Isabel Leonard Sings in SF Symphony’s Nov. 6 Blomstedt Tribute

By Elena Vasquez

What did the Blomstedt tribute include?

On Friday, Nov. 6, Isabel Leonard sang with the San Francisco Symphony in a Herbert Blomstedt memorial. Blomstedt served as music director from 1985 to 1995 and died earlier that week at 99. Cellist Barbara Bogatin read a brief dedication before the performance. The review called the gesture a timely memorial to a beloved and highly honored conductor.

French conductor Fabien Gabel led the program sensitively and colorfully, according to the review. The review framed its lush French focus as a vivid contrast with Blomstedt’s restrained tastes. The orchestra’s 2026-2027 season centered on music arising in “faith, myth, imagination and storytelling.”

Leonard, a mezzo-soprano, appeared in Maurice Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Claude Debussy’s Le Jet d’eau. The review called both lush, decadent orchestral settings of French poems. The memorial linked Blomstedt’s tenure to a program built around French song.

How did Leonard shape the French song?

For Shéhérazade, the review said Leonard produced “a gorgeous sound and flexible phrases.” Her performance matched the sensuality of poet Tristan Klingsor’s Orientalist fantasies, according to the review.

In “Asie” (Asia), an imagined trip to Persia, India and China, the review said the assassins and executioners emerged most sharply. The reviewer found the adventures clearly depicted.

Leonard and associate principal flute Blair Francis Paponiu then joined in a sinuous exchange for La Flûte enchantée (The enchanted flute), summoning the languor of night and a distant lover’s flute, as the review described. The review traced that atmosphere into the wistful L’Indifférent (The indifferent one), where a youth does not notice an older singer’s interest.

The review found ample rewards in Leonard’s sound and phrasing across both the Ravel and the Debussy. It also said sharper vowels and more consonants in her French would have elevated her singing further.

Leonard’s phrasing carried the French selections; her French diction remained the review’s main reservation.

How did D’Indy and Strauss shape the evening?

Vincent D’Indy’s Istar, Symphonic Variations, composed in 1896, opened the program. Its 15-minute form follows Ishtar, ancient goddess of fertility, sexual love and war, as she visits the underworld to rescue her lover from Ereshkigal.

Each variation corresponds to one of seven portals on Ishtar’s journey. D’Indy ordered the work in reverse and stated the main theme only near the end. The review described its orchestration as alternating between Wagnerian grandeur and French operetta, styles composers would soon draw on for film music.

The San Francisco Symphony last played Istar in 1950. The review called the score a colorful, entertaining potboiler and judged the 75-year gap less neglect than good judgment.

Richard Strauss’s Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten closed the program. The 25-minute work distills themes from the composer’s 1919 opera. The review praised its expansive tunes, virtuosic handling of a gigantic orchestra and stunningly beautiful conclusion. It added that the symphonic work did not match the opera’s narrative impact.

Strauss supplied grandeur and technical display; D’Indy won the review’s stronger endorsement. The practical test now is whether another Istar performance can turn this 75-year absence into a lasting place in the Symphony’s repertory.