The Merola Opera Program 2017 Summer Festival continues into August with two fully staged performances of Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” on Thursday, August 3 at 7:30 p.m. EDT and Saturday, August 5 at 2:00 p.m. Both performances are at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

As one of the most prestigious and selective programs in the United States, Merola Opera Program welcomes mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey, winner of the 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She will sing the role of Angelina in this performance.

Prince Ramiro is sung by tenor Anthony Ciaramitaro, mezzo-soprano Edith Grossman is Tisbe, and bass-baritone Andrew Hiers is Don Magnifico. Meanwhile, Clorinda is sung by soprano Natalie Image, bass-baritone Christian Pursell portrays the role of Dandini, and bass-baritone Szymon Wach is singing as Alidoro.

The Director of Musical Studies for San Francisco Opera, Mark Morash, conducts the performance.

Alongside Morash, Chuck Hudson is directing the production.  Hudson has worked internationally at Cape Town Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, Atlanta Opera, Sacramento Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Opera Cleveland, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera Center, Wolf Trap Opera, and Opera Santa Barbara, and more.This is Merola Operas 60

This is Merola Opera’s 60^th anniversary festival. They organization opened the festival on June 11. Throughout its sixty years, the program has had over 1,236 individual participants, many of whom, have transformed into world-renowned artists.  Over the past six decades, the summer festival has become a tradition.