Thirty years ago, Ruth Felt took stock of the San Francisco arts scene and decided there was a need for a new organization to present recitals, chamber music and dance. Armed with few resources and a staff of one — herself — she founded San Francisco Performances in a small office under the stairs in her apartment.
Today, Felt admits that it was risk-taking on an operatic scale. The City’s history was rife with similar ventures that had started and failed, and there were major issues — funding among them — to be addressed. But she was certain there was an audience for the kind of quality programming she envisioned.
As it turns out, she was right. San Francisco Performances was a success from its first season, and Felt has since built the
organization into a model for independent arts presenters around the world. This month, she launches her 30th season with a full roster, and in a recent interview at her office near Union Square, she said she’s proud of what she’s achieved.
Felt, a petite dynamo who rarely misses an SFP event, is soft-spoken and given to thoughtful, well-considered statements. But when it comes to articulating the ideals on which she founded the company, she doesn’t hesitate. “I’ve always looked for the talent that I think is the very best,” she says. “The quality of the programs and the artists you present is so important.”
“Quality” is a word Felt mentions often, and a glance through the company’s history shows why. In 30 years, she has presented the local debuts of top artists including baritone Thomas Hampson, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianists Andre Watts and Evgeny Kissin. She’s introduced some of chamber music’s leading foursomes, including the Juilliard and Emerson String Quartets. She’s given choreographers such as Paul Taylor their first Bay Area exposure. With SFP’s jazz series, she’s added artists from Marian McPartland to Paula West to the mix.
Felt’s knack for finding rising stars is uncanny — many of the performers she’s presented have gone on to superstar status. Just as impressive, though, has been her ability to keep the company afloat. Despite an economic downturn that began nearly a decade ago, the organization is fiscally sound. “San Francisco Performances is in good financial health,” Felt says. “We’re operating in the black.”
Felt, a Minnesota native, brought a unique combination of skills to the job. After graduating from UCLA with a degree in political science, she worked for Hubert Humphrey before turning to a career in the arts. She was assistant concert manager at UCLA’s Dept. of Fine Arts for five years before coming north for a post at San Francisco Opera, where she served as company administrator under general manager Kurt Herbert Adler. It was an eye-opening job, she says. Adler, a powerful impresario, was a demanding boss, but he taught her much about the business, and introduced her to many of the era’s operatic legends — singers such as Swedish soprano Elizabeth Soderstrom, whom Felt engaged for a vocal recital as part of SFP’s inaugural season.
Starting the organization, Felt says now, was simply a matter of filling a void. “In the late ’70s, in assessing the situation in San Francisco for major touring chamber ensembles and recitalists, there was very little happening,” she recalls. “I saw a real need for quality programming.”
Her work with UCLA and SF Opera gave her an edge. “The experience in both places was fundamental,” she says. “Especially in my position at the opera, I’d met so many people in the music and philanthropic worlds.” She started building a base of subscribers and donors, and started contacting artists. Along with Soderstrom, Felt’s first season included a recital by Watts, who so admired her mission that he promptly waived his fee and joined her board of directors.
Felt did most of the work of the first season herself, although she eventually hired a marketing consultant. She built her staff slowly; the first season’s budget was $150,000; today, she has a staff of eleven, and a budget of $2.8 million — still modest by industry standards.
Felt travels whenever possible to recruit artists, but says she also relies on a network of friends who act as informal talent scouts. “I have spies everywhere,” she says. And, in recent years, she’s expanded SFP’s collaborative ties. The economy has created a tough climate for presenters — in the Bay Area, there are more concerts than ever competing for audience dollars, and fewer venues to accommodate them — and she’s become more creative in the way she attracts artists and audiences. This year, she’s co-presenting programs with Stanford Lively Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, UC Santa Barbara and others.
Beyond her business acumen, though, Felt has a certain ineffable quality — call it taste, refinement or just good instinct — that makes her a great presenter. You can hear it in her voice when she talks about Soderstrom’s recital, or the time that Jon Vickers came to San Francisco to sing Schubert’s “Winterreise,” or the first appearance by Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin. It’s a keen appreciation for performers, and a sure sense of what audiences will appreciate, too.
“I look for the talent that I think is really the best,” says Felt, “and I feel very fortunate, because I took a risk on something that was far from being secure. The fact that we’re here 30 years later and we’re successful is thrilling. Working with great artists and the performing arts is so enriching. It’s more than my job. It’s what I love.”
Ruth Felt
Title: Founder and President, San Francisco Performances
Born: Willmar, Minn.
Resides: Upper Haight-Buena Vista Park
Marital status: Divorced, with one stepson
Favorite S.F. restaurant: Zuni Café
Favorite hobbies: Pilates, walking, reading
Last book read: “Unaccustomed Earth” by Jhumpa Lahiri
Favorite book: “Colossus of Maroussi” by Henry Miller
On her CD player: Matthias Goerne’s Bach cantatas
Best play she’s seen recently: “August: Osage County”
Favorite opera: “Peter Grimes” by Benjamin Britten
Favorite movie: “Hopscotch” with Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson
Historical person she most admires: Eleanor Roosevelt
Living person she most admires: Desmond Tutu
Greatest fear: Prolonged serious illness
Talent she’d love to have: “Accomplished cello player”
Dinner with person not living: “Italian painter Giorgio Morandi — with Marcello Mastroianni as translator”
Diverse range of talent celebrates anniversary season
By Georgia Rowe
Special to The Examiner
The return of acclaimed baritone Thomas Hampson, a rare appearance by London’s DV8 Physical Theatre, and recitals by mezzo-soprano Joyce di Donato and pianist Richard Goode are among the highlights of San Francisco Performances’ 30th anniversary season.
The 2009-10 season, which begins Sept. 30 at Herbst Theatre with a recital by Hampson, includes the kind of wide-ranging programming in chamber music, recitals, dance and jazz that the organization under founder/artistic director Ruth Felt has offered throughout its history. Programs continue through May 16.
With most performances at Herbst, the season offers vocal and instrumental recitals, including those by mezzo-sopranos Joyce DiDonato and Alice Coote, baritones Hampson and Nathan Gunn, and pianists Goode, Marc-Andre Hamelin and Yuja Wang.
Hampson launches the season with a recital titled “Song of America.”
Created in association with the Library of Congress, the program includes hymns, songs and spirituals by American composers.
Felt, who presented Hampson’s San Francisco recital debut in 1992, says the American baritone is the ideal choice to inaugurate the season.
“It’s wonderful, because we’ve had such a long relationship with him, so it’s especially fitting to have him here for the 30th,” she says.
In addition to Britain’s celebrated DV8 ensemble, the dance series will include programs by the Wheeldon Company, the Akram Khan Company and Compania Nacional de Danza.
The Chamber series will include concerts by the Juilliard and Kronos Quartets, as well as appearances by cellist Alisa Weilerstein and composer/pianist Thomas Ades. Paula West opens the jazz series.
A classical guitar series, the return of the popular “Salons at the Rex,” and Saturday morning concerts with the Alexander Quartet complete the lineup.
Felt, who founded San Francisco Performances in 1979, says she’s pleased with the quality of this year’s artists.
“This is why I don’t like to miss my own performances,” she says. “It’s the product that I make final decision about, and I want to experience it as much as the audience does.”
IF YOU GO
2009-2010 30th Anniversary Season
Runs: September-May
Venues: Herbst Theatre, Davies Symphony Hall, Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, St. Johns Presbyterian Church, San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concert Hall, Hotel Rex
Tickets: Subscriptions and individual tickets are on sale now. Visit www.performances.org for details.
