San Francisco Opera Extends Matthew Shilvock's Contract to 2030-31

The Board of Directors of San Francisco Opera have approved a new five-year contract extension for Matthew Shilvock, the Company's Tad and Dianne Taube General Director, effective August 1, 2026. The new term, Shilvock's third, extends his tenure through the 2030–31 season, building on a dynamic period for the Company that has seen the appointment of Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim, the Company's celebration of its historic 2022–23 Centennial Season, and a new era of artistic energy, community engagement, innovation, audience growth, and transformational philanthropic support.

“It is an extraordinary honor to continue serving a company with such a storied legacy and such boundless possibility,” said Matthew Shilvock. “San Francisco Opera is an incredible creative community, with company members and patrons passionately committed to art that helps us understand the world and our place in it. We're entering an era of vital energy for the theatrical arts, celebrating the power of live, human storytelling, and embracing the possibilities of new technologies. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue working as part of this remarkable company of extraordinarily talented people as we shape the future together.”

Matthew Shilvock became San Francisco Opera's seventh general director in August 2016, following in the footsteps of his mentor David Gockley. The just-concluded 2025–26 Season—Shilvock's tenth season as general director and twentieth overall with the Company—introduced a bold new San Francisco Opera-commissioned work into the repertory, Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang's The Monkey King. Based on Journey to the West, one of China's literary classics, The Monkey King sold-out its entire run before opening night and attracted tremendous philanthropic support and critical acclaim.   

Shilvock's tenure has also overseen the Company's reemergence from the global COVID-19 pandemic. In one of the first large-scale returns to live opera performance, a specially adapted production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville performed on a music festival stage in a drive-in setting marked the Company's first live performances in 16 months. This period ushered in a new focus on innovation for the Company with the launch of the Carol and Dixon Doll Creative Edge Fund. The fund has enabled projects including the part-opera, part-party Encounter series; The Instigators, a multidisciplinary program bringing a remarkable cohort of thinkers into the world of opera; Bohème out of the Box, taking free opera performances into Bay Area communities in a converted shipping container; and media projects including a livestreaming program broadcasting every opera from the War Memorial Opera House live to the world, and the In Song artist profile series.

The Company's work on stage and in the community is leading to multi-year growth trends in ticket buyers and donors. To date, The Dolby Family's Opera for the Bay ticket program has sold nearly 27,000 $10 introductory tickets to the opera. Since the Centennial Season, the number of six- and seven-figure annual donors has increased from 43 to 74, including a recently announced groundbreaking multi-year, multi-million-dollar commitment from Jensen and Lori Huang. The upcoming 2026–27 Season sees another increase in the number of subscribers, including an increase of 12% in full subscribers. Currently San Francisco Opera's endowment is the largest of any American Opera Company at over $300 million.

San Francisco Opera's 104th season opens September 12, 2026 with Verdi's Simon Boccanegra under Kim's baton. Highlights of the season include a new co-production with English National Opera of Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots, Wagner's Das Rheingold, and works by Massenet, Mozart and Puccini, along with a variety of concerts. For more information about San Francisco Opera and the 2026–27 Season, including the Company's acclaimed young artist development programs, education and community initiatives, livestreams and digital content, archives, free events and introductory ticket programs, visit sfopera.com.