Photos: Merola Opera Program Stars In L’ANIMA NAPOLETANA

San Francisco's Merola Opera Program kicked off its 2026 season with L'Anima Napoletana, a Neapolitan-inspired vocal and piano recital celebrating the lyrical richness and emotional depth of Southern Italy. Check out photos from the performance below.

Widely recognized as the premier training ground for emerging opera singers, pianists, and stage directors, this summer's program featured 28 artists selected from more than 1,500 international applicants. The 2026 cohort represented a global community, with participants from Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America.

Curated by Merola faculty member Mario Antonio Marra, L'Anima Napoletana drew on the music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, presenting an array of songs ranging from folk-inspired melodies to refined romantic harmonies exploring themes of love, longing, joy, and nostalgia. The recital highlighted the spirited rhythms and expressive traditions of Southern Italy while showcasing the talents of 12 Merola artists—seven singers and five pianists—through works that illuminated the region's rich musical heritage.

"L'Anima Napoletana is a celebration of a musical language that lives at the intersection of the intimate and the expressive," said curator Mario Antonio Marra. "These songs carry the soul of Southern Italy, rooted in folk tradition yet shaped by extraordinary lyric refinement, and they invite performers to communicate with both technical precision and emotional honesty. This program allows our artists to explore that balance, creating a space where storytelling, color, and human connection take center stage."

The recital featured soprano Shannon Crowley (Virginia Beach, Virginia), mezzo-soprano Stella FitzGerald (Austin, Texas), tenor Chester Seungyup Han (Seoul, South Korea), bass Theo Harrah (Louisville, Kentucky), soprano Charlotte Kelso (Adelaide, Australia), tenor Cole McIlquham (Osseo, Wisconsin), tenor Logan Wagner (Villa Hills, Kentucky), and pianists Sakurako Jayne Abe (Hokkaido, Japan), Eric Head (Fairmont, Minnesota), Deven Shah (Erie, Pennsylvania), Tony Stauffer (Montreal, Québec, Canada), and Yue Qi Zhang (Nanjing, Jiangsu, China).

Performed in Italian and the Neapolitan dialect with English supertitles, the program featured 23 works that took audiences on an emotional journey through expressive music and storytelling. The repertoire included more recent songs such as Bixio's "Parlami d'amore Mariu" and Cioffi's "'Na sera 'e maggio," alongside beloved classics including Rossini's "La Danza," Tosti's "Marechiare," Pennino's "Pecché?," Gambardella's "'O marenariello," and Leoncavallo's "Mattinata."

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