The Merola Opera Program has added tenor Alek Shrader to its team as the Director of Membership & Engagement. Shrader, a performer at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Opera Philadelphia, among others, will lead the organization’s membership program, enhance donor engagement and stewardship, and enhance its visibility through storytelling and alumni activation. Shrader {…}
The Merola Opera Program is set to present the Merola Grand Finale on August 16, 2025. The concert will feature all of the Merola artists in a varied program of well-known classics and lesser-known gems. Kelly Kuo is set to conduct the evening with San Francisco native Elio Bucky directing the show. The event will also include the San Francisco {…}
The Merola Opera program is set to present Rossini’s “Le Comte Ory. The rarely performed work will be directed by Garnett Bruce in his Merola debut, while Pierre Vallet will conduct singers from the Merola Opera Program. “Le Comte Ory” opera, which has been revived in recent years, features a whirlwind of mistaken identities, gender-bending disguises, as well as effervescent {…}
The Merola Opera Program will continue its festival season with the Schwabacher Summer Concert: It’s Complicated—Love & Opera. The evening will feature semi-staged scenes from operatic masterpieces including Donizetti’s “Il Campanello,” “Roberto Devereux,” “Anna Bolena,” and “Don Pasquale,” as well as the love duet from Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette.” The concert will showcase the San Francisco Opera Center Orchestra conducted {…}
Merola Opera Program has unveiled its 2025 season. “This season’s programming is crafted to inspire joy, spark curiosity, and celebrate the depth of artistic expression. With vibrant repertoire and a strong focus on holistic training, we’re creating a space where the 2025 Merolini can take bold risks, grow as artists, and build meaningful connections with each other and with our {…}
(Photo credit: Jiyang Chen) The Schwabacher Recital Series, presented by Merola Opera Program and San Francisco Opera Center, concludes its 41st season with a performance by Leah Crocetto and pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson. The third and final concert of the series showcases music by Clara Schumann, Richard Strauss, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Giuseppe Verdi, Stephen Sondheim, and others. Baritone Lester Lynch will join {…}
The Schwabacher Recital Series, presented by the Merola Opera Program and San Francisco Opera Center, is set to present its second concert on March 19 in the Barbro Osher Recital Hall at San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Bowes Center. The evening will highlight the artistry of four 2024 Merola Opera Program graduates: tenor Michael John Butler, baritone Olivier Zerouali, and {…}
Merola Opera Program will present Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” as part of its Summer Festival season. The opera will be staged by world-renowned soprano Patricia Racette and conducted by Stefano Sarzani will make his Merola debut. The opera will be presented on August 1 and 3 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall. The cast will {…}
On August 17, 2024, the Merola Opera Program’s 2024 Summer Festival is set to close with the Merola Grand Finale. The concert will feature 29 young opera artists selected from all over the world performing opera’s most brilliant works. The concert will take place on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House with a full orchestra conducted by Maestro {…}
The Merola Opera Program will continue its 2024 season with the Schwabacher Summer Concert. The concert will include extended scenes from Donizetti’s “Lucrezia Borgia,” Gounod’s “Faust,” Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci,” Massenet’s “Cendrillon,” Puccini’s “La bohème,” and Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos.” The concert will be performed with a full orchestra and will be conducted by the internationally renowned Maestro Louis Lohraseb, with direction {…}
San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program begins its 2024 Summer Festival with “The Song as Drama.” The vocal chamber recital explores the narrative arc of the song and will feature ten artists from the 2024 Merola program and additional chamber musicians. Each piece will offer audiences a deeply compelling story, summarized in just a few minutes. They will perform music from a diverse range of eras and styles. Merola {…}