Briggs riding in as an eleventh-hour replacement -- and her performance schedule is overflowing.

"I'm making the best of lemonade," Briggs says with a broad grin. "There was so much love and support from all over the country."

Sipping a mocha in a cozy cafe near Oakland's Paramount Theatre, her bright green coat slung over a chair back, Briggs exudes a down-to-earth grace and relentless optimism that everything happens for a purpose -- even a dismissal that many artists might have found crushing.

She admits she was stunned by what happened in the wings of the San Francisco Opera House last spring, when general director David Gockley decided she was "not ultimately suited" for her starring role in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" -- after the dress rehearsal and just days before the opera opened.

Critics, bloggers, even the New York Times questioned whether race had figured into the decision. The dismissal "left a bitter taste," Daniel Waken wrote in the New York Times, and "created an awkward -- and racially tinged -- situation for the San Francisco Opera."

Gockley and Briggs both scoff at any such allegation. And Briggs refuses to let anything impolitic pass her lips. Ever.

"It's a great company," she says. "I love that house. I love the people. I know I will sing there again. But even on top of that, I absolutely feel God has total control of my life -- one day we'll see the blessings that came out of that bizarre, crazy time."

Those blessings may already be here.

The Oakland East Bay Symphony's new season opens Friday with a program that was revamped just weeks after the opera debacle. The original program featured "symphonies with fives in them," says music director Michael Morgan, "because I had my 50th birthday. But I wanted to bring Hope back to sing with us."

For Morgan, it was a natural way to reach out.

"A lot of people said it would be nice to do something for her, since she was having that difficulty over there," Morgan said. "Even the people over there were all for it. I talked to them about it. I just wanted it clear that I was doing it to support Hope, as opposed to having any opinion on what happened there."

Gockley, who was interviewed half to death last spring, refused to say anything further on the "Don Giovanni" affair but, he says, "I have tremendous respect for Hope Briggs as an artist and wish her every success in her engagement with the Oakland East Bay Symphony."

Friday's program includes Beethoven's Fifth; Leonard Bernstein's "Fancy Free"; and a selection of Wagner, Puccini and Verdi arias, showcasing Briggs' dulcet tones.

For Briggs, it's a homecoming in more ways than one. She likes to tease Morgan by telling him he was "her first" -- orchestral job, that is. And the Bay Area is home turf, despite East Coasters who try to claim the Berkeley resident as one of their own.

Briggs grew up in South San Francisco as part of a musical family. A natural singer, she had never had voice lessons or learned to read music before heading south for college. Ironically, she turned down a scholarship to USC, where she would have had to study opera, for a music degree at Cal State Fullerton ... where she fell in love with opera anyway. What she had intended was a career in jazz or on Broadway. Instead, she found herself immersed in a world of soaring arias and lush choral music.

"It was lovely," she says. "I thought, 'Hey, I don't mind this.'"

That was it.

"'Thank you, Lord, for opening my mind and my ears to this amazing music,'" she remembers praying. "Now my plate is a wonderful smorgasbord of all these different genres."

From there, her career took off. First on a national tour with the Houston Opera, then with performances with symphony orchestras and opera companies here and abroad. She performed in Mozart's "Magic Flute" with Opera Frankfurt, Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" with the Houston Grand Opera, and Busoni's "Doktor Faust" with the San Francisco Opera. That 2004 performance reaped raves from Opera News, which described her as "delivering one of the evening's highlights with her lusciously intoned, lovelorn aria."

It has been a glorious ride, Briggs says. "I always believed in appreciating each moment -- celebrating it."

Briggs has had much to celebrate lately. In addition to upcoming performances in Oakland, Seattle and New Orleans, where she's booked to do a new opera, she is just back from that whirlwind gig with the Nevada Opera. She flew in, did a blocking rehearsal at 10 a.m., a full run-through at 1 p.m. and the curtain rose on "Aida" a few days later.

"It was amazing," she says, "one of those pinch-me things."

Briggs' glowing smile turns bashful, as she recalls the critic who called her sudden appearance "an acquisition made in heaven."

"If the reviewer only knew," she says, "Divine intervention sent me there."

Reach Jackie Burrell at jburrell@bayareanewsgroup.com.

INTERVIEW

WHO: Hope Briggs

WHAT: Appearing in Oakland East Bay Symphony's opening gala concert conducted by Michael Morgan at 8 p.m. Nov. 9. at the Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $25-$65, available through Ticketmaster.com or at 925-685-8497. The 2007-08 season includes Verdi's Requiem in January, a musical tribute to China in February, an all-Persian program in March and a festive season closer that features mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. The symphony's Dec. 2 holiday concert includes the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, Piedmont Choirs, Mt. Eden High School Choir and klezmer group Kugelplex.