San Francisco Opera Will Perform THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO

San Francisco Opera's 104th fall season will continue with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the War Memorial Opera House October 31 through November 29. Shawna Lucey directs the Company's production by Michael Cavanagh and Sebastian Weigle makes his house debut conducting the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Chorus Director John Keene prepares the artists of the San Francisco Opera Chorus.

The Marriage of Figaro had its world premiere in Vienna in 1786 and was the first of three collaborations between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte followed by Don Giovanni (1787) and Così fan tutte (1790). Based on the revolutionary French play by Beaumarchais, The Marriage of Figaro explores class dynamics with a masterful blend of comedic wit and exquisite music that have led many to proclaim it not only Mozart's finest opera but one of the most perfectly crafted works for the Lyric Stage. The Marriage of Figaro is in the repertory of nearly every opera company and in 1936 became the first Mozart opera to be staged by San Francisco Opera.

The late Canadian director Michael Cavanagh's production, unveiled here in 2019 as the first chapter of a multi-season Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy, sets the opera during Mozart's time but on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean in an American manor house. Featuring sets and projections designed by Erhard Rom, costumes by Constance Hoffman and lighting by Jane Cox relit by Justin A. Partier, the production returns to the War Memorial Opera House stage during the nation's 250th-anniversary year. Opera San José General Director Shawna Lucey, who created the Company's current productions of Puccini's Tosca and Verdi's La Traviata, stages the revival. Lucey will return to direct Tosca next summer.

Sebastian Weigle makes his house debut leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Chorus and cast in Mozart's timeless classic. The German conductor, who served as principal horn for the Staatskapelle Berlin for 15 years before turning to conducting, has held music directorships in Barcelona, Frankfurt and Tokyo in addition to being one of the art form's leading guest conductors. Maestro Weigle will also conduct the San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows' annual concert showcase, The Future Is Now, at Herbst Theatre on Friday, November 20.

The ensemble cast includes artists with recent successes on the War Memorial Opera House stage alongside those who are new to the Company and former Adler Fellows stepping into leading roles for the first time in San Francisco. Slovak bass Peter Kellner makes his debut with the Company in the title role of Figaro. An ensemble member with the Vienna State Opera, Kellner's acclaimed engagements have extended to many important houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, London's Royal Ballet and Opera, the Berlin State Opera and, most recently, the Salzburg Festival. Slovak soprano Slávka Zámečníková, who “gave a masterful performance as Adina [in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love]” (San Francisco Chronicle) for her U.S. debut with San Francisco Opera in 2023, is Figaro's betrothed, Susanna. Along with portraying one of the central couples in Mozart's opera, Kellner and Zámečníková are a married couple offstage.

Canadian soprano and former San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Olivia Smith makes her role debut as Countess Almaviva. Smith, who has appeared with the Company in works by Mason Bates, Wagner, Strauss and Mozart, in a concert selection from Puccini's La Bohème. Swiss-Canadian mezzo-soprano and former Adler Fellow Simone McIntosh, who performed in Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale with the Company in 2024, returns as Cherubino. McIntosh recently performed the trouser role with Scottish Opera.

Thomas Mole takes on the dissolute Count Almaviva, a first for the British baritone who just a few weeks ago made his American and role debuts in Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots.