Soprano and Adler Fellow alumna Nadine Sierra, who will sing the role of Juliette on opening night (photograph by Merri Cyr, courtesy of the San Francisco Opera)
As always, the San Francisco Opera (SFO) will launch its 97th season (2019–20) with a full weekend of performances and gala benefit events. Opening night will be on Friday, September 6 with the performance of Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. This will be a new SFO production, shared with Teatro Carlo Felice and the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.
The play by William Shakespeare after which the opera is named was reworked into a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré; and it has provided any number of soprano recitalists with an aria in waltz form, “Je veux vivre” (I wish to live). On this occasion the Juliette singing that aria will be Adler Fellow alumna soprano Nadine Sierra, who has become a leading soprano on the stage and delivered a stunning performance of the role of Gilda on a GRAMMY-nominated recording of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto. Her Roméo will be tenor Bryan Hymel, who made his SFO debut in 2015 singing the role of Énée in Hector Berlioz’ epic Les Troyens. Jean-Louis Grinda will make his American debut with his colorful staging evoking the Verona of Shakespeare’s play. French-Canadian conductor Yves Abel will return to the podium after a 32-year absence.
Following opening night there will be six additional performances of this production. These will take place at 7:30 p.m. on September 13, 18, 21, and 24 and October 1 and at 2 p.m. on September 29. (The opening night performance will begin at 8 p.m.) All performances will be sung in French with English supertitles. Except on opening night each performance will be preceded by a Pre-Opera Talk given by Alexandra Amati, beginning 55 minutes prior to curtain.
Performances will take place at the War Memorial Opera House at 301 Van Ness Avenue, on the northwest corner of Grove Street. Single tickets are priced from $26 to $398. There is also a facility fee added to the price of the tickets: $2 for all Balcony sections and $3 for all other tickets. Tickets may be purchased online through an event page on the SFO Web site that provides hyperlinks for each performance. Tickets may also be purchased at the Box Office in the outer lobby of the Opera House. Standing room tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on the day of each performance. They are sold for $10, cash only.
As in the past, there will be two special events that will be held in conjunction with the opening night of the SFO season. As usual, Opera Ball 2019 will be a themed event with the opera-appropriate subject The Capulet’s Masked Ball. The opera performance will be preceded by an elegant cocktail reception, beginning at 5 p.m., and a sumptuous dinner. After the opera concludes, there will be dancing and celebration into the night. Further details can be found through a special event page on the SFO Web site. In addition, BRAVO! is a club for opera-lovers between the ages of 21 and 40. They have their own BRAVO! CLUB Opening Night Gala. This has its own event page on the SFO Web site, which includes a hyperlink for becoming a member of the club.
The following night SFO will present the opening of the second opera in the 2019–20 season, Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd. The opera takes its title from a novella by Herman Melville, which he died before completing. The libretto was prepared jointly by E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier. All the characters in this opera are male; and all of the action takes place on board the HMS Indomitable (called the Bellipotent in Melville’s text).
This will be another new SFO production, shared with the Glyndebourne Festival, where it was first performed in 2010. The leading vocalists will be baritone John Chest in the title role, tenor William Burden as the ship’s Captain Edward Fairfax Vere (who also serves as narrator of a prologue and epilogue), and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the nemesis figure, Master-at-arms John Claggart. The staging will be by Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage, who will be making his SFO debut. The conductor will be Lawrence Renes. There will be six performances taking place at 7:30 p.m. on September 7, 12, 17, and 20 and at 2 p.m. on September 15 and 22. The Pre-Opera Talk will be given by Corey Jamason, a member of the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Finally, the weekend will wrap up with Opera in the Park. This is a free concert presented by the San Francisco Chronicle. The San Francisco Opera Orchestra will be joined by stars from the 2019 Fall Season. [updated 8/30, 3:20 p.m.: SFO General Director will serve as Master of Ceremonies. The contributing vocalists (subject to change) will be sopranos Amina Edris and Natalie Image, mezzo Ashley Dixon, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, tenors Bryan Hymel and Pene Pati, baritones John Chest, Lucas Meachem, and Edward Nelson, and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn. The SFO Orchestra will perform with Concertmaster Kay Stern. Conducting duties will be shared by Yves Abel, Lawrence Renes, and Robert Mollicone.] The performance will take place at the bandshell in Robin Williams Meadow in Golden Gate Park. It will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 8.
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