The San Francisco Opera has extended Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim’s contract.

The Tad and Dianne Taube General Director Matthew Shilvock announced the news and noted that Kim will extend her contract for five years through the 2030–31 season.

Kim will continue to conduct major operas by two of the art form’s most important composers Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner each season. Next fall she will premiere a brand-new production of Wagner’s final opera, “Parsifal,” leading to Wagner’s monumental Ring cycle in a future season.

Kim is the fourth music director in San Francisco Opera’s 102-year history. She began her tenure in the fall of 2021 and has since conducted such works as “Rusalka,” “Dialogues of the Carmelites,” the world premiere of John Adams’ “Antony and Cleopatra” and new productions of “Fidelio,” “La Traviata,” and “Madama Butterfly.”

In a statement, Shivlock said, “This is a joyous day for San Francisco Opera as we look out to a thrilling future of music-making with Eun Sun Kim. Eun Sun is shaping our artistry in such compelling ways, breathing exuberance, sensitivity and humanity into every score she takes on and allowing us to hear each work as though for the first time. It is a privilege to partner with Eun Sun on carrying forward the extraordinary legacy of San Francisco Opera and shaping it anew as we take the Company into its second century. Under her leadership, we feel with such awe these vast arcs of human creation. It’s exciting to envision what lies ahead, particularly in her exploration of the works of Wagner.”

Kim added, “We work in an art form that has been told, every day for hundreds of years, that it is on the precipice of an existential crisis. And yet, opera endures. Thanks to the unwavering dedication of orchestras and choruses, artists and makers, administrators and audiences, we are able to create and share moments of collective transformation. In honor of those who believe, as I do, that the work we do matters deeply, I have accepted the offer to renew my commitment to San Francisco Opera. I am honored each day that we strive together for the highest artistic quality, and I look forward to undertaking my first ‘Ring‘ cycle here in the coming years. Every performance on the War Memorial stage builds on the storied legacy of this historic company, reaffirming our purpose and bolstering our art form for the future.”