Natalie Dessay, Aleksandra Kurzak, Samuel Ramey & Ramón Vargas Headline San Francisco Opera’s Opera is On Streaming Series

(Terrence McCarthy/ San Francisco Opera) The San Francisco Opera will continue its Opera is On series starting Oct. 31 and running through Nov. 29, 2020. The month begins with San Francisco Opera’s 2008 presentation of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” starring Natalie Dessay, Giuseppe Filianoti, Gabriele Viviani, and Oren Gradus. The production is directed by Graham Vick and Jean-Yves Ossonce conducts. {…}

Oct 22, 2020

San Francisco Opera to Hold Online Costume Sale

San Francisco Opera has announced that it will be holding an online sale of costumes worn by artists on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House, allowing opera fans and costume lovers the chance to purchase some of these rare ensembles. The sale will begin at 12pm on Friday, Nov. 13, and will run until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, {…}

Oct 14, 2020

San Francisco Launches Company Relief Challenge

San Francisco Opera has announced the launch of its Company Relief Challenge, a $5 million matching fund to help the company through this challenging time. The fund will match one-to-one annual gifts, pledges, and donated ticket funds through Nov. 23, 2020. “We are a company of makers and creators, each season employing hundreds of the world’s leading singers, instrumentalists, designers, {…}

Oct 12, 2020

Deutsche Oper Berlin General Music Director Donald C. Runnicles Knighted

(Credit: Opus 3 Artists official website) The Office of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has announced the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2020. Among those honored was General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin Donald Cameron Runnicles, who has been bestowed with the title of the Knights Bachelor, for services to Music. Donald Runnicles is concurrently the General Music Director {…}

Sep 25, 2020

‘Death in Venice’ (in San Francisco) – One of OperaWire’s Writers Remembers Britten Opera Production From a Unique Perspective

San Francisco’s spring opera production of “Death in Venice” in 1975 was the real deal—the ingenious novella of German writer, Thomas Mann, turned into a haunting and exquisite opera by the English composer Benjamin Britten, libretto by Mfanwy Piper. The production was created by the remarkable Gerald Freedman, a well-known American theater and opera director, assistant not only to New {…}

Sep 18, 2020

San Francisco War Memorial Opera House to Complete Seating Replacement Project

San Francisco Ballet and San Francisco Opera, in collaboration with the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, have announced that their seat replacement project, originally scheduled for the summer of 2021 will take place between September of 2020 and January of 2021. This final phase of the project will complete renovations to the center, which is used by {…}

Aug 2, 2020

San Francisco Opera’s Interactive Lecture Series Announces Social Themes in Opera During August

(Credit: Richard Termine) San Francisco Opera’s Department of Diversity, Equity and Community will continue its online, weekly, interactive lecture series, “Opera Aficionado,” throughout the month of August with a focus on social themes in opera. The new lectures will take a dive into the politics of composer John Adams’ work to discussions about Black voices in contemporary opera and will {…}

Jul 10, 2020

San Francisco Opera Expands Online Programming with Family-Friendly Streams and Workshops

Keeping audiences connected over the summer, San Francisco Opera has expanded its online programming with a number of broadcasts, discussions, workshops, and more. Through the month of July, the company’s “Opera in an Hour Movies” will be available to stream on-demand. These family-friendly streams include lesson plans and educational resources that were previously only accessible to teachers in the Bay {…}

Jun 30, 2020

Karita Mattila, Karine Deshayes, René Barbera Headline San Francisco Opera’s Streaming Program for July

San Francisco Opera has announced its upcoming program for “Opera is ON.” The company will present Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” in a production by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. Karine Deshayes stars as Angelina with René Barbera as Ramiro. Christian Van Horn, Zanda Svede, Maria Valdes, and Efraín Solís round out the cast, which is conducted by Jesús López-Cobos. Streaming Date: July 18, 2020 {…}

Jun 25, 2020

Russell Thomas, Jakub Jósef Orlinski, Eun Sun Kim Headline San Francisco Opera’s ‘Celebrating the Summer’ Virtual Gala

San Francisco Opera is set to showcase a virtual event entitled “Celebrating the Summer Season” on Friday, July 10, 2020. The 90-minute program will be headlined by the artists and operas that were programmed during the originally scheduled summer season, which was canceled due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Such artists as Michelle Bradley, Louise Alder, Sasha Cooke, Jakub Jósef {…}

Jun 22, 2020

Kathleen Battle, Jonas Kaufmann, Luciano Pavarotti, Aida Garifullina Headline Top 10 Operas to Stream This Week

Even as we get deeper into the summer and watch theaters reopen, it is important to keep our focus on the important dialogues of racial equality taking place. We continue to recommend checking out the several online shows such as Karen Slack’s “KikiKonversations,” Kenneth Overton’s “Black Opera Live,” and “The Sitdown with LB,” hosted by Lawrence Brownlee. You can also add {…}