Photos: First Look at THE ELIXIR OF LOVE at San Francisco Opera

The final production of San Francisco Opera’s 2023 Fall Season marks the return Gaetano Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love (L’Elisir d’Amore) for a six-performance run at the War Memorial Opera House opening tonight, November 19. Conceived by director Daniel Slater with associate director and choreographer Tim Claydon, the updated setting for this delightful and heart-warming 1832 romance, with a libretto by Felice Romani, takes place on the Italian Riviera during the 1950s.

Check out production photos below!

Samoan tenor Pene Pati, whose fast-rising international career began at San Francisco Opera, notably as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto (2017), bows as the lovable Nemorino, a role he debuted at the Paris Opera in 2021. One of the highlights of Donizetti’s opera is Nemorino’s famous Act II aria, “Una furtiva lagrima” (“A furtive tear”), which Pati recorded for his 2022 debut album for Warner Classics. Pati’s return to San Francisco follows his unforgettable Centennial Season opening night concert appearance last year and his last-minute role debut in 2019 as Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. About the latter performance, San Francisco Chronicle described him as possessing “that magical, indescribable charisma that radiates beyond the footlights and compels you to pay attention to everything he does.”

Pati is joined by several exciting artists making their first engagements with the Company. A frequent artist with the Vienna State Opera and Berlin State Opera, Slovak soprano Slávka Zámečníková, in her American debut, is the adorable but aloof Adina. Zámečníková’s busy season in Vienna includes engagements as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Micaela (Carmen), Nannetta (Falstaff), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) and Servilia (La Clemenza di Tito).

Serbian baritone David Bizic is the handsome military officer Belcore, with whom Adina flirts to stir Nemorino’s jealousy. Dulcamara, the “miracle” worker whose elixir provides the liquid courage Nemorino needs to express his true feelings, is performed by Italian baritone Renato Girolami, who received critical praise for his portrayal of the role earlier this year in Glyndebourne. First-year Adler Fellow soprano Arianna Rodriguez adds the role of Adina’s friend Giannetta to her repertoire. American tenor Jonah Hoskins, an ensemble member of the St. Gallen Theater in Switzerland, makes his house debut at the November 29 performance as Nemorino, a role he takes to Santa Fe Opera next year.

When Lyric Opera of Chicago presented this co-production of The Elixir of Love, WTTW called it “a delicious confection.” Robert Innes Hopkins, who designed San Francisco Opera’s new productions of Puccini’s Tosca and Verdi’s La Traviata, is the production designer. Simon Mills created the lighting designs. and Spanish conductor Ramón Tebar makes his Company debut leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in the same work that marked his debut with Barcelona’s Gran Theatre del Liceu. For that Elixir production, Spain’s Opera World said Tebar was “capable of sustaining with spirit and precision the tension of the singers and the passionate humor of the characters.” San Francisco Opera Chorus Director John Keene prepares the artists of the San Francisco Opera Chorus.

Sung in Italian with English supertitles, the six performances of The Elixir of Love are scheduled for November 19 (2 p.m.), 24 (7:30 p.m.), 26 (2 p.m.), 29 (7:30 p.m.); December 5 (7:30 p.m.) and 9 (7:30 p.m.), 2023.

Photo Credit: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera