Merola Opera Program & San Francisco Opera Center Present 2026 Schwabacher Recital Series

(Photo credit: Matthew Washburn) The Schwabacher Recital Series presented by Merola Opera Program and San Francisco Opera Center returns with a series of three recitals. The series opens on April 1 with three of the 2024 Merola alumni and second-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows, soprano Mary Hoskins, baritone Olivier Zerouali, and pianist Ji Youn Lee. The evening’s program, curated {…}

Q & A: Merola Opera Program Leadership on How Cultivating Awareness Makes Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia” an Urgent Story Visible Today

Photo Credit: Kristen Loken Merola Opera Program presents Benjamin Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia” on July 13th and 15th at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, with director Jan Essinger, conductor Judith Yan, and a creative team including intimacy coordinator Maya Herbsman. Merola will also host a special conversational forum, post-performance on Saturday, July 15th with the creative team and {…}

San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program Continue Schwabacher Recitals

  The San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program continues Schwabacher recitals for season 39 on April 12 at San Francisco’s Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater in the Veterans Building. Schwabacher’s series will feature a remarkable group of performers, including countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, mezzo-soprano Erin Wagner, and pianists Carrie-Ann Matheson and Shawn Chang. “We will present a {…}

Q & A: Carrie-Ann Matheson on Salzburg Festival, Europe & Her New Position at the Merola Opera Program

In August, the Merola Opera Program named Carrie-Ann Matheson the new Artistic Director succeeding Sheri Greenawald. Her new position will provide artistic and musical leadership for all Opera Center artists and projects, including acting as the primary musical coach for its young artists, overseeing their development, collaborating on recitals, and conducting performances. Matheson began her career at the Metropolitan Opera, {…}

Naomi Lewin to Host New York’s 92Y ‘Unsung Heroes of the Opera: Vocal Coaches’

New York City’s premier cultural and community organization, 92Y, will present “Unsung Heroes of the Opera: Vocal Coaches,” an online and in-person class featuring three heavy-hitters of the opera and classical music world. The vocal coaches includes Pianist and Associate Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera Howard Watkins, Grammy® Award-nominated pianist Myra Huang, and newly appointed Artistic Director of the San {…}