Antony and Cleopatra
BY JOHN ADAMS
September 10, 15, 18, 23, 27, 2022;
October 2, 5, 2022
He was a Roman general. She, an Egyptian queen. Their passion would redefine the world order.
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Eugene Onegin
BY TCHAIKOVSKY
September 25, 28, 2022;
October 1, 6, 9, 11, 14, 2022
She loved him at first sight. But Onegin, an aristocrat obsessed with appearances, could never be happy with a country girl like Tatyana. Or so he thought.
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La Traviata
BY VERDI
November 11, 13, 16, 22, 25, 27, 30, 2022;
December 3, 2022
Fame. Power. Fortune. Violetta Valéry has it all as Paris' most admired courtesan. But never has she allowed herself to experience true love.
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Orpheus and Eurydice
BY GLUCK
November 15, 18, 20, 26, 2022;
December 1, 2022
What death has stolen, the musician Orpheus is determined to bring back. With Love as his guide, Orpheus journeys into the underworld to save his wife, Eurydice. But there is one condition: he must not look back at her until they return to the mortal world.
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Madame Butterfly
BY PUCCINI
June 3, 6, 9, 18, 21, 24, 27, 2023;
July 1, 2023
Each night, the young Cio-Cio-San looks out over the port of Nagasaki, eagerly waiting the return of her husband, U.S. Naval officer Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton. Alongside her is their young son, Trouble, who has never met his father.
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Die Frau ohne Schatten
BY STRAUSS
June 4, 10, 20, 23, 28, 2023
Half-spirit and half-mortal, the Empress lives in fear of a curse: If she doesn’t acquire a human shadow in three days’ time, the spirit world will reclaim her—and turn her husband to stone.
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El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego
By GABRIELA FRANK AND NILO CRUZ
June 13, 17, 22, 25, 30, 2023
It's been three years since she passed. Now on the Day of the Dead in 1957, a lonely, ailing Diego Rivera makes a final wish: to see his wife Frida Kahlo once more. And the underworld heeds his call.
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Join us for Summer 2022 SeasonDon GiovanniDream of the Red Chamberand
Eun Sun Kim Conducts VerdiLearn More
Opera Ball – The Centennial Celebration
Friday September 9, 2022 Learn More
Opera in the Park
Sunday September 11, 2022 Learn More
Open House
Save the date for our Open House on October 23, 2022 to take a tour of our historic home, the War Memorial Opera House. Family-friendly activities, sing-alongs, and demonstrations will be offered throughout the day.
The Traviata Encounter
Saturday, November 19, 2022 Learn More
The Future is Now: Adlers in Concert
Friday, December 2, 2022 Learn More
San Francisco Opera Chorus In Concert
Sunday, December 4, 2022 Learn More
100th Anniversary Concert
Friday, June 16, 2023 Learn More
On September 26, 1923, Gaetano Merola inaugurated his new resident company for the opera-loving metropolis of San Francisco with a performance of Puccini’s La Bohème at the Civic Auditorium. Despite a century of forbidding challenges, from the Great Depression, World War II, the rise of competing entertainment media (film, radio, television, internet), the dot-com bust, recessions and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco Opera remains a vital and dynamic artistic institution. Its culture of innovation has led to commissions by leading composers; its stage has witnessed the American debuts of operatic legends and its training programs have equipped generations of new artists for stages around the world.
As one of only three American opera companies to celebrate 100 years (the Metropolitan Opera is in the midst of its 136th season and Cincinnati Opera marked its 100th season in 2020), San Francisco Opera honors its storied past throughout 2022–23 with a host of events and activities.
Join us throughout the season as we look back at the extraordinary first 100 years of San Francisco Opera. Listen to archival radio broadcasts and experience our history up close with exhibitions around the city, through collaborations between San Francisco Opera and SFO Museum at the San Francisco International Airport and other partners, as well as expertly curated online experiences.
1923
Gaetano Merola founds San Francisco Opera. The first season opens with La Bohème and a roster featuing some of opera's most celebrated stars.
Photo by Lawrence B. Morton.
1932
The War Memorial Opera House opens on October 15 with Tosca, making national news. Act I of the opera is broadcast live.
1937
San Francisco Opera makes its first tour to Los Angeles, beginning a long history of sharing opera beyond its theater. The Company would go on to found Spring Opera, a low-priced performance series outside of the Opera House, and Western Opera Theater, a touring company that would visit countless cities across the globe.
1952
An early pioneer of new technology, San Francisco Opera becomes the first U.S. opera company to project slides onto scenery.
1957
Francis Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites makes its U.S. debut, following its world premiere at Milan's Teatro alla Scala.
Leontyne Price stars as Madame Lidoine in her first role on a major opera stage
Photo by Robert Lackenback
1959
Strauss's expansive masterpiece Die Frau ohne Schatten makes its U.S. premiere, an opera thought to be impossible to produce at the time.
1961
The Company's first commission, Norman Dello Joio's Blood Moon, premiers.
1966
Leoš Janáček’s gripping The Makropulos Case premieres in the U.S.
Leontyne Price stars as Madame Lidoine in her first role on a major opera stage
Photo by C. M. Jones
1971
The first Opera in the Park concert is held at the band shell in Golden Gate Park.
A free outdoor event, it becomes an annual tradition, drawing thousands each year.
1979
The Company's first-ever telecast, Ponchielli's La Gioconda starring Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti, is transmitted live worldwide. The broadcasting milestone would garner 11 Daytime Emmy Awards.
1983
In a controversial move, San Francisco Opera becomes one of the first U.S. companies to adopt supertitles in an effort to make the art form more approachable.
1987
San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theater becomes the first professional opera company to perform a Western-style opera in China. 30 years later the Company’s production of Dream of the Red Chamber would travel to Hong Kong and mainland China.
2000
Dead Man Walking by the Company's former public relations manager Jake Heggie, has its world premiere on the War Memorial Opera House stage. It would become the most widely performed American opera worldwide.
Photo by Ken Firedman.
2007
Play ball! Under David Gockley’s leadership the Company begins its tradition of free, live simulcasts from the Opera House to the home of the Giants with Samson and Delilah. Subsequent simulcasts draw tens of thousands of fans, including 32,000 for Aida in 2010.
2011
A new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle premieres, the sixth full presentation in Company history since the first in 1935 with Kirsten Flagstad and Lauritz Melchior.
2021
Fourteen months after COVID-19 struck, the Company brings live opera back to the Bay Area with a 90-minute version of The Barber of Seville presented in Marin County as an outdoor drive-in.
Photo by Stefan Cohen.
2022
John Adams’ fourth commission for San Francisco Opera will make its world premiere opening the Company's 100th Season.
Instigators Program
San Francisco Opera will launch a program in 2022 to pioneer new directions in opera. INSTIGATORS will bring together thinkers from outside the opera world to help envision the future of the art form. Stay tuned!
The Traviata Encounter
Over the course of the evening, enjoy Act I of Verdi's beloved opera followed by an immersive evening of food, drinks, and mingling with the artists from the production in a transformed Opera House.
Bohème Out of the Box
We’re taking opera out of the Opera House and bringing it to you! Audiences around the Bay Area can enjoy shortened versions of a classic opera performed live on a shipping-container-turned stage.
BUILT BY THE COMMUNITY. SUSTAINED BY YOU.
Linda Riebel and Brad Wade
“We owe our happy marriage to opera. After communicating by email and telephone for several months (we had met as opera lovers through the Science Connection, a matchmaking service – alas, no longer extant – whose motto was ‘Better than carbon dating’), we decided to meet in person. Brad had two season subscriptions in San Francisco, and he invited me to join him in the summer of 2000.
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Your tax-deductible donation—of any size—supports our efforts to bring world class opera and community programs to San Francisco Opera and beyond.
In honor of this landmark season, consider increasing your gift,
helping to bring this exciting season to life.
Make your gift today
YOUR SUPPORT COMES WITH REWARDING BENEFITS
As a donor you'll be able to deepen your connection with the art form you love through unique experiences offered all season long.
FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT GIVING LEVELS AND BENEFITS,
CALL (415) 565-6416 OR VISIT SFOPERA.COM/BENEFITS.