Barihunk duo join SF Symphony for semi-staged Ravel opera

Kelly Markgraf and Michael Todd Simpson

Barihunks Michael Todd Simpson and Kelly Markgraf will join the San Francisco Symphony in a semi-staged performance of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Magic Spells) on June 27 and 29–30 at Davies Symphony Hall. They'll be joined by an all-star cast including Isabel Leonard, Anna Christy, Nikki Einfeld, Marnie Breckenridge, Ginger Costa Jackson, Jennifer Johnson-Cano and Ben Jones under the baton of Martyn Brabbins.

The semi-staged production has previously been seen at the Opéra de Lyon in 2012 and 2016, and at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich in 2013. Tickets for the San Francisco performances are available online.

In L’enfant et les sortilèges, Ravel captures the fanciful world of a young child. Set in a country house in Normandy, the story opens with a boy being scolded by his mother and left alone in his room. Rebellious and fractious, the boy causes mischief—ripping the wallpaper and tearing pages from his schoolbook, sweeping the teapot off the table, swinging from the pendulum of the grandfather clock, and even injuring his pet squirrel. The objects of his tantrum come to life and turn against him, admonishing him for his misdeeds. More accusations and frightful encounters follow when the boy runs out to the garden, until he finally learns his lesson—showing kindness to the injured squirrel—and the magic of the garden turns to moonlight enchantment.