![]() (Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Opera.) This ticket provided entrance to the San Francisco Opera when it was not yet a decade old. The roster of it singers reads like an international who’s who of opera: Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Birgit Nilsson, Alfredo Kraus, Hermann Prey, Renee Fleming and so many more. But the truth is, any performance at the War Memorial Opera House is special with the venue’s old-fashioned plush wooden orchestra seats, gilded circle of boxes, tiers of balcony seating and the lower-level bar and dining room. ![]() Like the Academy Awards, opening night at the San Francisco Opera has long been a red-carpet event of the first order, complete with the most lavish evening gowns, sparkling jewels that otherwise remain locked away in the vault, men in black tie, dress uniforms dripping with medals and dignitaries bedecked in ambassadorial sashes. If you need further encouragement, revisit the scene in “Pretty Woman” in which Richard Gere hosts Julia Roberts to an evening of sumptuous elegance and an abundance of tears at this opera house. That tradition alone should provide ample incentive to include San Francisco Opera in your next visit to the city. Since its creation, San Francisco Opera has presented a succession of the best singers, orchestra conductors, stage directors and designers the world has to offer. (Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Opera.)Īfter a hiatus, the summer season will begin June 3 with Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly,” followed by a revival of David Hockney’s eye-dazzling production of Richard Strauss’ rarely presented fantasy opera, “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” (The Woman Without a Shadow). Amina Edris and Gerald Finley played the title roles in John Adams’ production of “Antony and Cleopatra” at the San Francisco Opera. 3) and Gluck’s “Orpheus and Eurydice” (Nov. 14), Poulenc’s “Dialogues of the Carmelites” (Oct. While “Antony and Cleopatra” has ended, in the months to come San Francisco Opera will present productions of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” (through Oct. And ultimately, isn’t this why we seek out the glory of the opera - to be transported? The production starred Amina Edris and Gerald Finley as Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers of the Nile.ĭuring a rainy-day matinee of “Antony and Cleopatra” after so many months away from the opera house due to the pandemic, the ebb and flow of Adams’ score combined with the impact of Shakespeare’s drama transported me completely. 10, 2022, in celebration of the company’s centennial season, the curtain rose on the world premiere of John Adams’ “Antony and Cleopatra” at the War Memorial Opera House. 26, 1923, when the curtain rose on Giacomo Puccini’s then-contemporary opera, “La Boheme,” presented by the fledgling San Francisco Opera company. In the City by the Bay, opera stands as a cultural landmark to rival the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf and North Beach. San Francisco has for more than a century had the opera.
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