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San Francisco Opera Announces 2023–24 Season, Featuring OMAR, THE MAGIC FLUTE & More

The 2023-24 Season launches with an opening week of music and festivities beginning Friday, September 8, with Opera Ball.

San Francisco Opera has announced details for the Company's 101st season, which opens September 8, 2023. To begin the first season of its second century, San Francisco Opera will introduce a new, multi-season initiative where Kim will conduct works by both Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner every season while the Company simultaneously reaffirmed its commitment to expanding the repertoire with three co-commissioned new works by leading composers of today.

Kim, who enters her third year as San Francisco Opera's music director with the 2023-24 Season, continues the cycle of annual Verdi presentations begun in 2022 with La Traviata by leading another fervent 1853 work from the composer: Il Trovatore (opening September 12). A new-to-San Francisco Opera production of Lohengrin (opening October 15) marks the beginning of a parallel, annual artistic journey under Kim's baton through the works of Richard Wagner .

Eun Sun Kim said: "The works of Wagner and Verdi are cornerstones of the operatic repertoire as we know it. Each composer blazed new trails in his day-and each changed the world of opera forever. As music director, part of my work is to set priorities for orchestral collaboration that will lead to the artistic growth of the Company. With this in mind, I will program operas from these two giants every year, enabling continuous development of these musical styles and our shared craft."

Matthew Shilvock commented: "Our new season carries forth all of the thrilling energy of the Centennial as we welcome the community into a fascinating array of experiences and stories. I cannot wait for Eun Sun's first Wagner opera in the house as she continues to bring awe-inspiring interpretations to our theater. I am so proud that we are telling so many new stories this season, and I'm excited to continue our innovation explorations as we chart a course for the future of opera. The Bay Area Community is discovering opera in fabulous new ways, and we look forward to welcoming many new audience members to immerse themselves in artwork that connects us, bridges differences and speaks to the soul."

The 2023-24 Season launches with an opening week of music and festivities beginning Friday, September 8, with Opera Ball, a gala concert featuring soprano Aleksandra Kurzak and, in his first Company appearance, tenor Roberto Alagna with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of Eun Sun Kim. On Sunday, September 10, Kim and the Orchestra, along with vocal soloists from the Company's fall season, take to Robin Williams Meadow in Golden Gate Park for the annual Opera in the Park free concert. Then, on Tuesday, September 12, Kim will lead the Company in the first full opera of the season, Verdi's Il Trovatore.

Three new works co-commissioned by San Francisco Opera punctuate the Company's 101st season. First, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs by Bay Area composer Mason Bates and Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Mark Campbell takes the stage in September with baritone John Moore as eponymous iconoclastic Steve Jobs , whose ideas helped reshape our world. Omar, the first opera by Grammy Award-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens in collaboration with composer Michael Abels, brings an urgent, American story to the War Memorial Opera House in November. The acclaimed new work Innocence, from esteemed Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho with libretto by Sofi Oksanen and dramaturgy by Aleksi Barrière, has its American premiere in June 2024.

Additional highlights of the season include David Alden 's production of Wagner's Lohengrin from London's Royal Opera, Covent Garden, with tenor Simon O'Neill in the title role; Gaetano Donizetti 's comedic romance The Elixir of Love (L'Elisir d'Amore) staged by director Daniel Slater and choreographed by Tim Claydon, with tenor Pene Pati as Nemorino and Slávka Zámečníková, in her American debut, as Adina; and Mozart's The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) conducted by Eun Sun Kim in Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade 's inventive production that conjures the topsy-turvy delights of silent film, 1920s cabaret and early Hollywood animation. Verdi's Il Trovatore returns in the 2009 co-production by Sir David McVicar with a powerful cast and Handel's gender-bending comedy Partenope will be reprised in the award-winning staging by Christopher Alden and starring French soprano Julie Fuchs and Italian countertenor Carlo Vistoli in their American opera debuts. The artists of the San Francisco Opera Chorus, recently praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for "singing splendidly under its new director, John Keene," will be featured throughout the new season.

In partnership with the Dolby family, the Company will continue its popular Dolby Family Opera for the Bay program. The audience-building ticket initiative makes prime seats available for $10 each to Bay Area residents who have not purchased tickets in the last three years. The Company will continue to share its performances globally through livestreams of the third performance of each opera in the repertory. On December 1, the Company presents The Elixir of Love Encounter, a rollicking, experiential evening which activates the War Memorial Opera House around themes from The Elixir of Love and invites attendees to immerse themselves in the world of Donizetti's work.

Along with Eun Sun Kim's multi-season Verdi and Wagner cycles and the repertoire expanding co-commissions, San Francisco Opera's 2023-24 Season will witness the Company debuts of many exceptional artists on stage and in the pit. Artists making house debuts include sopranos Claire de Sévigné, Julie Fuchs, Brittany Renee, Lucy Shelton, Anna Simińska, Slávka Zámečníková; mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi; countertenors Nicholas Tamagna , Carlo Vistoli; tenors Roberto Alagna , Bille Bruley, Jonah Hoskins, Jamez McCorkle, Miles Mykkanen; baritones Norman Garrett , Thomas Lehman, John Moore , George Petean, Lauri Vasar; bass-baritones David Bižić, Renato Girolami, Kwangchul Youn; bass Wei Wu; interdisciplinary musician Vilma Jää; and conductors John Kennedy , Clément Mao-Takacs, Ramón Tebar.

2023-24 MAINSTAGE SEASON

September 8, 2023

Roberto Alagna and Aleksandra Kurzak; Eun Sun Kim

Music Director Eun Sun Kim and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus inaugurate the Company's 101st season with a program of arias and scenes featuring tenor Roberto Alagna and soprano Aleksandra Kurzak. The husband-and-wife duo, each a celebrated artist on the world's leading opera stages, headline Opera Ball, the annual benefit co-presented by San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Opera Guild. The 2023-24 Season-launching gala event is co-chaired by Francesca Gutierrez Amann and Sue Graham Johnston. The festive season opener marks Kurzak's return to the War Memorial Opera House stage following her "nothing short of remarkable" (San Francisco Chronicle) 2012 Company debut as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, and Alagna's first-ever appearance with San Francisco Opera.

IL TROVATORE by Giuseppe Verdi

September 12-October 1, 2023

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Giuseppe Verdi 's Il Trovatore has been a pillar of the Italian repertoire and popular favorite in San Francisco since the Gold Rush days. Eun Sun Kim, continuing her annual exploration of the operas of Verdi which she initiated in 2022 with La Traviata, takes on the composer's spirited classic, which abounds in turbulent passions and hit tunes like the famous Anvil Chorus. The rotating set of Sir David McVicar 's production, directed in revival by Roy Rallo, keeps the opera's musical momentum and simmering intensity building to a stunning conclusion.

Tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz portrays Manrico, the heroic troubadour of the opera's title. Soprano Angel Blue, who made her Company debut in 2009 as Clara in Porgy and Bess, returns as Leonora, one of Verdi's greatest heroines. Baritone George Petean joins the Company as Count di Luna , and mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, whom conductor Riccardo Muti praised as "without doubt the best Verdi mezzo-soprano today on the planet" (New York Times), completes the powerful quartet in the pivotal role of Azucena. Chorus Director John Keene prepares the artists of the San Francisco Opera Chorus.

WATCH In Song: Arturo Chacón-Cruz

The Mexican tenor leads young musicians at a mariachi academy and reflects on culture, love and determination in both music and life in this episode of the Company's award-winning In Song series.

CO-COMMISSION BAY AREA PREMIERE

THE (R)EVOLUTION OF Steve Jobs music by Mason Bates, libretto by Mark Campbell

September 22-October 7, 2023

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The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs by Bay Area composer Mason Bates and Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Mark Campbell had its world premiere in 2017 and has since enjoyed a Grammy-winning recording and multiple productions around North America. Dramatizing the nexus of the sleek, high-tech devices that revolutionized modern life and the less tidy human beings who dreamed them into existence, this San Francisco Opera co-commission makes its long-awaited local premiere. The creative team from the original production, led by director Kevin Newbury , will be reunited for this presentation near the Silicon Valley environs that provide the opera's setting. Michael Christie conducts the fast-paced, electro-acoustic work.

The cast features baritone John Moore in his Company debut as the iconoclastic Steve Jobs , a role for which he has won praise with companies in Seattle, Atlanta, Austin and Kansas City. Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke , who "radiantly personified" (Dallas Morning News) Laurene Powell Jobs at the world premiere, and bass Wei Wu, role creator of Jobs' spiritual advisor, Kōbun Chino Otogawa, reprise their respective parts. Tenor Bille Bruley appears with San Francisco Opera for the first time as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is the first of three San Francisco Opera co-commissions to be presented during the 2023-24 Season, reaffirming the Company's commitment to expanding the operatic repertoire.

LOHENGRIN by Richard Wagner

October 15-November 1, 2023

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At the center of Richard Wagner 's Lohengrin stands a woman accused and her mysterious protector, the proverbial knight in shining armor. Amid the romance and intrigue, the opera's story is driven forward by one of opera's most elevating soundscapes. Beginning with this glorious gem of the operatic canon, presented in director David Alden 's production from London's Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Eun Sun Kim and the Company initiate a multi-season journey through the composer's works.

New Zealand-born heldentenor Simon O'Neill is Lohengrin and American soprano Julie Adams , a recent San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow, portrays Elsa. The union of Elsa and Lohengrin is opposed by the scheming Ortrud, performed by Romanian-Hungarian mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi in her American debut, and the Telramund of baritone Brian Mulligan . Icelandic bass Kristinn Sigmundsson, who was the Water Gnome in Dvořák's Rusalka under Kim's baton in 2019, returns as King Heinrich.

OMAR music by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, libretto by Rhiannon Giddens

November 5-21, 2023

In the early 1800s, Islamic scholar Omar Ibn Said was forcibly taken from his village in West Africa and sold into slavery in Charleston, South Carolina, where he recorded his story as an expansive canvas of testimony and faith. Said's two-hundred-year-old autobiography comes vividly to life on the Lyric Stage in Omar, the first opera by MacArthur Fellowship "genius award" recipient Rhiannon Giddens and composer Michael Abels, known for his music for films, including Jordan Peele 's Get Out, Us and Nope. This San Francisco Opera co-commission, which was hailed as "a sweeping achievement" by The New York Times, comes to the War Memorial Opera House in the production by Kaneza Schaal . Conductor John Kennedy , who led the work's 2021 world premiere at Spoleto Festival USA , leads Giddens and Abels' expansive score which synthesizes strains of bluegrass, spirituals, the West African kora, folk music and jazz into a compelling theatrical experience.

In his Company debut, tenor Jamez McCorkle portrays Omar, "a role he brings to life in all its spiritual magnificence" (Los Angeles Times). Mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven , who has appeared during San Francisco Opera's Centennial Season in the world premiere of John Adams ' Antony and Cleopatra, Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites and Verdi's La Traviata, portrays Fatima, Omar's mother who bestows wisdom on her son through dream sequences. Soprano Brittany Renee makes her house debut as Julie, a friend to Omar amid the trials of their lives under enslavement. Baritone Norman Garrett makes his house debut in the double roles of Omar's brother, Abdul, and Abe; baritone Daniel Okulitch portrays both Johnson and Owen and tenor Barry Banks is the Auctioneer and Taylor.

NEW SAN FRANCISCO OPERA CO-PRODUCTION

THE ELIXIR OF LOVE (L'ELISIR D'AMORE) by Gaetano Donizetti

November 19-December 9, 2023

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Gaetano's Donizetti's The Elixir of Love (L'Elisir d'Amore) returns to the War Memorial Opera House stage in a co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago from Opera North in the UK by director Daniel Slater and choreographer Tim Claydon. The updated setting for this funny and heart-warming 1832 romance, which includes Donizetti's cherished aria "Una furtiva lagrima" ("A furtive tear"), takes place on the Italian Riviera during the 1950s. Robert Innes Hopkins , who designed San Francisco Opera's recent new productions of Tosca and La Traviata, is production designer, and Ramón Tebar makes his Company debut leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

Tenor Pene Pati , whose fast-rising career began at San Francisco Opera with triumphs as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto and Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, returns as the lovable Nemorino. He is joined by several exciting artists making their first engagements with the Company. Slovak soprano Slávka Zámečníková is the beautiful but aloof Adina. Serbian baritone David Bižić is the handsome military officer, Belcore, with whom Adina flirts to stir Nemorino's jealousy. Dulcamara, the miracle worker whose elixir provides the liquid courage Nemorino needs to express his true feelings, is performed by Italian baritone Renato Girolami. American tenor Jonah Hoskins makes his house debut as Nemorino in the November 29 performance.

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Description automatically generated with medium confidenceWATCH In Song: Pene Pati

The Samoan tenor reflects on the centrality of his family in his musical journey from New Zealand to the world's leading opera stages in this episode from the Company's award-winning In Song series.

THE MAGIC FLUTE by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

May 30-June 30, 2024

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Layered in Masonic symbolism and occult mysteries, Mozart's The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) is, above all, one of opera's most joyous and accessible masterworks. Its lively arias illuminate a hero's quest and the steadfastness of true love. The worlds of silent film, 1920s cabaret and animation collide in Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade 's internationally acclaimed production which originated at Komische Oper Berlin and makes its Bay Area premiere. Music Director Eun Sun Kim conducts Mozart's timeless, exhilarating work of art.

Following his success as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni with San Francisco Opera in 2022, Samoan tenor Amitai Pati returns as prince Tamino. Austrian soprano Christina Gansch , who won plaudits in last summer's Don Giovanni as Zerlina, adds Pamina to her gallery of Mozart portrayals on the War Memorial Opera House stage. Three esteemed International Artists make their San Francisco Opera debuts in this production: Estonian bass-baritone Lauri Vasar as Papageno, South Korean bass Kwangchul Youn as Sarastro and Polish soprano as the Queen of the Knight. Chinese tenor and recent San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Zhengyi Bai portrays Monostatos.

CO-COMMISSION AMERICAN PREMIERE

INNOCENCE music by Kaija Saariaho, libretto by Sofi Oksanen,

dramaturgy by Aleksi Barrière

June 1-21, 2024

Innocence follows a family's ability to deal with tragedy. In this gripping one-act drama by composer Kaija Saariaho, librettist Sofi Oksanen and dramaturg Aleksi Barrière, a harrowing story of emotional shock and surprise unfolds in which the understanding of innocence and guilt is continually upended. This co-commissioned work, which The New York Times proclaimed "a masterpiece ... the most powerful work Saariaho has written in a career now in its fifth decade," was first presented at Aix-en-Provence in 2021 in Simon Stone 's production. San Francisco Opera presents the opera's American premiere.

Saariaho specialist Clément Mao-Takacs conducts an international cast of singers and actors in this towering work performed in nine languages. Mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose is the Waitress, Claire de Sévigné and Rod Gilfry are the Mother-in-Law and Father-in-Law. Miles Mykkanen portrays the Groom, bass Kristinn Sigmundsson is the Priest and Lucy Shelton is the teacher. Vilma Jää, a Finnish musician who crosses musical boundaries from folk to experimental electronic music, makes her house debut as Markéta.

PARTENOPE by George Frideric Handel

June 15-28, 2024

Handel's 1730 comedy Partenope returns in the Olivier Award-winning production by director Christopher Alden . First presented by San Francisco Opera in 2014, Alden's staging updates the action from Handel's ancient Neapolitan setting to a 1920s Parisian salon and, according to the Mercury News, "turns the opera's genderbending plot into a nonstop parade of visual and vocal delights." English conductor and harpsichordist Christopher Moulds, who made his Company debut in 2019 with Handel's Orlando, returns to lead Partenope.

In her American opera debut, French soprano Julie Fuchs portrays the title role, a queen who is pursued by wildly different suitors. Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack reprises the role of Rosmira, tenor Alek Shrader returns as Emilio and Hadleigh Adams is Ormonte. Countertenor Carlo Vistoli makes his American opera debut as Arsace, and countertenor Nicholas Tamagna joins the Company as Armindo.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Subscriptions for San Francisco Opera's 101st Season are priced from $146 to $3280 for Full Series (6-8 productions), $52 to $1,640 for Half Series (2-4 productions) and a Design Your Own (DYO) option (minimum four operas). A $2 per-ticket facility fee is included in Balcony 1, 2 and 3 zone prices; all other zones include a $3 per-ticket facility fee. For information about subscriber benefits and special series subscriptions, including the Student & Teacher Series offering 50% off select Full and Half Series, visit sfopera.com/subscribe .

New for the 2023-24 Season is the Future of Opera Subscription. This package offers a 3-opera Design Your Own option with a discount that equates to three operas for the price of one. This subscription is only available to new subscribers (anyone who hasn't been a subscriber in the past three years) and has been generously underwritten by an anonymous donor. This offer expires March 22, 2023, and has limited inventory. Interested patrons should visit sfopera.com/future for more information.

2023-24 Season subscriptions are on sale to new and renewing subscribers beginning Tuesday, January 24, 2023, at 1 p.m. PT at the San Francisco Opera Box Office (301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco), by calling (415) 864-3330 and online at sfopera.com . San Francisco Opera Box Office hours are Monday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (Saturdays phone only).

Single (non-subscription) tickets for the 2023-24 Season will go on sale in the summer of 2023.

The Dolby Family's Opera for the Bay ticket program is returning for the 2023-24 season. This initiative provides $10 tickets to every San Francisco Opera mainstage performance throughout the new season to Bay Area residents (home address zip code between 94000-95999) who have not purchased tickets in the past three years. $10 Opera For The Bay tickets go on sale one month prior to the opening of each production and are limited to 2 seats per eligible patron. Inventory is limited and may sell out quickly. Go to sfopera.com/dolby for more information.

For up-to-date information about San Francisco Opera's health and safety measures, visit sfopera.com/safetyfirst .

The War Memorial Opera House is located at 301 Van Ness Avenue. Patrons are encouraged to use public transportation to attend San Francisco Opera performances. The War Memorial Opera House is within walking distance of the Civic Center BART/Muni Station and near numerous bus lines, including 5, 21, 47, 49 and F Market Street. For further public transportation information, visit bart.gov and sfmta.com .

Gifts of all sizes help create San Francisco Opera's programs and are much appreciated. To donate visit sfopera.com/donate .

All casting, programs, schedules and ticket prices are subject to change. For further information about San Francisco Opera's 2023-24 Season, visit sfopera.com .

2023-24 CASTING AND CALENDAR

**American Debut *San Francisco Opera Debut ♪Role Debut

†Current Adler Fellow +Merola Opera Program Graduate ++Merola and Adler Fellowship Graduate

All performances take place at the War Memorial Opera House (301 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco), unless noted.

2023 FALL SEASON

September 8, 2023 at 8 p.m.

War Memorial Opera House and San Francisco City Hall

Aleksandra Kurzak, soprano

Roberto Alagna , tenor

Eun Sun Kim, conductor

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

San Francisco Opera Chorus

San Francisco Opera's 101st season opens with Opera Ball. Ticket packages include pre-performance cocktails and dinner at San Francisco's City Hall, the opening night concert in the War Memorial Opera house and an after-party in the City Hall rotunda. Proceeds benefit a wide range of artistic initiatives at San Francisco Opera as well as the San Francisco Opera Guild's education programs. For tickets and more information, visit sfopera.com/operaball .

San Francisco Chronicle Presents

OPERA IN THE PARK - FREE CONCERT

Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 1:30 p.m.

Robin Williams Meadow, Golden Gate Park

Soloists from the Fall Season

The Opera in the Park concert is free and available to the public. For more information, visit sfopera.com/operainthepark .

IL TROVATORE music by Giuseppe Verdi , libretto by Salvadore Cammarano

September 12 (7:30 p.m.), 17 (2 p.m.), 20 (7:30 p.m.), 23 (7:30 p.m.), 29 (7:30 p.m.); October 1 (2 p.m.), 2023

Opera in four acts, based on the play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez

Co-production with San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Metropolitan Opera New York

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes including one intermission

Sung in Italian with English supertitles

World Premiere:

Rome, January 19, 1853

First SFO Performance:

October 6, 1926

Most Recent:

September-October 2009

Angel Blue ♪

Anita Rachvelishvili

Arturo Chacón-Cruz +

Count di Luna

George Petean *

Robert Pomakov

Creative Team:

Eun Sun Kim

Sir David McVicar

Revival Director

Set Designer

Charles Edwards

Costume Designer

Brigitte Reiffenstuel

Lighting Designer

Jennifer Tipton

Chorus Director

San Francisco Opera Orchestra, San Francisco Opera Chorus and San Francisco Opera Dance Corps

BAY AREA PREMIERE

September 22 (7:30 p.m.), 24 (2 p.m.), 27 (7:30 p.m.), 30 (7:30 p.m.); October 3 (7:30 p.m.), 7 (7:30 p.m.), 2023

Opera in one act

Commissioned by San Francisco Opera, The Santa Fe Opera and Seattle Opera with support from Cal Performances and co-produced with Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

By arrangement with Opus 3 Artists

Sung in English with English supertitles

Approximate running time: 1 hour and 30 minutes with no intermission

Santa Fe, July 22, 2017

John Moore *

Laurene Powell Jobs

Sasha Cooke

Steve Wozniak

Bille Bruley*

Kōbun Chino Otogawa

Michael Christie

Kevin Newbury

Victoria (Vita) Tzykun *

Paul Carey *

Japhy Weideman *

Projection Design

59 Productions *

Sound Designer

Rick Jacobsohn *

San Francisco Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Opera Chorus

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San Francisco Opera 2023-2024 Season

Through June 2024

The San Francisco Opera’s 2023-2024 season opened with their gala in the fall, and as spring moves along, guests are invited to the ongoing Schwabacher Recital Series , which “offers you the opportunity to hear gifted singers in an up-close and intimate setting,” and The Magic Flute (May 30-June 30).

See more information and get tickets on the SF Opera site .

Music | ‘Omar,’ a unique opera drawn from a slave’s…

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Music | father, two children identified as victims in fiery fatal pleasanton car crash, music | ‘omar,’ a unique opera drawn from a slave’s memoirs, comes to sf.

Jamez McCorkle talks about singing the title role of “Omar” with a mix of awe and admiration.

The American tenor has been center stage in the award-winning opera since its inception. Composed by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, “Omar” premiered at the 2022 Spoleto Festival in South Carolina with McCorkle in the title role; he’s returned to it for multiple performances in Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Now he’s heading a large cast as the opera, directed by Kaneza Schaal and conducted by John Kennedy, makes its much-anticipated Bay Area premiere at San Francisco Opera.

Awarded this year’s Pulitzer Prize for music, “Omar” is based on the 1831 autobiography of Omar ibn Said, a Muslim scholar born in 1770 in what is now Senegal. Enslaved and transported to the U.S. in 1807, Said spent five decades as a slave on a North Carolina plantation, where he wrote his autobiography — the only known slave narrative written in Arabic.

“What really connected me to him was his resiliency,” McCorkle explained, “his ability to maintain who he was through all of the pain he went through. That was the thing that struck me most about his character, and it made me feel I had to devote 100% to bringing his story to life without any reservations.”

For Abels, the acclaimed composer of scores for the Jordan Peele films “Get Out” and “Us,” Omar’s story was a revelation.

“That’s kind of the point,” he said, in a recent call from his Southern California studio. “Stories like this don’t get the historical focus they might, if all of our stories were told.”

Abels said it was Giddens, a native of North Carolina and an American music specialist, who was first approached by Spoleto with the idea for an Omar opera. “They said ‘we’ll find someone to write the libretto,’” Abels recalled, “and she said ‘no, actually I would prefer to write the libretto — but I would like a musical collaborator.’”

“She asked me,” he added, “and I said yes before I even knew what it was about.”

Abels and Giddens, perhaps best known as the singer for the Carolina Chocolate Drops, hadn’t yet worked together — or even met — but Abels was already a fan of her work. “Anyone who’s seen her perform live gets the depth of her artistry,” he said. (Note: Giddens and the Silk Road Ensemble will perform “American Railroad” at Cal Performances in Berkeley on Nov. 17; calperformances.org.)

At one of her concerts, Abels visited her backstage, and says they immediately agreed to work together. “We had no idea what that would look like, but it was a leap of faith for both of us. That was the key to why it was successful.”

In subsequent meetings, the work took shape. “In our first conversation, we agreed there shouldn’t be a banjo,” he notes — and they began to consider the breadth of American music. “Because we both love folk music and don’t see the distinctions in genres that so much of the marketing of music creates, that just felt natural to both of us.”

The finished score includes “spirituals, music that sounds kind of churchy, even operatic parts that sound deliberately Wagnerian,” he said. “And, of course, you can’t write an opera where part of the setting is in Charleston without acknowledging the harmonic language of ‘Porgy and Bess.’”

For Abels, winning the Pulitzer Prize was an unexpected honor — icing on the cake when “Omar” had already been so warmly received by audiences, many of whom, he said, have been first-time opera goers.

“It’s a piece that really touches people,” he said. “Ultimately, Rhiannon and I both believe that music and art should connect with people at an emotional and soul level. When you’re achieving that, it’s really gratifying.”

The power of Omar’s story, combined with the renown of Giddens and Abels, seems to have attracted new audiences in each of its previous outings. Asked if “Omar” is a force for change in the opera world, Abels says it just might be.

“If that’s true, I’m excited. In this opera, people have to think about the art form a little differently. And that’s huge.

“Right now there is an opening in the opera world — a lot of people of color being offered opportunities that weren’t available to us 10 years, 20 years ago. Whenever it happens, I’m for that. Either way, I think ‘Omar’ provides an example of what’s possible.”

McCorkle agrees. Although he has a full calendar going forward, he considers “Omar” a career highlight — and as opening night approaches, he hopes audiences will be moved by the work.

“I think there’s a huge percentage of people who have never set foot in an opera house who are coming to this show,” he said. “It’s somewhat indescribable how special this music is. It’s unlike anything you’ve heard on the operatic stage. You just need to hear it firsthand to believe it.”

Contact Georgia Rowe at [email protected].

‘OMAR’

By Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, presented by San Francisco Opera

When: Nov. 5-21

Where: War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

Tickets: $26-$426, also available to live=stream Nov. 11 ($27.50); sfopera.com.

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Phantom of the Opera at Orpheum Theater San Francisco

Cameron Mackintosh’s exciting new tour of  The Phantom of the Opera  brings the dramatic doomed love triangle to San Francisco’s SHN Orpheum Theatre. Described by critics as “bigger and better than ever before,” the latest edition of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical masterpiece offers bold new staging with original costumes, fresh choreography and exciting special effects (including the legendary chandelier) — plus a soaring score filled with memorable songs like “Masquerade,” “The Music of the Night” and “All I Ask of You.” Mackintosh is known for producing sensational musical hits like  Miss Saigon ,  Cats ,  Mary Poppins  and  Les Misérables  (both the live show and the 2012 Oscar-nominated film). But  Phantom  might just be his best work yet. It’s certainly the biggest — with a cast and orchestra of 52. This  Phantom  is one of the largest musical productions currently on tour, and now’s your chance to snap up some amazing San Francisco Theater tickets.

UPCOMING SAN FRANCISCO EVENTS

 03/17/2023 @ 6:00 PM – @ 11:00 PM

ST. PATRICK’S DAY SAN FRANCISCO PUB CRAWL

 03/18/2023 @ 2:00 PM – @ 10:00 PM

ST. PATRICK’S DAY PUB CRAWL SAN FRANCISCO

 05/05/2023 @ 6:00 PM – @ 11:00 PM

SAN FRANCISCO CINCO DE MAYO BAR CRAWL

 05/06/2023 @ 2:00 PM – @ 10:00 PM

SAN FRANCISCO CINCO DE MAYO PUB CRAWL – SANFRANCINCO

 07/01/2023 @ 4:00 PM – @ 10:00 PM

SAN FRANCISCO FOURTH OF JULY PUB CRAWL

 07/04/2023 @ 4:00 PM – @ 10:00 PM

SAN FRANCISCO FOURTH OF JULY PUB CRAWL & HOT DOG EATING CONTEST

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Music by  Rhiannon Giddens  &  Michael Abels Libretto by  Rhiannon Giddens Director  Kaneza Schaal

Winner of the 2023 pulitzer prize.

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Backstage like you’ve never seen it before

Join SF Ballet, on a tour of the War Memorial Opera House—a 1932 Beaux-Arts building designed by Arthur Brown. Go behind the scenes to learn about the unique technical and structural elements of the building and see all the secret ins and outs as part of this special once-a-year event.

March 4 at 4 pm (SOLD OUT)

March 4 at 6:30 pm (SOLD OUT)

March 25 at 4 pm (SOLD OUT)

March 25 at 6:30 pm (SOLD OUT)

April 22 at 4 pm (SOLD OUT - email [email protected] to be added to waitlist)

April 22 at 6:30 pm (SOLD OUT - email [email protected] to be added to waitlist)

The first tour begins promptly at 4 pm. The second tour begins promptly at 6:30 pm. Both tours begin in the SF Ballet lobby at 455 Franklin Street - across the street from the War Memorial Opera House. For safety reasons, latecomers will not be allowed to join the tour.

*Please note that this tour is physically strenuous. During the tour, participants will encounter trip hazards and low overhead thresholds. Participants are required to wear appropriate shoes and should expect 2+ hours of standing and walking, including up and down dark narrow staircases. Participants must sign a waiver before the start of the tour.

Contact Pam Sieck, Community Programs Coordinator [email protected]

The information, views, and opinions expressed at all audience engagement programs are strictly those of the participants and do not necessarily represent or imply any official position of the San Francisco Ballet Association.

Dates:   March 4, March 25, April 22, 2024

Times:  4:00–6:00 PM and 6:30–8:30 PM

Location: Meet/Check-In: 455 Franklin Street, San Francisco

Capacity: 20 per tour

Price: GA $75; no discounts

Opera Parallèle 2023 | 2024 Season

Composer Kenji Oh | Librettist Kelley Rourke

Based on the novel by Yoko Tawada. English translation by Margaret Mitsutani

In this World Premiere opera spanning generations, journey through a future where hope and resilience shine in a world on the brink.

Competition abounds in this World Premiere double bill, where comedy takes to the court in a theatrical spectacle culminating in the 1973 ‘Battle of the Sexes!’

An Opera by Gregory Spears Libretto by Greg Pierce

Based on the 2007 novel ‘Fellow Travelers’ by Thomas Mallon

The West Coast Premiere of a deeply romantic masterpiece entwining loyalty, passion, and forbidden love amidst ‘The Lavender Scare’ of the 1950’s.

Major support for Opera Parallèle is provided by Producers Circle members Marcia Barinaga & Corey Goodman, Marie & Leonard Collins, Donna Dubinsky & Len Shustek, Bob Ellis, Gordon Getty, Scott R. Lord, Nicole Paiement & Brian Staufenbiel, and Sherry Parker in memory of Dina Kuntz. Additional major support is provided by Martha Allday, Anderson Norby, the California Arts Council, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Don & Andrea Fellows Fineberg, The Future Fund, Keith & Priscilla Geeslin, Philop Goward & Theodore Ueki, Jane Hartley, Stephen & Diane Heiman, The Lemala Fund, Lisa Lindelef, Bernice Lindstrom, the Sam Mazza Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Robert Ripps & Steven Spector, Martha Peak Rochelle, Jerry Roth & Ray Jenks,  San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Jack & Betty Schafer, the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Jee Young You & Paul Alsdorf, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

Watch Opera Parallèle’s 23|24 Season Announcement, with full details from OP leadership and artists from the season on The Emissary , Birds & Balls , and Fellow Travelers , as well as Opera Parallèle’s Bullhorn community programs for the season.

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Composed by Giacomo Puccini

Conducted by James Conlon

May 18 – June 8

Production new to Los Angeles

At the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Puccini’s blockbuster is back for the first time in two decades in a fantastical production designed by David Hockney

Hiding out in enemy territory, a prince on the run encounters a captivating beauty who scorns love. With nothing to lose, he  enters a n all-but -impossible contest, risking his life to win her hand . But after claiming his victory , he faces an even greater  challenge: melting Turandot’s icy heart.

The sensational  Angela Meade takes on the iconic  title role, with  Russell Thomas as her fearless suitor and  Guanqun Yu as the woman who shows everyone the true meaning of ultimate devotion .  Music Director James Conlon conducts Puccini's thrilling final masterpiece, one that has had audiences leaping to their feet for a century, with ravishing stage designs by David Hockney that embrace the spectacle of  Turandot 's fairytale mystery and magic.

Get More with a DYO Package. Design-Your-Own Package with 3 or more shows starting at $56. Customize which shows and dates you attend plus receive added benefits. DYO PACKAGE

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A scene from the David Hockney-designed production of "Turandot"

“Meade’s voice has lustrous body and brilliant volume. There is dark richness that holds the potential for exceptional expressivity when that weight of sound is moved with graceful ease.” – Los Angeles Times

“The designs [by David Hockney] were at once enchanting and disorienting, brightly timbred and coolly esthetic, powerfully alluring and disturbingly inhuman.” – New York Times

About Turandot

Turandot  is a masterpiece that contains imagined, outdated and inaccurate representations of Asian culture. LA Opera has worked in consultation with the Asian Opera Alliance, who have offered input on how to present the work with greater consciousness, care and context, while maintaining fidelity to the original opera and this classic 1992 David Hockney production. 

Angela Meade

From: Centralia, Washington. LA Opera: Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (2012, debut); title role of Norma (2015); Queen Elizabeth in Roberto Devereux (2020); title role in Turandot (2024).

Photo: Faye Fox

American soprano Angela Meade is the winner of both the Metropolitan Opera’s 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the 2011 Richard Tucker Award. In 2008 she joined an elite group of history’s singers when, as Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani, she made her professional operatic debut on the Met stage. Since then she has fast become recognized as one of today’s outstanding vocalists, excelling in the most demanding heroines of the 19th-century bel canto repertoire as well as in the operas of Verdi and Mozart.

In the 2022/23 season, Angela Meade made her role debut as Leonora in La Forza del Destino and performed in a 70th anniversary gala with Amigos de la Ópera de A Coruña in A Coruña, Spain. She returned to Asociación Bilbaína de Amigos de la Ópera (“ABAO”) to perform the title role in the third act of Aida in concert. She made her role debut as the title role in Lucrezia Borgia in her house debut at Munich's Bavarian State Opera before returning to the Metropolitan Opera for Elisabeth de Valois in Sir David McVicar’s production of Don Carlo conducted by Carlo Rizzi. She returned to Teatro Regio di Torino for the Verdi Requiem before making her Teatro alla Scala debut, singing the role of Elena in I Vespri Siciliani conductd by Fabio Luisi. Following her debut at La Scala, her appearances include the title role in Aida in Torino, Lucrezia Contarini in The Two Foscari  at Teatro Carlo Felice, and Elvira in Ernani at Palau De Les Arts Reina Sofia.

Meade began the 2021/22 season as Sieglinde in Die Walküre alongside Eric Owens and Brandon Jovanovich at Seattle Opera before singing the role of Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra at Teatro Regio di Parma. She sang the title role in Norma at Teatro Municipale di Piacenza and Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti di Modena. She sang the title role in Anna Bolena at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova before returning to Teatro Regio di Parma for a reprise of Norma. She made a return to Bilbao to sing Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Nicola Luisotti and sang a recital with Myra Huang for the Wexford Festival Opera. She also returned to Teatro Massimo di Palermo for the Verdi Requiem and performed the role of Elvira in Ernani at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. She sang Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Toronto Symphony conducted by Gustavo Gimeno before debuting the role of Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera at the Verbier Festival conducted by Gianandrea Nosdea.

In the 2020/21 season, Ms. Meade gave a recital at Seattle Opera alongside mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, and then sang a concert featuring selections from Verdi operas with the Dallas Symphony and music director Fabio Luisi. She also returned to Bilbao for a gala concert featuring music from Aida, then reprising the title role in Aida at Arena di Verona. 

In the 2019/20 season, Ms. Meade sang Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux at LA Opera, the title role in Aida at the Gran Teatro del Liceu, the title roles in both Norma and Rossini’s Ermione at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and Elisabetta in Don Carlo at Amigos de la Opera de la Coruña in Spain. In concert, she sang Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, conducted by Alan Gilbert. 

In the 2018/19 season, Ms. Meade joined forces with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain for a special performance of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in memory of Jacqueline Desmarais. Domestic opera engagements included a role debut as Margherita in the Robert Carsen production of Boito’s Mefistofele at the Metropolitan Opera, a house debut at Seattle Opera as Leonora in Il Trovatore and a return to Dallas Opera as Alice Ford in Falstaff, while internationally, she reprised Leonora at Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla in Spain. In concert, Ms. Meade sang Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at the Ravinia Festival with Marin Alsop and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, reprised the Messa da Requiem with the RTÉ National Symphony under the baton of Michele Mariotti, and appeared in a gala concert in her debut at the Rossini Opera Festival.

Operatic highlights of recent seasons include performances at the Metropolitan Opera as the title role in both Norma and Semiramide (broadcast Live in HD in theaters worldwide), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Leonora; at Washington National Opera as the title role in Handel’s Alcina ; at Oper Frankfurt as the title role in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur ; at the Teatro Real in Madrid as both Norma and Lucrezia in Verdi’s The Two Foscari ; at the Teatro Regio di Torino as Giselda in Verdi’s I Lombardi ; and, stepping in as a last-minute replacement, at Deutsche Oper Berlin as Leonora.

Ms. Meade’s concert highlights of recent seasons include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, under the baton of music director Gustavo Dudamel; at Lincoln Center for the Metropolitan Opera’s 50th Anniversary celebration concert; with the Philadelphia Orchestra for their 2016 New Year’s Eve Gala; in the Messa da Requiem for her debut at Houston Grand Opera, under the baton of music director Patrick Summers; at the Grant Park Music Festival in Martinů’s The Epic of Gilgamesh ; at the Caramoor Music Festival for an opening night gala and in performances of Il Pirata ; with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; with the Cincinatti Symphony Orchestra in Rachmaninoff’s The Bells ; with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 for her Japanese debut; and as Ermione under the baton of the late Alberto Zedda with the Russian National Orchestra in Moscow, as well as with the Opéra de Lyon Orchestra in Lyon and in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She has also presented solo recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as in Philadelphia, Santa Fe, and Waterford (VA).

Following her momentous Met debut, Ms. Meade’s numerous returns to the storied New York house included performances as the title role in Sir David McVicar’s new production of Anna Bolena, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Contessa Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro  and Alice Ford in a new production of Falstaff under James Levine, as seen around the world in the Met’s Live in HD series and released on DVD by Decca Classics. She also reprised Elvira in a production seen both in the Met’s Live in HD series and on a Great Performances at the Met presentation on PBS. Elsewhere in New York City, she has performed at Carnegie Hall as both the title role in Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda and Amaltea in Rossini’s Moïse et Pharaon, and at Lincoln Center as Giselda in Verdi’s I Lombardi with the Opera Orchestra of New York. Career operatic highlights also include house debuts at the Vienna State Opera as Elena in Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani, the Teatro Regio di Torino in Italy as Mathilde in Rossini’s Guglielmo Tell, both LA Opera and Cincinnati Opera as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and her first fully-staged portrayal of Norma at Washington National Opera, where as she was subsequently honored as the “2013 Artist of the Year.”

On the concert stage, Ms. Meade has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, and Seattle Symphony, among others. Conductors with whom she has collaborated include Roberto Abbado, Marin Alsop, Marco Armiliato, Maurizio Benini, Will Crutchfield, Thomas Dausgaard, Charles Dutoit, Riccardo Frizza, Manfred Honeck, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gianandrea Noseda, Donald Runnicles, Gerard Schwarz, and Osmo Vänskä.

A native of Washington State and an alumna of the Academy of Vocal Arts, Ms. Meade has triumphed in an astounding number of vocal competitions: 57 in all, including many of the opera world’s most important prizes. In addition to being a winner at the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, as documented in The Audition, a film subsequently released on DVD by Decca, she was also the first singer to take first prize in both the opera and operetta categories of the prestigious Belvedere Competition.

Learn more at AngelaMeade.com .

Russell Thomas

From: Miami, Florida. LA Opera: Pollione in Norma (2015, debut); Cavaradossi in Tosca (2017); title role in The Clemency of Titus (2019); online Signature Recital (2021); title role of Oedipus Rex (2021); Radames in Aida (2022); title role in Otello (2023); Calaf in Turandot (2024); soloist in Fire and Blue Sky (2024). He has been the company's Artist in Residence since 2021.

With a “heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision” ( Opera magazine) and “gorgeously burnished power” ( The New York Times ), American tenor Russell Thomas uses his signature elegance and intensity to create vivid character portrayals on the world’s most important stages.

In the 2023/24 season, Mr. Thomas undertakes his first Parsifal at Houston Grand Opera and returns to major stages around the world in signature Verdi and Puccini roles. He sings Radames in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Aida, Cavaradossi in the Royal Opera House’s Tosca, Calaf in LA Opera’s Turandot and Alvaro in the Norwegian Opera’s La Forza del Destino. He appears in concert and recital with the Edinburgh International Festival, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Vocal Arts DC at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, before concluding his artistic residency at LA Opera with Fire and Blue Sky, a world premiere song cycle composed for him by Joel Thompson.

Acclaimed for his “voice of intrinsic warmth and refined sense of style” ( Opera News ), Mr. Thomas has enjoyed a string of operatic triumphs in key Verdi roles, including appearances as Otello at Canadian Opera Company and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Ernani at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Manrico in Il Trovatore at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Radames in Aida at Houston Grand Opera, Stiffelio at Opera Frankfurt, and Don Alvaro in La Forza del Destino at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Opéra National de Paris. An alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Program, he most recently returned to the Met as Don Carlo and Rodolfo in La Bohème. Other important appearances include Cavaradossi at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Idomeneo at the Salzburg Festival, Roberto Devereux at San Francisco Opera, Radames and Otello at LA Opera, Florestan in Fidelio at San Francisco Opera and Cincinnati Opera, and Calaf and Adorno in Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Mr. Thomas created the role of Lazarus in the world premiere of The Gospel According to the Other Mary by John Adams and Peter Sellars, and his portrayal of Tito in the new Sellars production of La Clemenza di Tito at the Salzburg Festival drew praise from The New Yorker, which noted, “Thomas’s penetrating tenor, which has lately acquired richness and heft, anchored the evening.”

Mr. Thomas’s “ardent expression and spine-tingling high notes” ( Cincinnati Enquirer ) have been heard in the Verdi Requiem with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Washington, D.C. and Barcelona. He has appeared as tenor soloist in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the symphonies of Dallas, Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle, and Houston; the title role in Oedipus Rex at LA Opera and with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen; and as tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, BBC Proms, and Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. He joined the Met Orchestra for their first overseas tour in more than 20 years, singing Otello opposite Angel Blue at Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Barbican Centre, and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

During the hybrid 2020/21 season, Mr. Thomas began his tenure as Artist in Residence at LA Opera, where he plays a substantial role in artistic planning and casting. In addition to hosting and curating the company’s After Hours recital series, he has spearheaded new training programs designed to serve outstanding singers from historically Black colleges and universities and Los Angeles public high school students from underserved communities.

Learn more at RussellThomasTenor.com .

Mr. Thomas has enjoyed a string of operatic triumphs in recent seasons, including performances as Don Carlo at Washington National Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin; Cavaradossi in Tosca at LA Opera and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and Pollione in Norma at Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. He has debuted as Florestan in Fidelio at Cincinnati Opera, as Stiffelio at Oper Frankfurt, and as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Mr. Thomas has sung Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera, Loge in Das Rheingold with the New York Philharmonic, Adorno in Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and Ismaele in Nabucco at the Metropolitan Opera and Seattle Opera. His portrayal of the title character in the new Peter Sellars production of The Clemency of Titus at the Salzburg Festival and Dutch National Opera drew praise from the The New Yorker, which noted, “Thomas’s penetrating tenor, which has lately acquired richness and heft, anchored the evening.”

Future seasons include appearances in Berlin, London, Toronto, Chicago, Houston, New York, and Washington, D.C.

From: Shandong, China. LA Opera: Rosina in The Ghosts of Versailles (2015, debut); Countess in The Marriage of Figaro (2015); Vitellia in The Clemency of Titus (2019); Leonora in Il Trovatore (2021); Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (2023); Liu in Turandot (2024).

Soprano Guanqun Yu is a regular guest at international opera houses in Europe and America. Her engagements in the 2022/23 season included the staged version of Verdi's Messa da Requiem at the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, Micaela in Carmen at the Staatsoper Hamburg, her role debut as Elvira in a new production of Ernani  at the Festspielhaus Bregenz, and again Verdi's Messa da Requiem with the Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to the major Mozart roles such as Vitellia, Elettra, Contessa, Fiordiligi, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, Guanqun Yu's repertoire features the Italian repertoire in particular. She has sung Leonora in  Il Trovatore  at the Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera and at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra in Valencia, Hamburg and Frankfurt, Desdemona in Otello at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as well as at the Hamburg State Opera, Mimì in La Bohème in a new production at the Zurich Opera House as well as at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and Liù in Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra de Paris, Staatsoper Hamburg, in Zurich, Cologne and at the Bregenz Festival.

Guanqun Yu is also familiar with the French repertoire singing Micaëla in Carmen and Mathilde in Guillaume Tell – a role which brought her a great personal triumph in a new production at Hamburg State Opera.

Her numerous engagements also led her to the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Semperoper Dresden. With Lucrezia in a concert performance of I due Foscari, she madeher highly noticed debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2017.

Guanqun Yu has worked with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Michele Mariotti and Cornelius Meister. In 2010 she made her debut in Vienna in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc under the baton of Bertrand de Billy. Numerous concert commitments have taken Guanqun Yu to Scandinavia and Germany.

Guanqun Yu is winner of the Belvedere singing competition and winner of the renowned Operalia competition. After studying in Shandong and Shanghai, she was a member of the opera studio at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

Her interpretation of Lina in Verdi's Stiffelio was released on DVD in a production from Parma.

Learn more at GuanqunYu.com .

Morris Robinson

From: Atlanta, Georgia. LA Opera: Sarastro in The Magic Flute (2009, debut); Fasolt in Das Rheingold (2009, 2010); Oroveso in Norma (2015); Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio (2017); Zaccaria in Nabucco (2017); Sparafucile in Rigoletto (2018); Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo (2018); Parsi Rustomji in Satyagraha (2018); Ferrando in Il Trovatore (2021); Hermann in Tannhäuser (2021); Ramfis in Aida (2022); Lodovico in Otello (2023); Timur in Turandot (2024).

Morris Robinson is considered one the most interesting and sought-after basses performing today.

He regularly appears at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Program. He debuted there in a production of   Fidelio   and has since appeared as Sarastro in   The Magic Flute   (both in the original production and in the children’s English version), Ferrando in   Il Trovatore,   the King in   Aida,   and in roles in   Nabucco, Tannhäuser, and the new productions of   Les Troyens   and   Salome.   He has also appeared at the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, LA Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Teatro alla Scala, Volksoper Wien, Opera Australia, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. His many roles include the title role in   Porgy and Bess,   Sarastro in   The Magic Flute, Osmin in   The Abduction from the Seraglio, Ramfis in   Aida, Zaccaria in   Nabucco,   Sparafucile in   Rigoletto,  Commendatore in   Don Giovanni,   Grand Inquisitor in   Don Carlo,   Timur in   Turandot, the Bonze in   Madama Butterfly,  Padre Guardiano in   La Forza del Destino,   Ferrando in   Il Trovatore,   and Fasolt in   Das Rheingold.

Also a prolific concert singer, Mr. Robinson’s recently made his debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in performances of the Mahler Symphony No. 8 with its music director,   Mirga Gražinytė-Tyl. His many concert engagements have included appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (where he was the 2015/16 Artist in Residence), San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Met Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, New England String Ensemble, and at the BBC Proms and the Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Cincinnati May, Verbier, and Aspen Music Festivals. He also appeared in Carnegie Hall as part of Jessye Norman’s   HONOR!   Festival. In recital he has been presented by Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the Savannah Music Festival, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Mr. Robinson’s solo album,   Going Home,   was released on the Decca label. He also appears as Joe in the DVD of the San Francisco Opera production of   Show Boat,   and in the DVDs of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of   Salome   and the Aix-en-Provence Festival’s production of Mozart’s   Zaide.

For the reduced 2020/21 season, Mr. Robinson returns to both the Michigan Opera Theater and the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Haggen in   Twilight: Gods,  an innovative production of   Gotterdämmerung   created by Yuval Sharon. He also sings Sparafucile in a special performance of   Rigolettto   produced by the Tulsa Opera. He is also a member of the Atlanta Opera’s Company Players for the 2020/21 season where he will appear in various concerts, recitals, and educations outreach events throughout the year.

An Atlanta native, Mr. Robinson is a graduate of The Citadel and received his musical training from the Boston University Opera Institute. He was recently named Artistic Advisor to the Cincinnati Opera.

To learn more, visit MorrisRobinson.com .

From: Arlington Heights, Illinois. LA Opera: soloist in Frankenstein with Live Orchestra (2022); Jailor in Tosca (2022, mainstage debut); Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia (2023); Moses in Moses (2023); Herald in Otello (2023); Fiorello in The Barber of Seville (2023); First Villager in Frida y Diego (2023); Marquis d'Obigny in La Traviata (2024); Ping in Turandot (2024). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2022.

Ryan Wolfe is a passionate musician fueled by his love for collaboration and performance, who has been commended for his “commanding presence” and “well-tutored, polished baritone.” 

In the summer of 2023, he performed Le Dancaïre in  Carmen with Des Moines Metro Opera, followed by his Hollywood Bowl debut in Chris Thile's  Attention!  with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

His 2022/23 season began with Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with the Richmond Symphony followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He made his LA Opera debut as the Jailer in Tosca, with later credits including the Herald in Otello, Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia conducted by Lina Gonzalez Granados, and the title character in Henry Mollicone’s Moses conducted by James Conlon. Additionally, he was the cover for the roles of Johnson/Owen in Omar, the Count in The Marriage of Figaro, and Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande. He debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the Steersman in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.

In the summer of 2022 , he returned to the Apprentice Artist Program at Des Moines Metro Opera to cover Peter Quince in  A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  The 2021/22 season saw him make several role debuts including the Count in The Marriage of Figaro  and Cardinal 3/Priest/Father in Phillip Glass’s  Galileo Galilei   at the University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of Music (CCM) . In March of 2022, Ryan covered the role of Papageno in Barry Kosky’s internationally acclaimed production of The Magic Flute   with Des Moines Metro Opera . Most recently, Ryan appeared as the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with the Santa Cruz Symphony, conducted by Daniel Stewart.   

He won an Encouragement Award in the Central Region Finals of the Eric and Dominque Laffont Competition in 2021, won first prize in the 2022 University of Cincinnati – CCM Corbett Opera Scholarship Competition and is a two-time semi-finalist (2021, 2022) of the Lotte Lenya Competition . He has also won awards from Classical Singer National Voice Competition and the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition.   

In the summer of 2021, he joined the Des Moines Metro Opera Company as an Apprentice Artist where he performed Sen. Potter’s Assistant/Bookseller/Priest/Technician/Party Guest in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers  and  Narumov in The Queen of Spades   and covered Cithéron in Rameau’s Platée. He was also featured as Pandolfe in Cendrillon and the title role in Don Giovanni in the festival’s scenes program. He made his professional debut in February 2020 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as the Armchair and Tree  in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges under the baton of Louis Langrée and direction of James Bonas. A strong proponent of new music and a consummate musician, he collaborated with Opera Fusion:New Works - Cincinnati Opera to workshop Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice (co-commissioned by LA Opera and the Metropolitan Opera).   

Other operatic highlights include Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Baron Mirko Zeta in The Merry Widow , Giove in La Calisto, Kecal in The Bartered Bride, Simone in Gianni Schicchi, and Seneca in The Coronation of Poppea.  He has also been seen performing selections of Bernstein and Mahler with the CCM Philharmonic , and was the bass soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with the DePaul University Symphony Orchestra.  

Ryan completed his master’s degree before partially completing an artist diploma at the University of Cincinnati – CCM where he studied with esteemed baritone William McGraw. Upon Professor McGraw’s retirement, Ryan began studying with world-renowned baritone Elliot Madore. He is a proud alumnus of DePaul University where he received his bachelor of music, studying with Jeff Ray.  

Terrence Chin-Loy

From: Phoenix, Arizona. LA Opera: Pang in Turandot (2024, debut).

American tenor Terrence Chin-Loy, whom Opera News described as having a “beautiful lyric tenor voice” pairs passionate performance with a full, sweet sound. In the 2022/23 season, Terrence will perform Tamino in The Magic Flute  with the National Taichung Theater in Taiwan as well as at Arizona Opera, Don José in Carmen with MasterVoices at Lincoln Center, Old Head 2 and Charlie in the world premiere of Factotum with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Acis in Acis and Galatea with Eugene Opera, and join the roster of the Metropolitan Opera to cover the role of Arbace in Idomeneo. In concert, Terrence joins the North Carolina Symphony for Mozart’s Requiem, and the Boise Philharmonic for a performance of Hailstork’s I Will Life Mine Eyes as well as a residency with the College of Idaho.

Terrence opened the 2021/22 season in his solo debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones. He returned to Arizona Opera for his second and final season as a Marion Roose Pullin Resident Artist where he performed Henrik Egerman in A Little Night Music and Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Benny Paret Jr. in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Terence Blanchard's  Champion. In concert, he performed and recorded Taneyev’s At the Reading of a Psalm with the American Symphony Orchestra and Leon Botstein at Carnegie Hall.

Learn more at TerrenceChinLoy.com .

From: Seoul, Korea. LA Opera: Gastone in La Traviata (2024, debut); Pong in Turandot (2024).

Versatile tenor Julius Ahn delights audiences around the world with his unique interpretations. Of his signature role, Goro in Madama Butterfly, critics hailed “As the marriage broker Goro, tenor Julius Ahn was in his element, delivering the wickedness of his character with gusto.” Mr. Ahn performed the role in his debut at San Francisco Opera and returned there to reprise it, as well as with the Canadian Opera Company, Palm Beach Opera, Vancouver Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Carolina, Nashville Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Virginia Opera, and at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

In the 2022/23 season, Ahn was thrilled to reprise the lead role of Guang in Stuck Elevator by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis for Nashville Opera in addition to performing Borsa in Rigoletto with the Dallas Opera, Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors with On Site Opera, Mime in Das Rheingold with Atlanta Opera, and Bardolf in Sir John in Love with Bard Music Festival. In his signature role of Goro in Madama Butterfly, Ahn joined the San Francisco Opera for their centennial celebratory production of the opera, as well as Atlanta Opera, Cincinnati Opera and New Orleans Opera.

The 2023/24 season’s engagements include returns to Detroit Opera and Opera Philadelphia for Madama Butterfly.

In recent seasons, Mr. Ahn joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for performances of The Nose, Turandot, Rigoletto and Die Fledermaus, making his mainstage debut as the Second Priest in The Magic Flute.  Ahn also returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Goro, joined Cincinnati Opera as Spoletta in Tosca, Gherardo in Tulsa Opera’s Gianni Schicchi, and Borsa in Opera Philadelphia’s Rigoletto. He performed in two productions with the Korean National Opera: Gastone in La Traviata and Nick in The Girl of the Golden West. He has now performed the role of Pang in Turandot in over 10 productions including with San Francisco Opera, Vancouver Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Utah Symphony & Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, Atlanta Opera, Tulsa Opera, Seattle Opera and Cincinnati Opera.

Previous engagements have also included Monostatos in The Magic Flute with Opera Carolina, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Omaha, and the Pacific Symphony; Mark in Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage with Boston Modern Orchestra Project at Jordan Hall; and Basilio and Curzio in  The Marriage of Figaro with Lyric Opera Baltimore; Bardolfo in Falstaff with Opera Omaha; and Antenore in a concert version of Rossini's  Zelmira with Washington Concert Opera.

Ahn was cast in the lead role of Guang in Stuck Elevator by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis with the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab 2011 at the Banff Centre, as well as with the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab 2012 at White Oak. He performed the role in the world premiere with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, which earned him an Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre (Principal Actor in a Musical) from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. He later reprised the role with the Arts and Ideas Festival in New Haven, Connecticut, and did so again with New York Theatre Workshop.

He portrayed Sellem in The Rake’s Progress with Princeton Festival; Bégearss in The Ghosts of Versailles with Aspen Opera Theater Center; and Demo in Cavalli’s Giasone with Chicago Opera Theater. He was also seen as Conrado in a workshop performance of Long Season by Chay Yew and Fabian Obispo, as part of Huntington Theatre Company’s Breaking Ground Festival. Ahn attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with the world-renowned tenor Vinson Cole and performed a wide range of operatic roles.

Learn more at JuliusAhn.com .

Alan Williams

From: San Bernardino, California. LA Opera: Abe in Omar (2022, debut); soloist in Frankenstein with Live Orchestra (2022); Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia (2023); Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro (2023); Jethro / Voice of God 2 in Moses (2023); Montano in Otello (2023); Masetto in Don Giovanni (2023); Third Villager in Frida y Diego (2023); Sheriff in Highway 1, USA (2024); Doctor Grenvil in La Traviata (2024); Mandarin in Turandot (2024). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2022.

Alan Williams recently received his specialist and master's degrees in voice performance from the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Daniel Washington. He received his undergraduate degree in 2018 from Northern Arizona University, where he studied with Dr. Judith Cloud. 

In the summer of 2023, he appears with Aspen Music Festival as the Voice of the Oracle (Neptune) in  Idomeneo,  also covering the role of General Benjamin in Jimmy Lopez's  Bel Canto. 

He has performed a number of major roles with various festivals and universities including John P. Parker in Adolphus Hailstork’s Rise for Freedom: The John P. Parker Story,  Rev. Olin Blitch in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah and the title role in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale.  He has also performed in various concerts with Detroit Opera, recently in Detroit Players Club Opera Event. In the fall of 2021, Alan was invited to sing for Jean Snyder's presentation on the works of Harry T. Burleigh at the Oxford Lieder Festival in Oxford, England. He has also had the honor of singing with Dr. Eugene Rogers' professional chamber choir Exigence since 2020. 

He has received notable awards, recently earning an encouragement award at the Arizona District Laffont Competition. In 2021, he was named the winner of the Graduate Concerto Competition at the University of Michigan. Also during his M.M. studies at Michigan, he was selected as a national finalist in the 2019 National Association of Negro Musicians convention. In his undergraduate studies at Northern Arizona University, he was selected as a finalist for two consecutive years in the Rocky Mountain District for MONC auditions. 

In the summer of 2022, he joined the Frank R. Brownell III Apprentice Program at Des Moines Metro Opera, where he sung the role of Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and covered the role of the Lawyer in Porgy and Bess.  

Ashley Faatoalia

Emperor altoum.

From: Los Angeles, California. LA Opera: Crab Man in Porgy and Bess (2007, debut); Sage/Counselor in The Festival Play of Daniel (2010); Habakkuk in The Festival Play of Daniel (2012); On Now recital (2021); the Digital Short We Hold These Truths (2022); Simon/Pharisee in The Three Women of Jerusalem (2022); Amadou in Omar (2022); soloist in Frankenstein with Live Orchestra (2022); Emperor in Turandot (2024). He works regularly with LA Opera Connects as a teaching artist.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Ashley Faatoalia has been singing for as long as he can remember. He studied voice at Chapman University with Dr. Peter Atherton and since then he has been performing around the world.

In the first few years of his professional career, Ashley has become a sought-after vocalist for new works and experimental projects working closely with composers from across the country including, Lewis Pesacov, Rand Steiger, Bruno Louchouarn, Christopher Cerrone, Anne LeBaron and many more.

Often noted for his soaring tenor and warm stage presence, he has recently performed the role of Antron’s father in the premiere of Anthony Davis's Pulitzer Prize-winning  Central Park Five with Long Beach Opera, the role of the Crab Man in Porgy and Bess with Seattle Opera, EUROPERAS with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Industry, Albert Hoffman in Anne LeBaron's  LSD: The Opera with The Industry, his debut as Marco Polo in the premiere of Chris Cerrone's Emmy Award-winning and Pulitzer-Prize-nominated Invisible Cities with The Industry, Charles Edward in Candide with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and many more. He has also had the honor of singing the national anthem to sold-out audiences at Dodger Stadium and the Staples Center.

Upcoming work includes Remus in Treemonisha with Volcano Theatre of Toronto, recitals for LA Opera and more. He is featured on multiple professional recordings including the original cast recordings of Invisible Cities (CD/DVD/digital release) and The Edge of Forever (vinyl/digital release) and San Francisco Opera's production of Porgy and Bess (BluRay-DVD).

Learn more at AshleyFaatoalia.com .

Creative Team

James conlon.

James Conlon has been LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director since 2006.

Since his debut that year with  La Traviata,  he has conducted 67 different operas and more than 455 performances to date with the company.

(Click here to visit James Conlon's Corner, where you can find essays, videos and conversations he has created especially for LA Opera.)

Internationally recognized as one of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, James Conlon has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire. Since his 1974 debut with the New York Philharmonic, he has conducted virtually every major American and European symphony orchestra, and at many of the world’s leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera. Through worldwide touring, an extensive discography and filmography, numerous writings, television appearances, and guest speaking engagements, Conlon is one of classical music’s most recognized and prolific figures.

Conlon has been Principal Conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Torino, Italy (2016–20); Principal Conductor of the Paris Opera (1995–2004); General Music Director of the City of Cologne, Germany (1989–2003), simultaneously leading the Gürzenich Orchestra and the Cologne Opera; and Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (1983–91). Conlon was Music Director of the Ravinia Festival (2005–15), summer home of the Chicago Symphony, and is now Music Director Laureate of the Cincinnati May Festival―the oldest choral festival in the United States―where he was Music Director for 37 years (1979–2016), marking one of the longest tenures of any director of an American classical music institution. He also served as Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (2021–2023). He has conducted over 270 performances at the Metropolitan Opera since his 1976 debut. He has also conducted at leading opera houses and festivals such as the Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Mariinsky Theatre, Covent Garden, Chicago Lyric Opera, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

As Music Director of LA Opera, Conlon has led more operas than any other conductor in company history. Highlights of his LA Opera tenure include the company’s first Ring cycle; initiating the groundbreaking Recovered Voices series, an ongoing commitment to staging masterpieces of 20th-century European opera suppressed by the Third Reich; spearheading Britten 100/LA , a city-wide celebration honoring the composer’s centennial; and conducting the West Coast premiere of The Anonymous Lover by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a prominent Black composer in 18th-century France.

Conlon opens his 18th season at LA Opera conducting Mozart’s Don Giovanni directed by Kasper Holten. His groundbreaking Recovered Voices initiative, dedicated to rescuing works from historical neglect or censorship, returns to the company with a double-bill featuring the company premiere of William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA in a new production directed by Kaneza Schaal, and a revival of Zemlinsky’s The Dwarf (Der Zwerg) —an opera that launched the  Recovered Voices initiative in 2008—directed by Darko Tresnjak. He also conducts Verdi’s La Traviata —the first opera he led as Music Director of LA Opera—continuing his multi-season focus on the works of the great Italian composer. To date, Conlon has conducted more than 500 international performances of Verdi’s repertoire. Conlon closes his LA Opera season honoring the 100th anniversary of Puccini’s death, conducting Turandot, Puccini’s final opera composed in 1924.

Additional highlights of his season include returning to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to lead Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and conducting Wagner’s Lohengrin at Deutsche Oper Berlin. He also returns to Switzerland’s Bern Symphony, where he is Principal Guest Conductor, to lead three programs including Schubert and Beethoven symphonies, a celebratory New Years Day concert, and a season finale with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.

Conlon is dedicated to bringing composers silenced by the Nazi regime to more widespread attention, often programming this lesser-known repertoire throughout Europe and North America. In 1999 he received the Vienna-based Zemlinsky Prize for his work bringing the composer’s music to a broader audience; in 2013 he was awarded the Roger E. Joseph Prize at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for his efforts to eradicate racial and religious prejudice and discrimination; and in 2007 he received the Crystal Globe Award from the Anti-Defamation League. His work on behalf of silenced composers led to the creation of The OREL Foundation, an invaluable resource on the topic for music lovers, students, musicians, and scholars; the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School; and a recent virtual TEDx Talk titled “Resurrecting Forbidden Music.”

Conlon is deeply invested in the role of music in civic life and the human experience. At LA Opera, his popular pre-performance talks blend musicology, literary studies, history, and social sciences to discuss the enduring power and relevance of opera and classical music. He also frequently collaborates with universities, museums, and other cultural institutions and works with scholars, practitioners, and community members across disciplines. He frequently appears throughout the country as a speaker on a variety of cultural and educational topics.

Conlon’s extensive discography and filmography spans the Bridge, Capriccio, Decca, EMI, Erato, and Sony Classical labels. His recordings of LA Opera productions have received four Grammy Awards, two respectively for John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and for Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Additional highlights include an ECHO Klassik Award-winning recording cycle of operas and orchestral works by Alexander Zemlinsky; a CD/DVD release of works by Viktor Ullmann, which won the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik; and the world-premiere recording of Liszt’s oratorio St. Stanislaus.

Conlon holds four honorary doctorates, was one of the first five recipients of the Opera News Awards, and was distinguished by the New York Public Library as a Library Lion. He received a 2023 Cross of Honor for Science and Art (Österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst) from the Republic of Austria, and was named Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic. He was also named Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and, in 2002, personally accepted France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur, from then-President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac.

Learn more at JamesConlon.com .

Mr. Conlon’s first season as Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra includes three weeks of concerts, starting with an October 2021 program of music by historically marginalized composers. The featured works are Alexander Zemlinsky’s   Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid) , which is the piece that sparked Mr. Conlon’s interest in suppressed music from the early 20 th   century, and William Levi Dawson’s   Negro Folk Symphony , which reflects a theme that will recur throughout Mr. Conlon’s advisorship—the bringing of attention to works by American composers neglected due to their race. He returns in February 2022 for performances including Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony and the final scene of Wagner’s   Die Walküre , with guest artists Christine Goerke and Greer Grimsley. The BSO season concludes in June 2022 with Mr. Conlon conducting an orchestra co-commission from Wynton Marsalis, Rachmaninoff’s   Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini   with Beatrice Rana, and Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony (“Leningrad”). As Artistic Advisor, in addition to leading these performances, Mr. Conlon will help ensure the continued artistic quality of the orchestra and fill many duties off the podium, including those related to artistic personnel—such as filling important vacancies and attracting exceptional musicians.

Additional highlights of Mr. Conlon’s season include Bach’s   St. Matthew Passion   at Rome Opera, Wagner’s   The Flying Dutchman   at New National Theatre, Tokyo, the Paris Opera’s Gala lyrique with Renée Fleming, and concerts with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Dawson’s   Negro Folk Symphony   and works by Beethoven and Bernstein), Gürzenich Orchester Köln (Sinfoniettas by Zemlinsky and Korngold), Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra (works by Shostakovich and Zemlinsky), and at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Mr. Conlon’s 2021/22 season follows a spring and summer in which he was highly active amidst the re-opening of many venues to live performance. These engagements included concerts with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and RAI National Symphony Orchestra. He also led a series of performances in Spain scheduled around World Music Day (June 21). In Madrid, over a period of two days, he conducted the complete symphonies of Schumann and Brahms in collaboration with four different Spanish orchestras: the Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, and Joven Orquesta Nacional de España (JONDE). He subsequently conducted JONDE at the Festival de Granada and Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza. Additional summer 2021 engagements included the Aspen, Napa, Ravello, and Ravinia Festivals.

In an effort to call attention to lesser-known works of composers silenced by the Nazi regime, Mr. Conlon has devoted himself to extensive programming of this music throughout Europe and North America. In 1999 he received the Vienna-based Zemlinsky Prize for his efforts in bringing that composer’s music to international attention; in 2013 he was awarded the Roger E. Joseph Prize at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for his extraordinary efforts to eradicate racial and religious prejudice and discrimination; and in 2007 he received the Crystal Globe Award from the Anti-Defamation League. His work on behalf of suppressed composers led to the creation of The OREL Foundation, an invaluable resource on the topic for music lovers, students, musicians, and scholars; the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School; and a recent virtual TEDx Talk titled “Resurrecting Forbidden Music.”

Mr. Conlon is an enthusiastic advocate of public scholarship and cultural institutions as forums for the exchange of ideas and inquiry into the role music plays in our shared humanity and civic life. At LA Opera, he leads pre-performance talks, drawing upon musicology, literary studies, history, and social sciences to contemplate—together with his audience—the enduring power and relevance of opera and classical music in general. Additionally, he frequently collaborates with universities, museums, and other cultural institutions, and works with scholars, practitioners, and community members across disciplines. His appearances throughout the country as a speaker on a variety of cultural and educational topics are widely praised.

Mr. Conlon’s extensive discography and videography can be found on the Bridge, Capriccio, Decca, EMI, Erato, and Sony Classical labels. His recordings of LA Opera productions have received four Grammy Awards, two respectively for John Corigliano’s   The Ghosts of Versailles   and Kurt Weill’s   Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.   Additional highlights include an ECHO Klassik Award-winning recording cycle of operas and orchestral works by Alexander Zemlinsky; a CD/DVD release of works by Viktor Ullmann, which won the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik; and the world-premiere recording of Liszt’s oratorio   St. Stanislaus .

Mr. Conlon holds four honorary doctorates and has received numerous other awards. He was one of the first five recipients of the Opera News Awards, and was honored by the New York Public Library as a Library Lion. He was named Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic. He was also named Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and, in 2002, personally accepted France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur, from then-President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac.

Garnett Bruce

From: Washington, DC. LA Opera: Turandot (2024, debut).

Garnett Bruce’s body of work includes directing at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera and his European opera debut staging Turandot for the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples among many others.

From 2008 to 2011 he was the artistic adviser and principal stage director for Opera Omaha, where he led a cycle of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas. He began directing for the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University in 2004, receiving a faculty appointment in 2006. He was on staff at the Aspen Music Festival and School from 1993 and joined the faculty from 1997 until 2019. In 2022 he joins the faculty of University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music as Lecturer in Opera Studies and Stage Director.

Born in Washington, D.C., Bruce was a choirboy at Washington National Cathedral and holds degrees in English and drama from Tufts University. After internships with Hal Prince and Leonard Bernstein in the early 1990’s, he joined the staffs of the Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera, and Opera Colorado. His award-winning production of La Cenerentola for Kansas City has traveled to Austin, Orlando, and Madison. Known especially for his large-scale work of the standard repertoire, he has created stagings of Turandot, Carmen, Tosca, Aida, Pagliacci  and La Bohème that have been seen coast to coast.

Learn more at GarnettBruce.com .

David Hockney

From: Bradford, England. LA Opera: Tristan und Isolde (1987, debut; also 1997, 2008); Die Frau ohne Schatten (1993, 2004); Turandot (2024).

A British artist based in Los Angeles for many years, David Hockney (born 1937) is a distinguished designer, artist and author whose work has been seen at the world’s most prestigious venues. He is among the most visible and well-known serious contemporary artists of our time. His distinctive style and use of color and light have graced an enormous range of art media since the 1960s, encompassing etchings, paintings, drawings, photographic collages and printing, as well as the creation of landmark theatrical designs for film, theater and opera.

For Glyndebourne Opera, he has designed productions of The Rake’s Progress and The Magic Flute. His designs for Turandot premiered in 1992 at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and were seen on PBS’ “Great Performances” at the San Francisco Opera. He has also designed sets and costumes for Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps, Le Rossignol and Oedipus Rex. In 1987-1988 he wrote, directed and was featured in the film A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China or Surface is Illusion but so is Depth, produced by Philip Haas. He is the author of Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters. In 1997 he received the Order of the Companion of Honour Award from Queen Elizabeth II.

Learn more about his art at Hockney.com .

Ian Falconer

From: Ridgeville, Connecticut. LA Opera: Die Frau ohne Schatten (1993, debut; 2004); Turandot (2024).

The late Ian Falconer (1959-2023) studied at New York University, Parson’s School of Design and the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles. He worked as a painter, illustrator and scenic designer, and his work includes many theater productions in New York and Los Angeles. He designed the costumes for Tristan und Isolde  and Die Frau ohne Schatten  (LA Opera) and Turandot (Lyric Opera of Chicago), both of which had sets by David Hockney. He designed sets and costumes for New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. He designed many covers for The New Yorker and was the author and illustrator of all the titles in the bestselling Olivia series: Olivia, Olivia Saves the Circus, Olivia...and the Missing Toy, and Olivia Forms a Band.

Thomas J. Munn

Original lighting design.

From: New Britain, Connecticut. LA Opera: Samson et Dalila (1999, debut); Turandot (2024).

Thomas J. Munn (1944-2022) was Resident Lighting Designer for the San Francisco Opera for over 20 years. In 1975 he was invited to design the lighting for Verdi's Macbeth for the Netherlands Opera. That production brought him to the attention to Kurt Herbert Adler, who invited him to join the San Francisco Opera production team. Tom designed the lighting for 285 productions for the company as well as dozens of productions for companies around the world.

In 2003, he was appointed Professor of Theatre and Dance at UC Davis, where he co-created the MFA program in theatre design. He took great joy in working with his students, sharing with them his love of the live performing arts, and passing on the traditions of his craft. He retired as professor emeritus in 2014.

Insatiably curious and even more energetic, Tom enthusiastically embraced new technologies in the theater. He developed innovative ways to use projections and was instrumental in installing some of the earliest computerized lighting systems. When the Opera House was renovated following the 1989 earthquake, he was an integral part of the design of the new theatrical lighting system. He also served as the lighting consultant for the 2006 renovation of the historic St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco.

Jeremy Frank

Jeremy Frank became Chorus Director in 2022.

Since joining LA Opera in 2007, he has served as associate chorus director (since 2011) and assistant conductor, and he has worked closely with the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. Before becoming Chorus Director, he previously directed the LA Opera Chorus for the Plácido Domingo 50th Anniversary Concert (2017) and for  The Clemency of Titus  (2019). One of his generation’s most respected pianists and vocal coaches, he has collaborated with major opera houses throughout the United States. He has assisted in the preparation of operas and vocal chamber music at the LA Philharmonic. As a pianist, he has partnered with Sondra Radvanovsky, J'Nai Bridges, Eric Owens, Brandon Jovanovich, Rodell Rosel, Dolora Zajick, Kate Lindsey and Susan Graham. He accompanied Joyce DiDonato at the 54th Grammy Awards, the first time the ceremony featured a performance by a classical singer.

In partnership with the Getty Villa and LACMA in Los Angeles and the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., he has curated multimedia recitals which draw connections between the classical v ocal repertoire and special exhibits in the museums. He is a frequent collaborator at Wolf Trap Opera as an assistant conductor, chorus master and recitalist. He has been a guest coach at the Opernfestspiele St. Margarethen, in Esterhazy, Austria, and he helped prepare Seattle Opera’s  Ring  cycle in 2013. He has been a guest faculty member for young artist programs at Utah Opera and Seattle Opera, and he is a part-time lecturer in vocal arts and opera at the University of Southern California. ( JeremyMFrank.com )

Kitty McNamee

Choreographer.

Kitty McNamee is an artist, a creator and, most importantly a collaborator.

Her early years in LA were spent honing her craft as Artistic Director of Hysterica Dance Co., a consistently prolific and creative collective that redefined dance in Los Angeles. Her unique approach to direction and choreography was declared by Dance Magazine to possess “an outsize talent for that most elusive gift, originality.”

Kitty has collaborated extensively with the LA Philharmonic, developing new productions of  Rite of Spring, Firebird, Bolero,  Esa Pekka Salonen’s  Wing on Wing, A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra  and more .  Ballets include  RIFT,  commissioned by Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and the Kennedy Center, the creation of the new ballets  Traces  and  Transit  for National Choreographer’s Initiative and  colony  for LA Ballet’s NEXT Wave Series.

Kitty moves effortlessly between her work in opera, including Roméo et Juliette, La Traviata, Don Carlo, La Rondine, Lucia di Lammermoor  and  The Tales of Hoffmann  for the country’s largest opera houses, to commercials for Target, Adobe MAX, Novartis, Mercedes Benz, Grey Ant and Uniqlo. She finds shifting from high art settings to the demands of pop culture to be incredibly invigorating. Kitty loves working with actors and is known for her ability to draw out organically nuanced performances. She has coached and choreographed for Paz Vega, Julianne Hough, Margaret Cho, Vanessa Williams, Vittorio Grigolo, Lily Tomlin, Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón . 

Theater credits include Secret Cinema’s groundbreaking live performances with Laura Marling in London, the world premiere of  Colony Collapse  (commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival),  Sense and Sensibility  (South Coast Rep),  The Fantasticks  (Pasadena Playhouse), A Midsummer Night’s Dream  (LA Phil/Disney Hall),  Man of LaMancha  (Reprise!) and  Sondheim’s 75th  (Hollywood Bowl).

Learn more at KittyMcNamee.com .

Andrew Kenneth Moss

Fight & intimacy director.

From: Corning, New York. LA Opera: Il Trovatore (2021, debut) and numerous subsequent productions including the 2023/24 season's Don Giovanni, Highway 1, USA, La Traviata and Turandot .

His work has been seen on stages around the world, with productions including Armida  at the Metropolitan Opera, SAFE  at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival, West Side Story at the Kilden Teater (Norway), A Little Night Music  at the Huntington Theatre Company,  Cold Mountain  at Music Academy of the West, and productions of  Carmen, Don Giovanni, I Puritani and  Greek  at the Boston Lyric Opera. 

New York credits include Forever Dusty  for New World Stages,  Pinocchio's Ashes  for Theater for a New City and The Saint of Bleecker Street  at Dicapo Opera Theatre, among others, and he has worked at numerous regional opera and theater companies around the country. 

As resident fight director for Central City Opera, he staged numerous productions there between 2008 and 2014, including Dead Man Walking, Carmen, Madama Butterfly, West Side Story, Oklahoma!  and  Rinaldo,  while also serving as the stage combat instructor for the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Artists Training Program.

Read the synopsis

Act One The drama unfolds in a legendary Peking, China. Princess Turandot will only marry a man who can solve her three riddles; all who fail must die.  Many heroes have perished trying to win her hand. The kingdom has gathered to witness the execution of the latest to fail, the Prince of Persia. Timur, the deposed King of the Tartars, old and blind, hides among the crowd with his servant girl Liù.  Timur falls when the crowd surges forward to see the Prince. Timur’s son Calaf, recognizing his father, helps the old man to his feet. The crowd cries out for blood, calling on the moon to rise, for that is the moment of execution. But when the Prince appears, he is pale, handsome, and barely more than a boy.  The crowd takes pity on him and begs Turandot to have mercy on him. Turandot appears to signal the execution and Calaf is captivated by her heavenly beauty. Timur and Liù try to impress upon him that pursuing his infatuation will only end badly as the Prince of Persia is executed, but Calaf will hear none of it. Calaf rushes to strike the gong, thereby declaring his intention to pursue Turandot, but Ping, Pang and Pong, the Emperor’s ministers, intervene. They warn him that striking the gong leads to certain death, and Timur and Liù echo their entreaties while the ghosts of Turandot’s executed suitors egg Calaf on. Liù cannot bear Calaf’s obstinate, destructive resolve (“Signore, ascolta!”).  Calaf tries to comfort her (“Non piangere, Liù”), but Liù only foresees certain death. He rushes forward and strikes the gong three times.

Act Two Scene One Ping, Pang, and Pong sit in a pavilion on the grounds of the palace recalling the countless executions they’ve seen since the birth of Princess Turandot. Thirteen men have already died this year, and the ministers are ready to make Calaf the 14th name on that list. They dream of the day when the executions will end, but preparations are already underway for Calaf.

Scene Two Eight wise men appear in the square carrying scrolls with the answers to the three riddles (“Gravi, enormi ed impotenti”). The ancient Emperor, enthroned in venerable majesty, begs Calaf to leave, but the Tartar prince will not yield. Turandot recounts the story of Princess Lou-Ling, her ancestor, dragged away by invading Tartars (“In questa reggia”). Hatred for the man who killed her lives on in Turandot’s heart, and no man shall ever possess her.  Turandot then speaks the riddles. Calaf answers each one correctly, but Turandot refuses to become his wife. He tells her that if she can discover his name before dawn, he will let her have him executed.

Act Three The heralds announce that by order of Princess Turandot, tonight no man shall sleep. Death will be the penalty if the stranger’s name is not known by dawn. Calaf vows to only reveal his name to Turandot once daylight has broken (“Nessun dorma!”). Ping, Pang, and Pong try to wrench the secret from Calaf, but he refuses all of their attempts to elicit his name. Soldiers bring in Timur and Liù, and Turandot enters to interrogate them. Liù declares that she alone knows the stranger’s name.  The soldiers try to torture it out of her, but she grabs one of their daggers and stabs herself, declaring that by her sacrifice, the princess will come to love the stranger. Timur follows Liù’s body as the people lift it and carry it away. Calaf indignantly kisses Turandot, trying to thaw the princess of ice (“Principessa di morte!”). Dawn breaks, and with it, Turandot’s resolve. When the crowd asks if she knows the stranger’s name, she replies, looking into Calaf’s eyes, “His name is love!” Spared death, the populace celebrates their happiness.

Sung in Italian with English subtitles

Running time: two hours and 55 minutes, including two intermissions

A co-production of San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago

Audio description will be available for the May 26 matinee.

Production made possible by generous support from Alfred and Claude Mann Fund Barbara Augusta Teichert

Additional generous support from The Estate of Cat Pollon

Tickets Start at $34 - Lowest Prices and Best Availability on May 30 and June 5.

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2023/24 Season

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Opera Tour to San Francisco: Nov 30-Dec 2

Friday, November 30 Arrival to hotel at your leisure 6:00 pm: Dinner at Firenze by Night in North Beach 8:00 pm: Beach Blanket Babylon

Saturday, December 1 Breakfast at the Hotel 9:30 am: Private docent tour of the French Modernist exhibit at the de Young Museum Afternoon at your leisure 6:00 pm: Dinner at Jardiniere 8:00 pm: Tosca at the SF Opera with private backstage tour

Sunday, December 2 Breakfast at the Hotel 10:00 am: Guided Walking Tour of Chinatown and Dim Sum Lunch Afternoon/evening at your leisure

Monday, December 3 Breakfast at the Hotel Departure at your leisure

The cost per person, double occupancy is $1,195, with a single supplement of $295. Each ticket includes a $250 tax-deductible donation to Opera SB. This trip is limited to 24 people.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Opera Santa Barbara ASAP at 805.898.3890.

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The San Francisco opera scene is always alive with boisterous voices and tragic stories that come to life on stage to entertain patrons who love the unique style and artistry of the opera. Tickets are sold on an individual, group, and rush basis, with two shows daily, including a matinee performance. The average opera runs about three hours in length and has an intermission, though its most avid admirers never want the pageantry to end.

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San Francisco Opera to Present ‘The Magic Flute’

San Francisco Opera is set to present Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”

Conducted by Music Director Eun Sun Kim, the opera will be presented in Barrie Kosky’s production and will star Amitai Pati as Tamino and soprano Christina Gansch as Pamina.

They will be joined by bass-baritone Lauri Vasar as Papageno, bass Kwangchul Youn as Sarastro, and soprano Anna Simińska as the Queen of the Night

Former Adler Fellow tenor Zhengyi Bai is Monostatos and the three ladies are performed by current Adler soprano Olivia Smith along with mezzo-sopranos Ashley Dixon, a former Adler, and Maire Therese Carmack, in her Company debut. Current Adlers Arianna Rodriguez (Papagena), Jongwon Han (the Speaker), Thomas Kinch and James McCarthy (the Armored Men) and three boy sopranos Niko Min, Solah Malik and Jacob Rainow (the three spirits) complete the cast.

The June 26 performance will mark the Company’s annual Pride Night at the Opera celebration. The opera will be presented between May 30 and June 30, 2023.

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