San Francisco Opera Resident Conductor Jordi Bernàcer Takes the Podium for Performances 12/2–­ 8

Beginning this Friday, San Francisco Opera Resident Conductor Jordi Bernàcer will take the podium to lead four programs over a span of seven days. Bernàcer, who made his Company conducting debut with a performance of Bizet's Carmen last summer, will conduct the final fall season performances of Puccini's Madama Butterfly (December 4) and Verdi's Aida (December 6) at the War Memorial Opera House, a concert of opera scenes and arias showcasing the San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows at Herbst Theatre (December 2), and a concert featuring the string section of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra (December 8) in the intimate Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater at the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera.

Spanish conductor Jordi Bernàcer joined San Francisco Opera in August 2015. As Resident Conductor, he serves as musical assistant to Music Director Nicola Luisotti, in addition to participating in a wide range of musical and rehearsal activities. Bernàcer's conducting credits include Verdi's Rigoletto at the Teatro Real in Madrid; Puccini's Tosca at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples; Massenet's Manon, Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Torroba's Luisa Fernanda and Verdi'sSimon Boccanegra (the latter two with Plácido Domingo) at Valencia's Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia; Mascagni'sCavalleria Rusticana in Naples; Tosca for Los Angeles Opera; Carmen at Teatr Wielki in Poland; and operas and concerts at festivals in Italy, Spain and the Castleton Festival in Virginia.

He has collaborated with many leading conductors including Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Andrew Davis, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta and Georges Prêtre. Born in 1976 in Alcoi, Spain, Bernàcer began to study music at the age of six. He graduated in flute performance at Valencia's Joaquín Rodrigo Conservatory at eighteen, where he also studied composition, musicology, and choral and orchestral conducting, and concluded his studies at the Vienna Conservatory.

For more information about these events, visit sfopera.com. The War Memorial Opera House, Taube Atrium Theater and Herbst Theatre are located within walking distance of the Civic Center BART station and near numerous bus lines, including 5, 21, 47, 49 and the F Market Street. For more public transportation information, visit bart.gov andsfmuni.com. All casting, programs and ticket prices are subject to change.