The Makropulos Case by Leos Janácek San Francisco Opera 30 October 1993 This somewhat obscure piece was my first Janácek, and I found it interesting and satisfying. Musically it offered relatively little of the sustained line of melody typical in romantic opera, but there was much richly textured orchestration, and some fine legato singing by Emilia Marty (Stephanie Sundine) in the final act. Overall, the strength of this piece drew more on the surprisingly well acted characterizations of Sundine and others than on conventional operatic flash. Sundine was very much the center of the piece. She was pretty, supple and evocative, convincing in her cynical, egocentric behaviors, a good actor as well as capable singer. (The bio notes her past success as Salome, which is very believeable, and also mentions Isolde, which I would love to hear her sing although it seems, based on this performance, too great a stretch for her essentially lyrical sound.) Baron Prus (Tom Fox) and son (William Burden) were both strikingly handsome and the baron, in particular, had a command stage presence. All in all, it added up to a performance more noteable for the acting and overall impact than the singing. The music was satisfying to me, vivid and well-paced, perhaps more arresting for its unfamiliarity. Charles Mackerras coonducted confidently and the orchestra responded well to him. I liked the sound of Czech language singing. The opera is short, three quick acts flying by. Others: Graham Clark (Albert Gregor) was another strong stage presence; we enjoyed him as Capt. Vere in Billy Budd in NY and on TV as the worm in Versailles. He was again in good form. Kathleen Brett was sweet-voiced and innocent looking as Krista. STage direction was by SF Opera director Lofti Mansouri and Elisabeth Söderström.