Waltzing through Life

Erling Wold composed these two waltzes for me. This performance of the SFCCO, conducted by the Maestro himself, at Old First in San Francisco.
*sniff* I think I'll keep him.

Lost in Translation

I am accompanying the maestro to Japan, where he will be attending the Tokyo Performing Arts Market this week.
I just love this brochure designed to present Erling's work to the Japanese. "Libertine" is here translated as "freethinker."

Erling in the Pink

Maestro Erling Wold, has today been made just a bit more famous, in this swell feature by Joshua Kosman in the San Francisco Chronicle.
You can find this in the Sunday May 18 Datebook "Pink Section"

There is also this great photo of our renown tenor John Duykers, rehearsing his role as Edvard Mordake, in a spectacular orientalist robe by Kathleen Crowley.



PS Erling's boots are actually PINK .

update! rave reviews are pouring in.
Joshua Kosman's review in the Chronicle
SF360

The Fantastic World of Edvard Mordake

Mordake, Erling Wold's latest opera, tells the story of the 19th century aristocrat, Edvard Mordake, who was driven mad by his twin sister - a female face on the back of his own head.
I was asked to help visualize the setting- a suite of rooms fit for a Victorian gentleman.

I found plenty of inspiration at Richard Reutlinger's lovingly restored Victorian house in San Francisco, especially in the master bedroom, which features a Dresser-inspired frieze painted by my late friend and mentor, Larry Boyce.
I photographed some rooms, and made a Thurber-esque line drawing, as well as a simplified gouache painting of the bedroom (above) which are all to be computer- modified by Erling and German visual artist Freider Weiß, and then projected on stage to create Edvard's world. The large mirror I left blank, as they will be adding some invented reflections there. The set will alternate between photos, video, drawings, and paintings, to create varying levels of reality and fantasy.
And I hope Larry won't mind that in making my paintings of this room, I filled in his rather glaring persian flaw, so as to leave room for some of my own.

Mordake by Erling Wold, a solo performance with tenor John Duykers, premiers May 22 and runs through June 7, 2008
as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival
More information and musings on this subject can be found on Erling's blog.

Mordake is featured on the cover of Theater Bay Area this month!

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

Missa Beati Notkeri Balbuli Sancti Galli Monachi

The off the hook baroque interior of the Cathedral of St Gallen.

After an incredibly lovely train trip from Milan through the Alps we arrived in St Gallen, Switzerland, for the premier of Erling Wold's mass, which he named for one of St. Gallen's most beloved monks, Notker the Stammerer.

Nearly 500 people attended the concert held in the choir of the Dom Cathedral. Erling's beautiful and moving music was brought to life by soprano Kim Brockman, whose voice really does remind one of angels, and the rock star of organists, Willibald, who handled the cathedral's 300+ year old instrument like it was a turbo powered sports car.
The applause lasted over 10 minutes.

A recording of the concert is here.

Faux Marquetry Ceilings: Rathaus, Vienna

detail of a faux marquetry ceiling panel, Rathaus, Vienna

In September we traveled to Vienna, Austria, where Erling attended the ISMIR conference, and happily, a banquet organized by the city of Vienna for them in the Rathaus- the city hall built in the 1870s in the Gothic Revival style. It is spectacular inside, loaded with graceful arches, stenciled vaulted ceilings, and encaustic tile floors. A large number of rooms have stenciled wood faux marquetry ceilings.

<---dinner with ISMIR participants. there were other women there besides me, you know, waiting tables.

My enthusiasm for the ornament in the building must have been somewhat contagious, as a number of the banquet attendees accompanied me as I snuck from room to room shooting ceilings in the dark.

And to think, I was worried I'd be bored at this event!

These ceilings are made from a light colored pine, that has been beautifully stenciled with pigment or stain to give the look of marquetry; the wood looks richer and the room more grand. The ornament itself is relatively simple and repeated to give an opulent surface without looking too cluttered.

In this room, the lacunaria have been gilt on the edges, I believe with a low karat gold and tinted varnish.

Some of the stenciling appears to have been done in reverse- pigment is applied, and then removed through the stencil.

These are great borders which could be applied to wall paneling, floors, or furniture as well as ceilings.

More images are posted at my flickr account.

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

Backstage at Versailles

left to right: moi, Laurent Hissier, Dr. Erling H. Wold II, Emily Swift-Jones, Daniel Sievert, Pierre LeFumat, and the hunk on the end is a carpenter named Alexandre.

During our recent trip to Paris, evil twin Emily Swift-Jones, Erling, and I made a trip to Versailles, to visit our new friend Laurent Hissier, a talented artisan who works there painting and gilding.

Laurent met us at the side gate, waved us in, and then produced an impressive key from his pocket that opened ALL the doors. We got to see all those room upstairs where the public is not generally allowed. And then - the main event- he took us to the atelier where they are working, situated in a few giant unused rooms in one wing of the palace.

The crew has been restoring a lot of furniture and building and painting supports with eye-popping faux marbre to display the pieces, for a huge show of silver gilt furniture opening in November. Just the supports were so beautifully painted as to be works of art themselves!

To make it even more exciting, Pierre LeFumat, the master himself, was working in this atelier, applying a patina to some mouldings when we arrived.
(I wish I knew how to say "you missed a spot" en français, but I guess that may have been rude.)

We also met the charming master gilder, Daniel Sievert, whom we were told was sold to the palace on his 16th birthday and has been working there ever since. As you can imagine, a gilder will never run out of work to do at Versailles.

This was hands-down the highlight of my trip.

Merci Laurent for the hospitality, and to all the crew who stopped to visit with us.

"When Versailles was Furnished in Silver" runs 19 November 2007 to 9 March 2008

Exciting surpise in Paris

If you are addicted to fine tea, as I am, you might begin to understand the thrill of stumbling upon the rather hip-looking Kusmi boutique at 75 Rue de Seine in Paris, and the massive colorful jars of the precious stuff in the back room.

The Second Earl of Wold

My portrait of Erling Wold is included in Anna Conti's Artist as Subject project- an on-line gallery show with some amazing work by local as well as internationally noted artists.