Photos: First Look At San Francisco Opera's June 30 concert, Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi And New Cast Announcement

San Francisco Opera announced a cast and program update for the June 30 Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi concert. Due to illness, tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz must withdraw from the concert. Currently performing in Europe, Mr. Chacón-Cruz has developed a bilateral ear infection which prevents him from international air travel. The concert program has been updated due to this change.

San Francisco Opera presents Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi, a one-night-only concert honoring the work of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi on Thursday, June 30 at 7:30 pm at the War Memorial Opera House. Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim closes her first season as leader of the Company's artistic forces, conducting the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Chorus and soloists Nicole Car, Etienne Dupuis and Soloman Howard.

The concert is the sole chance to experience Kim's conducting during the Company's Summer Season running through July 3, which also includes Mozart's Don Giovanni featuring Car (Donna Elvira), Dupuis (Don Giovanni) and Howard (the Commendatore) and Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang's Dream of the Red Chamber.

Eun Sun Kim leads a musical journey through Verdi's early, middle and late periods via three of the composer's seminal operas. Luisa Miller, a rarely heard work signaling the transition from Verdi's early to middle period, is full of longing melodies that reflect a story centered on a couple's love, complicated by politics. The concert continues with selections from the propulsive score of one of Verdi's most well-known titles, Il Trovatore. The second half of the concert is dedicated to Don Carlo, a work of political intrigue, love triangles and familial duty, set during the Spanish Inquisition. The auto-da-fé and rarely performed ballet music (the latter from the French version, Don Carlos, composed for the Paris Opera) are among the highlights from Verdi's grand opera which has multiple performing versions.

AFTER-PARTY

10:15 pm Green Room, Veterans Building

Following the concert, join Eun Sun Kim and General Director Matthew Shilvock for drinks and savory and sweet bites in the Green Room at the Veterans Building. After-party tickets are $250. Proceeds benefit the company's annual campaign in support of Kim's vision for the future of opera.

LIVESTREAMS

Virtual tickets for the livestream of Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi are now on sale. The livestream option for select performances this summer enables audiences to experience San Francisco Opera from anywhere in the world. The streamed performance of Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi will be presented live only, beginning at 7:30pm PT on Thursday, June 30. Virtual livestream tickets are $25.

Photo Credit: Drew Altizer

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