San Francisco Opera to Stage Rossini's LA CENERENTOLA, 11/9-26

San Francisco Opera presents Gioachino Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella) in six performances November 9-26.

French mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes makes her San Francisco Opera debut in the title role of Angelina (Cinderella), the gentle servant girl who catches the eye of a handsome prince. American tenor René Barbera makes his Company debut as the dashing prince Don Ramiro, Italian baritone Fabio Capitanucci returns as the prince's valet Dandini and Spanish baritone Carlos Chausson is Cinderella's evil stepfather. Based on one of the most beloved fairy tales of all time, La Cenerentola sparkles in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's charming and heartwarming production, directed by Gregory Fortner and conducted by esteemed Spanish conductor Jesús López-Cobos.

Soprano Karine Deshayes has previously appeared as Angelina with great success throughout her native France, including at Paris Opera, Opera de Tours, Bordeaux National Opera and Nantes Opera. Lauded by the New York Times for her "emotional depth and vibrant, beautiful sound," Deshayes' recent career highlights include Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Romeo in I Capuleti e I Montecchi and the title role of L'incoronazione di Poppea at Paris Opera and Fenena in Nabucco at Orange Opera in France. This season she will also appear as Nicklausse/the Muse in Les Contes d'Hoffmann at the Metropolitan Opera as well as the title role of Offenbach's La Belle Hélène at Toulon Opera.

American tenor René Barbera makes his San Francisco Opera debut as Cinderella's prince, Don Ramiro. Barbera has previously performed the role to great acclaim at Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera and West Palm Beach Opera. "Sensational as Don Ramiro," Barbera "negotiated his intricate fioratura with a golden elegance, never forcing, and suddenly pounced on a phrase or high note with an added vibrancy (Orange County Register)." Later this season the Merola Opera Program alumnus (2008) revisits another of his signature roles, Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Los Angeles Opera, and in 2015 he returns to San Francisco Opera as Iopas in Berlioz's Les Troyens.

Spanish baritone Carlos Chausson appears at San Francisco Opera for the first time as Cinderella's manipulative stepfather Don Magnifico. In demand for his portrayal of comedic buffo parts, Chausson's signature roles include Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Le nozze di Figaro, Don Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte, and the title role of Don Pasquale. He has sung Don Magnifico around the world with companies such as Zurich Opera, Paris Opera, Milan's Teatro alla Scala, and Madrid's Teatro Real as well as in Seville, Dresden, Bilbao and Nice.

Italian baritone Fabio Capitanucci returns to San Francisco Opera as Don Ramiro's valet Dandini following his Company debut last season as Ford in Falstaff. Recent career highlights include Giorgio Germont in La Traviata at the Arena di Verona and at Munich's Bavarian State Opera, Belcore in L'Elisir D'amore at Madrid's Teatro Real and Chorebus in Berlioz's Les Troyens at Milan's Teatro alla Scala. Capitanucci has previously appeared as Dandini at Dresden's Semper Opera, Geneva Opera and Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Spanish conductor Jesús López-Cobos, who previously has held music director posts at Madrid's Teatro Real, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Orquesta Nacional de España, returns to lead the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus for the first time since the 1974 production of Verdi's Otello. Gregory Fortner makes his San Francisco Opera debut directing Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's iconic production.

All performances will feature an informative Opera Talk by conductor, composer and educator Giancarlo Aquilanti. Talks begin fifty-five minutes before each performance in the orchestra section of the War Memorial Opera House and are presented free of charge to patrons with tickets for the corresponding performance.

Sung in Italian with English supertitles, the six performances of La Cenerentola are scheduled for November 9 (2 p.m.), November 13 (7:30 p.m.), November 16 (2 p.m.), November 18 (7:30 p.m.), November 21 (7:30 p.m.) and November 26 (7:30 p.m.), 2014.

Exploration Workshops: All About Cinderella! - Presented by San Francisco Opera Education Department, Exploration Workshops: All About Cinderella! is an interactive, multi-generational workshop based on the themes, story, characters and music of La Cenerentola (Cinderella). The workshops will take place 10-11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m on Saturday, November 1 and 11 a.m.-12 p.m. and 12:30-1:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 16 in the Chorus Room of War Memorial Opera House. Tickets are $5 per person and can be purchased online in advance. At this time the November 16 workshops are sold out.

Tickets for performances of Rossini's La Cenerentola at the War Memorial Opera House are priced from $25 to $370 and may be purchased at sfopera.com or through the San Francisco Opera Box Office [301 Van Ness Avenue (at Grove Street), or by phone at (415) 864-3330]. Standing Room tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on the day of each performance; tickets are $10 each, cash only.

The War Memorial Opera House is located at 301 Van Ness Avenue at Grove Street. 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 station and near numerous bus lines, including 5, 21, 47, 49 and the F Market Street. For more public transportation information, visit bart.gov and sfmuni.com.

Casting, programs, schedules and ticket prices are subject to change. For further information about La Cenerentola and San Francisco Opera's 2014-15 season, visit sfopera.com.

BIOS:

KARINE DESHAYES
(Paris, France)
Angelina (Cenerentola)

Mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes makes her San Francisco Opera debut in a role she has performed in Bordeaux and Angers/Nantes. She is a former company member of the Opéra National de Lyon, where her roles included Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), the Squirrel and the Cat (L'Enfant et les Sortilèges), Clara (Le Premier Cercle by Gilbert Amy, world premiere), Clarina (La Cambiale del Matrimonio), Nancy (Albert Herring), Cupidon (Orphée aux Enfers), Stefano (Roméo et Juliette), the Kitchen Boy (Rusalka), and Rosina (Il Barbieri di Siviglia). She has also appeared in L'Enfant et les Sortilèges at Madrid's Teatro Real and La Donna del Lago for the Festival de Radio France in Montpellier. At the Paris Opera she has appeared in Rusalka, Juliette ou la Clé des Songes, Faust, Parsifal, and The Makropoulos Case. Other career highlights include Cherubino at the Festival de Lacoste; the Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte) at the Toulouse's Théâtre du Capitole, Paris Opera, and the Salzburg Festival; Mercédès (Carmen) at the Chorégie d'Orange; Irene (Tamerlano) at Lille Opera; Zerlina (Don Giovanni) at the Théatre du Capitole; Béatrice (Béatrice et Bénédict) at the Opéra National du Rhin; Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Preziosilla (La Forza del Destino) at d'Avignon Opera; and Vénus (Vénus et Adonis) and the title role of Massenet's Zanetto in Nancy. She recently made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in the role of Siebel (Faust). Deshayes was awarded first prize at the Voix d'Or 2001 and the Voix Nouvelles 2002 competitions. She was also nominated for the "Discovery of the Year" at the Victoires de la Musique Classique, 2002.

RENÉ BARBERA
(San Antonio, Texas)
Don Ramiro
A graduate of Lyric Opera of Chicago's Patick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center and alumnus of the Merola Opera Program, tenor René Barbera makes his San Francisco Opera debut in 2013. At the 2011 Operalia competition in Moscow, he was awarded First Prize (Opera), First Prize (Zarzuela), and the Audience Prize; he is the first artist to be the sole recipient of all three awards since the competition began in 1993. Barbera's recent engagements include the tenor soloist in the Verdi Requiem with the Melbourne Philharmonic and Seattle Symphony, Arturo (I Puritani) with Paris Opera, Count Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto) with Opera Colorado, and Nemorino (L'Elisir d'Amore) with Austin Lyric Opera and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Other career highlights include Elvino (La Sonnambula) with Washington Concert Opera, Count Almaviva with Michigan Opera Theater and Vancouver Opera, Ernesto (Don Pasquale) with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola) with Seattle Opera and Los Angeles Opera, Rodrigo (La Donna del Lago) with the Santa Fe Opera, and Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi) with Toronto's Canadian Opera Company. His roles at Lyric Opera of Chicago include Arturo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Brighella (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Tamino (Die Zauberflöte). Engagements this season include Almaviva with Paris Opera and Los Angeles Opera, Tonio (La Fille du Régiment) with Greensboro Opera, and he returns to the Company next summer as Iopas (Les Troyens).

FABIO CAPITANUCCI
(Rome, Italy)
Dandini
Baritone Fabio Capitanucci made his San Francisco Opera debut as Ford (Falstaff) in the fall of 2013, a role he has performed at the Vienna State Opera, Dresden's Saxon State Opera, and Munich's Bavarian State Opera. Career highlights include Marcello (La Bohème), Cavalier Belfiore (Un Giorno di Regno), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Lescaut (Manon), and Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) at Milan's La Scala; Belcore (L'Elisir d'Amore) in Frankfurt; Don Alvaro (Il Viaggio a Reims) in Genoa; Marcello in Genoa, Dresden, Madrid, Verona, and Atlanta; Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro) in Turin, Dresden, and Palermo; Sharpless in Dresden; Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) in Marseille; and Malatesta (Don Pasquale) with Florida Grand Opera. Recent engagements include Sharpless in Palermo; Belcore in Monaco and Valencia; the title role of Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Berlin, Dresden, Budapest, Palermo, Munich, and Hamburg; Count Almaviva in Vienna; Marcello at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and in Florence; and the title role of Roberto Devereux in Marseille and Munich. Capitanucci's discography includes recordings of Madama Butterfly (EMI), Cilea's Gina (Bongiovanni), La Bohème (Opus Arte), La Cambiale di Matrimonio (Dynamic), and Leoncavallo's I Medici and Fedora (Deutsche Grammophon). Capitanucci will return to the Metropolitan Opera this season as Enrico.

CARLOS CHAUSSON
(Zaragoza, Spain)
Don Magnifico
Bass-baritone Carlos Chausson makes his San Francisco Opera debut in a role he has performed with Milan's La Scala, Paris Opera, Zurich Opera, and in Rome Bilbao, and Madrid, among others. He has a long history with the Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu with more than 20 roles there, beginning with his professional debut as Masetto (Don Giovanni) in 1977. Recent notable engagements include Bartolo (Le Nozze di Figaro) at Madrid's Teatro Real and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Pistola (Falstaff) with Zurich Opera and in Barcelona, Le Gouverneur (Le Comte Ory), and Taddeo (L'Italiana in Algeri) at Las Palmas Opera. Other notable performances include Bartolo at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as in Bologna, Vienna and Paris; the title role of Don Pasquale in Turin; Don Geronimo (II Turco in ltalia) at Munich's Bavarian State Opera; Fra Melitone (La Forza del Destino) in Madrid; Leporello (Don Giovanni) in La Coruña and in Vienna; Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) at German State Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu; and Dulcamara (L'Elisir d'Amore) in Toulouse. He has enjoyed a long association with Zurich Opera, where his roles included Bartolo, Don Alfonso, Taddeo, the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro, and Paolo (Simon Boccanegra); he performs Don Magnifico there later this season.

MARIA VALDES
(Atlanta, Georgia)
Clorinda

Soprano Maria Valdes is a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow who appeared as Susanna in Merola Opera Program's 2013 production of The Marriage of Figaro. She will return later this fall as Musetta in La Bohème for Families. An award-winner in the regional Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, Valdes is also the winner of the top prize at the Corbett Opera Scholarship Competition at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has been heard in concert with ensembles including the Georgia State University Singers, the Atlanta Chamber Players, the Atlanta Sacred Chorale, and the choirs of Emory University, Bent Frequency, and the Bellingham Festival of Music in Washington.

ZANDA ŠV?DE
(Valmiera, Latvia)
Tisbe

Mezzo-soprano Zanda Šv?de is a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow and an alumna of the 2013 Merola Opera Program. She made her Company debut this past summer as Flora Bervoix in La Traviata. Roles in her repertoire include the title role of Piazzolla's María de Buenos Aires, Endimione (Cavalli's La Calisto), and the title role of Massenet's Cléopâtre. On the concert stage she has appeared as a soloist in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Vivaldi's Gloria, and Liszt's Missa Coronationalis. Šv?de has studied at the Latvian Academy of Music in Riga; the Manhattan Summer Voice Festival in New York; Scuola Italia in Urbania, Italy; and the Tyrolean Opera Program in Austria.

CHRISTIAN VAN HORN
(Rockville Centre, New York)
Alidoro

American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn made his San Francisco Opera debut in 2010 as the King of Egypt (Aida) and returned later that fall as the Bailiff (Werther), the Bonze (Madama Butterfly), and Timur (Turandot). His most recent Company appearances were as Oroveso (Norma) and Count Horn (Un Ballo in Maschera) this current season, Angelotti (Tosca) in 2012, and the Four Villains (Les Contes d'Hoffmann) in 2013. He will also return to sing the roles of Colline (La Boheme) and Narbal (Les Troyens) in 2014-15. A graduate of Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Center, his roles with that company include Nourabad (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), Brander (La Damnation de Faust), Crespel (Tales of Hoffmann), and Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor). Recently, Van Horn appeared as Colline at Bavarian State Opera and the Santa Fe Opera, Zuniga (Carmen) at the Salzburg Festival and with the Berlin Philharmonic, Banquo (Macbeth) in Geneva, and the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro with Russia's Perm Opera. Upcoming engagements this season include Pistola (Falstaff) and Colline at the Metropolitan Opera and Publio (La Clemenza di Tito) with Lyric Opera of Chicago.

JESÚS LÓPEZ-COBOS
(Toro, Spain)
Conductor

Jesús López-Cobos made his U.S. debut at San Francisco Opera in 1972 leading Lucia di Lammermoor and Aida; he returned in 1974 for Luisa Miller and Otello. He recently completed a seven-year tenure as music director of Madrid's Teatro Real and maintains the title of conductor emeritus of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, having served as the orchestra's music director from 1986-2001. Under his leadership for 15 seasons, the orchestra earned international acclaim for its tour performances and its extensive catalogue of recordings for Telarc. López-Cobos has previously served as general music director of Deutsche Oper Berlin (1981-1990) and music director of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland (1991­-2000). His illustrious career has taken him to centers of music around the world, and he has regularly conducted such ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. After his first concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1978, he toured extensively with that orchestra and held the post of principal guest conductor from 1981 to 1986. With his career equally balanced between operatic and orchestral engagements, he has conducted at Milan's Teatro alla Scala; the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; and the Metropolitan Opera. His years at the Berlin Opera included a major Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle, performed at the Berlin Festival, in Japan (where it was that country's first complete "Ring") and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

GREGORY FORTNER
(Los Angeles, California)
Director

Gregory Fortner's opera and theater productions have been seen throughout the United States, Brazil, and Romania. His award-winning production of playwright Matei Visniec's play Old Clown Wanted has been a selection of international festivals in New York and Romania, and it enjoyed long runs in Chicago and New Jersey. Fortner's recent engagements include La Bohème and Don Giovanni with Los Angeles Opera, where he also taught workshops for the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program, and Falstaff at the Aspen Music Festival. Fortner also continues to serve as a member of the directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera, where he has worked since 2006. His work also has been seen at the New National Theater of Tokyo, where he remounted Jean-Pierre Ponnelle"s La Cenerentola. Fortner has developed and taught a workshop for young singers based on the work of Columbia theater professor Anne Bogart, and it has been presented at Florida Grand Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Opera North in New Hampshire. His credits also include themed entertainment for Disney and Thinkwell Design and Production.

JEAN-PIERRE PONNELLE
(Paris, France)
Production Designer
World-renowned designer and director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (1932-1988) began his long relationship with San Francisco Opera designing the Company productions of Orff's Die Kluge in 1958 and designed both sets and costumes for the U.S. premiere of Die Frau ohne Schattenin 1959. Ponnelle's additional productions here include La Cenerentola (the first American project in which he served as both director and designer), Carmen, Falstaff, Rigoletto, Der Fliegende Holländer, Così fan tutte, Lear, Otello, Gianni Schicchi, Tosca, Turandot, La Bohème, Il Prigioniero, and Idomeneo. The Paris native studied at the Sorbonne and in 1952 created the scenery for the world premiere of Hans Werner Henze's first opera, Boulevard Solitude. During the 1950s, he designed productions for the principal German theaters and made design debuts at the Vienna State Opera, the Rome Opera, and the Opéra-Comique in Paris. Televised productions included Idomeneo and Le Nozze di Figaro at the Met and Die Zauberflöte at the Salzburg Festival, as well as filmed versions of Madama Butterfly, Carmina Burana, Rigoletto, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Clemenza di Tito, and the three extant Monteverdi operas.

Pictured: Karine Deshayes in Cenerentola. Photo © Agathe Poupeney/Opera National de Paris.

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