Joel Sorensen News

Beloved classics, a new mariachi opera, and special one-night-only concerts with world-renown artists make up San Diego Opera's 2023-2024 season.

San Diego Opera’s 2022-2023 Season will continue with Puccini’s Tosca on Saturday, March 25, 2023 at the San Diego Civic Theatre for four performances.

San Diego Opera's 2022-2023 Season continues with Puccini's Tosca on Saturday, March 25, 2023 at the San Diego Civic Theatre for four performances.

San Diego Opera's 2022-2023 Season continues with Puccini's Tosca on Saturday, March 25, 2023 at the San Diego Civic Theatre for four performances. Additional performances are March 28, 31, and April 2 (matinee), 2023. All evening performances take place at 7:30 PM, matinees at 2 PM.

San Francisco Opera inaugurates its 99th season and first under the baton of Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim, with five performances of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, August 21–September 5.

San Francisco Opera announced today repertory, casting and reopening plans for its 99th season. Commencing with a performance of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca on Saturday, August 21, the 2021–22 Season marks the inauguration of Eun Sun Kim’s tenure as Caroline H. Hume Music Director and a reemergence of opera at the War Memorial Opera House.

San Francisco Opera's weekly, free opera streams continue in April with Donizetti's Don Pasquale (April 3–4), The Fall of the House of Usher double bill featuring one-act operas by Gordon Getty and Claude Debussy (April 10–11) and Verdi's Don Carlo (April 17–18).

San Francisco Opera continues streaming performances with Giacomo Puccini's Tosca on October 10a?"11, Giuseppe Verdi's Attila on October 17a?"18 and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) on October 24a?"25.

Engelbert Humperdinck's HANSEL AND GRETEL opened Saturday to an audience that included several dozen children, who followed their attention from beginning to end with color, movement, and singing backed by lushly orchestrated music. Even a five year-old girl sitting in front of me on a raised seat kept her eyes on the stage without a single fidget. Director Brenna Corner's playful production emphasized the fairy-tale nature of the story. During the overture a boy entered in front of the curtain, picked up a large book lying center stage and blew a cloud of dust from its cover. Fascinated, he dropped to the floor reading with a rapt expression while members of the San Diego Opera's children's chorus entered behind him, each with a letter on the front of their costumes. Once assembled the letters lit up to say, 'Once upon a time...,' and the story began. It continued after intermission with 'And then...' though not before a necessary rearrangement of the 'And...' brought a second laugh. The approving audience laughed again when the production closed with 'The end.'

San Diego Opera's 2019-2020 mainstage season continues with Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, which opens on Saturday, February 8, 2020 at the San Diego Civic Theatre for four performances.

San Diego Opera's 2019-2020 mainstage season continues with Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, which opens on Saturday, February 8, 2020 at the San Diego Civic Theatre for four performances.

San Diego Opera's 2019-2020 mainstage season continues with Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, which opens on Saturday, February 8, 2020 at the San Diego Civic Theatre for four performances. Additional performances are February 11, 14, and 16 (matinee), 2020.

Elizabeth Caballero's captivating performance as the tragic romantic heroine Cio Cio San, the titular lead of Puccini's classic opera Madame Butterfly, is so breathtakingly, so exquisitely heartbreaking that she alone is enough to make the 2019-20 season opening production from Nashville Opera a triumph, but director John Hoomes surrounds her with a cast of equally impressive singers who bring the romantic tragedy to life with such vigor and style that any of them might serve as reason enough for audiences to take note.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at San Francisco Opera's new production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, with a cast led by Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio in her Company and role debuts as Tosca, tenor Brian Jagde as Cavaradossi and baritone Scott Hendricks as Baron Scarpia with conductor Leo Hussain leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus in his first performances with the Company. Puccini's monumental work, which has a distinguished history at San Francisco Opera, will be staged by American director Shawna Lucey with new sets and costumes designed by Robert Innes Hopkins and built entirely in San Francisco Opera's scenic and costume shops. Check out photos below!

San Francisco Opera unveils a new production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca on Wednesday, October 3, with a cast led by Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio in her Company and role debuts as Tosca, tenor Brian Jagde as Cavaradossi and baritone Scott Hendricks as Baron Scarpia with conductor Leo Hussain leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus in his first performances with the Company. Puccini's monumental work, which has a distinguished history at San Francisco Opera, will be staged by American director Shawna Lucey with new sets and costumes designed by Robert Innes Hopkins and built entirely in San Francisco Opera's scenic and costume shops.

San Francisco Opera unveils a new production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca on Wednesday, October 3, with a cast led by Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio in her Company and role debuts as Tosca, tenor Brian Jagde as Cavaradossi and baritone Scott Hendricks as Baron Scarpia with conductor Leo Hussain leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus in his first performances with the Company. Puccini's monumental work, which has a distinguished history at San Francisco Opera, will be staged by American director Shawna Lucey with new sets and costumes designed by Robert Innes Hopkins and built entirely in San Francisco Opera's scenic and costume shops.

Committed since its inception to reviving important but neglected operas, Bard SummerScape has long proven itself “an indispensable part of the summer operatic landscape” (Musical America). Offering a rare new American production of Demon by Anton Rubinstein as its operatic centerpiece, this year's immersion in “Rimsky-Korsakov and His World” is no exception.

On Sunday, March 4 at 8 p.m., the Bay Area's Classical KDFC will broadcast a San Francisco Opera performance from November 2014 of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca starring soprano Lianna Haroutounian in the title role, tenor Brian Jagde as Cavaradossi and bass-baritone Mark Delavan as Scarpia, with maestro Riccardo Frizza leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. KDFC radio announcer Dianne Nicolini hosts the archival broadcast presentation, which will be available for on demand streaming at kdfc.com up to four weeks after the March 4 airing.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced plans for the 2018 19 Season. The Company's 96th Season will open Friday, September 7 with a gala double-bill performance of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in Jos Cura's production with an international cast featuring Lianna Haroutounian, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Roberto Aronica, Marco Berti and Dimitri Platanias, conducted by Daniele Callegari. To usher in the new opera season, San Francisco Opera Guild will produce its signature benefit event, Opera Ball 2018.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced plans for the 2018 19 Season. The Company's 96th Season will open Friday, September 7 with a gala double-bill performance of Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in Jos Cura's production with an international cast featuring Lianna Haroutounian, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Roberto Aronica, Marco Berti and Dimitri Platanias, conducted by Daniele Callegari. To usher in the new opera season, San Francisco Opera Guild will produce its signature benefit event, Opera Ball 2018.