The Merola Opera Program is set to wrap up its Summer Festival with the Merola Grand Finale, a concert at the War Memorial Opera House on August 17, 2019. The concert will feature 29 young international artists selected from who will showcase a dazzling array of opera’s most exciting arias and ensembles. The concert will be conducted by Maestro George {…}
The San Francisco’s acclaimed Merola Opera Program is set to begin its 62nd season with a showcase of the program’s rising stars in the Schwabacher Summer Concert. The first concert of the summer series will showcase scenes from “La Rondine,” “Lucia di Lammermoor,” “Die Schweigsame Frau,” “Faust,” and “Il Trovatore.” The first scene of the program will be selections from Act {…}
The Merola Opera Program has announced a cast change for its April 24 Schwabacher Recital. Per a press release, soprano Patricia Westley is set to appear in lieu of Mary Evelyn Hangley. Hangley has reportedly withdrawn from the recital for personal reasons. Westley, who is slated to take on the role of Selena in the world premiere of Jake Heggie {…}
The Merola Opera Program has announced its 62nd season, which will feature 29 artists from all around the world. This year’s artists will include eight sopranos, four mezzo-sopranos, five tenors, four baritones, two bass-baritones, and one bass to go along with one apprentice stage director, and five apprentice coaches. The sopranos are Anna Duga, Chelsea Lehnea, Anne-Marie MacIntosh, Amber Monroe, {…}
San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program will present the 36th season of the Schwabacher Recital Series. The series of four recitals will be held in the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theatre in San Francisco between Feb. 13 – Apr. 24, 2019. The program is aimed at introducing gifted up-and-coming artists to Bay Area audiences. Works performed will {…}
It was 1957 and opera was in the midst of a golden age of singing. Kurt Herbert Adler, the second general director in San Francisco Opera’s history, knew that for opera to continue, young talent needed to be fostered and grown. So he sought out the help of tenor James H. Schwabacher Jr., San Francisco Opera’s production coordinator Matthew Farruggio, {…}
On August 1, 2019, the Merola Opera Program of San Francisco will world premiere Jake Heggie’s new opera, “If I Were You.” This also marks the first work commissioned in the program’s long history of artistic development. The Merola Opera Program has announced that “If I Were You” will be conducted by Nicole Paiement, and directed by Keturah Stickann. The {…}
The Merola Opera Program has announced that it will establish a new Advisory Council. Per a press release, the council will be made up of “leaders in the field of opera performance, young artist training, arts administration, performing arts, and philanthropy.” These leaders will include San Francisco Opera General Director Emeritus David Gockley, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, composer Jake Heggie; Seattle Opera General Director {…}
The Merola Opera Program has announced the Grand Finale concert that will cap its 2018 summer festival. The concert will take place on Saturday, August 18 at 7:30 p.m. local time at the War Memorial Opera House. The event will be conducted by Dean Williamson, who is the music director of the Nashville Opera. This year’s program features a whopping {…}
San Francisco’s acclaimed Merola Opera Program will continue its Star of Tomorrow program with Mozart’s “Il Re Pastore.” Performances will be conducted by Stephen Stubbs, a leading figure in the American early music scene and winner of a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 2015 for Charpentier’s “La Descente d’Orphée Aux Enfers,” and will be directed by Tara Faircloth, who directed two {…}
The 2018 Schwabacher Recital Series is readying to end with a bang; following the last three performances from the opera world’s next generation of stars, the series will conclude on April 4 with a recital featuring soprano Natalie Image, mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon, tenor Amitai Pati, and bass-baritone Christian Pursell, led by pianist Kevin Murphy. San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri {…}