KAIJA SAARIAHO:
ADRIANA MATER
with Fleur Barron, Axelle Fanyo, & Christopher Purves
San Francisco Symphony
Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
Deutsche Grammophon
2025 GRAMMY AWARD NOMINEE:
BEST OPERA RECORDING
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony release the world premiere recording of Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater. The composer’s second opera – and second collaboration with Lebanese-born French writer Amin Maalouf – Adriana Mater is an intensely moving work exploring the relationship between a mother and her son in a war-torn country as they navigate the violence that defines their past and present, and threatens to claim their future. This recording captures a June 2023 performance of a staged production directed by Peter Sellars, delivered mere days after the composer’s passing; mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron sings the title role, in a cast that also includes Axelle Fanyo (Refka), Nicholas Phan (Yonas) and Christopher Purves (Tsargo).
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
*Reviews of the live performances in San Francisco
WISE MUSIC CLASSICAL
SAN FRANCISCO CLASSICAL VOICE*
“The four singers…were superb as individuals and as an ensemble...Tenor Nicholas Phan sang and acted brilliantly as the impulsive Yonas, who slowly matures as he comprehends the generosity and hope behind his mother’s behavior.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES*
“…But she does worry: Will the child be more like Tsargo or like her? Cain or Abel? Act II, set 17 years later, puts that uncertainty to the test when her son, Yonas (an agile, heldentenor-like Nicholas Phan) learns his father’s identity and sets out to kill him…”
OPERA TODAY*
“…Mr. Phan brought striking artistic finesse to this very complex role — raging at his mother, berating her sister, threatening his father.…”
SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL*
“…The Yonas-Adriana scenes crackled, the underlying orchestral music drawing a sound picture of the push and pull between the son’s energetic desire for revenge and his mother’s wish to forgive and move on…A ball of energy, Phan spun out his music with restless abandon…”
MUSICAL AMERICA*
“…All four singers were first rate…Tenor Nicholas Phan was properly intense as Yonas…”