Philip Skinner News

San Francisco Opera today announced a cast change for Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (Roméo et Juliette), which opens the Company's 97th season on September 6, 2019 and runs for seven performances through October 1 at the War Memorial Opera House. Samoan-born New Zealand tenor Pene Pati, originally scheduled to sing Romeo on October 1, will perform the role in all performances, replacing Bryan Hymel who has withdrawn for personal reasons.

San Francisco Opera inaugurates its 97th season on Friday, September 6 with Charles Gounod's romantic Romeo and Juliet (Roméo et Juliette) and two season-opening benefit eventsa?"Opera Ball 2019: The Capulets' Masked Ball and BRAVO! CLUB's Opening Night Gala. The Company's opening weekend also includes Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd in director Michael Grandage's acclaimed production opening on September 7; and on September 8 San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park, the annual free concert tradition celebrating the opening of the opera season.

San Francisco Opera presents Benjamin Britten's masterpiece of law and order on the high seas, Billy Budd, in six performances at the War Memorial Opera House September 7a?"22. Based on the unfinished novella by Herman Melville and set to a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, Billy Budd returns to the Company's repertory after a 15-year absence in the a?oepowerfula?? (New York Times) staging by Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage. Lawrence Renes conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and an all-male cast of 75 artists, including 44 men from the San Francisco Opera Chorus prepared by Chorus Director Ian Robertson and 8 boys from the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. The performances coincide with the Melville bicentennial and the 100th anniversary of the posthumous discovery of the American author's unfinished manuscript of Billy Budd.

San Francisco Opera partners with the San Francisco Giants for Opera at the Ballpark, a free live simulcast of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (Romeo et Juliette) on Saturday, September 21, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. at Oracle Park.

San Francisco's Earplay in co-production with RealOpera announces the world premiere of a major new chamber opera in three acts, HOWARDS END, AMERICA by composer Allen Shearer and librettist Claudia Stevens. Based on E. M. Forster's Howards End, the production at San Francisco's Z Space is set for three performances only, Feb 22-24, 2019. A pre-show discussion with celebrity guests is scheduled for opening night.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced repertory and casting for the Company's 97th Season, opening Friday, September 6, 2019, with a gala performance of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (Rom o et Juliette) starring tenor Bryan Hymel and soprano Nadine Sierra in Op ra de Monte-Carlo Director Jean-Louis Grinda's production. In keeping with the Company's time-honored tradition, the new season will be inaugurated with San Francisco Opera Guild's elegant, signature benefit and celebration, Opera Ball 2019.

San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri Greenawald today announced the 12 recipients of the 2019 Adler Fellowship. Selected from participants of the Merola Opera Program, the ten singers and two pianist/apprentice coaches begin their fellowships in January 2019. The multi-year performance-oriented residency offers advanced young artists intensive individual training, coaching and professional seminars, as well as a wide range of performance opportunities. Since its inception in 1977, the prestigious fellowship has nurtured the development of more than 180 young artists, introducing many budding stars to the international opera stage and launching active careers throughout the world as performers, production artists, arts professionals and educators.

San Francisco's Earplay in co-production with RealOpera announces the world premiere of a major new chamber opera in three acts, HOWARDS END, AMERICA by composer Allen Shearer and librettist Claudia Stevens. Based on E. M. Forster's Howards End, the production at San Francisco's Z Space is set for three performances only, Feb 22-24, 2019. A pre-show discussion with celebrity guests is scheduled for opening night.

San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri Greenawald today announced the eleven recipients of the 2018 Adler Fellowship. Eight singers, two pianist/apprentice coaches and one director will take part in the program. The multi-year performance-oriented residency offers advanced young artists intensive individual training, coaching and professional seminars, as well as a wide range of performance opportunities. Adler Fellows are selected from the artists who have participated in the Merola Opera Program. The prestigious fellowship has nurtured the development of more than 175 young artists since its inception.

San Francisco Opera presents Verdi's La Traviata in ten performances at the War Memorial Opera House, September 23 through October 17. Company Music DirectorNicola Luisotti leads an international cast featuring three artists making their Company debuts in leading roles: Romanian soprano Aurelia Florian as Violetta Val ry, Brazilian tenor Atalla Ayan as Alfredo Germont and Polish baritone Artur Rucinski as Giorgio Germont.

San Francisco Opera presents Verdi's La Traviata in ten performances at the War Memorial Opera House, September 23 through October 17. Company Music DirectorNicola Luisotti leads an international cast featuring three artists making their Company debuts in leading roles: Romanian soprano Aurelia Florian as Violetta Valery, Brazilian tenor Atalla Ayan as Alfredo Germontand Polish baritone Artur Ruci?ski as Giorgio Germont. The classic 1987 San Francisco Opera production, which evokes the opulence of mid-19th century Paris in lavish, detailed settings and costumes, will be revived by original director John Copley along with stage director Shawna Lucey. Artistic Director of Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco Carola Zertuche contributes new choreography in her Company debut. Ian Robertson directs the San Francisco Opera Chorus.

Single (non-subscription) tickets for San Francisco Opera's 2017 Fall Season at the War Memorial Opera House go on sale Monday, June 26, 2017, at 10 a.m. Tickets may be purchased online at sfopera.com; in-person at the San Francisco Opera Box Office, located at 301 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco and open Mondays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and by phone at (415) 864-3330 during Box Office hours. Full and Half Series subscription packages are also available. Tickets for the three cycles of Wagner's Ring during the summer of 2018 are available as complete, four-opera cycles only.

Madison Opera partners with Wisconsin Public Radio to present recorded broadcasts of Gounod's Romeo & Juliet on Saturday, May 20 and Mozart's The Magic Flute on Saturday, May 27. 

Rebecca Mead, staff writer at the New Yorker and author of My Life in Middlemarch, will give a free lecture to ticketholders and Virginia Festival of the Book participants before Charlottesville Opera's March 24 matinee performance of Middlemarch in Spring.

San Francisco Opera Center and the Merola Opera Program present the 34th season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals, opening on March 26 and continuing through April 30.

Librettist Claudia Stevens will give a free lecture for ticket holders and Virginia Festival of the Book participants before Charlottesville Opera's March 23performance of Middlemarch in Spring.

San Francisco Opera Center and the Merola Opera Program present the 34th season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals, opening on March 26 and continuing through April 30. The four-recital series offers music lovers an opportunity to hear opera's next generation of stars in the intimate and state-of-the-art Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco.

Charlottesville Opera, Ash Lawn Opera transformed, celebrates its fortieth anniversary season with a special fundraising event at the historic Airslie Farm in Keswick on March 18.

To celebrate its first premiere in over 35 years, the chamber opera Middlemarch in Spring, Charlottesville Opera will hold a free talk on March 16 by University of Virginia English professor Alison Booth on George Eliot's Middlemarch followed by excerpts from the opera.

Charlottesville Opera, the newly renamed Ash Lawn Opera, kicks off its fortieth anniversary season on March 23 and 24 with the East Coast premiere of Middlemarch in Spring, presented in collaboration with the Virginia Festival of the Book.