SFO Announces Casting Change for Gounod Opera

Tenor Pene Pati (courtesy of San Francisco Opera)

This morning San Francisco Opera (SFO) announced a cast change for Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, the first of the two operas to be given its first performance this coming weekend. Tenor Bryan Hymel, scheduled to sing the role of Romeo in the first six of the seven performances of this opera, has withdrawn for personal reasons. Instead, Samoan-born New Zealand tenor Pene Pati, originally scheduled to sing that role at the final performance on October 1, will now sing at all seven performances. The role of Juliet in the first six performances will still be taken by soprano Nadine Sierra. On October 1 that role will be performed by Egyptian-born New Zealand soprano Amina Edris. This will be one of those rare instances when the leading roles will be sung by a husband-and-wife duo.

To review the schedule specifics, the seven performances will take place at 8 p.m. on September 6, at 7:30 p.m. on September 13, 18, 21, and 24 and October 1, and at 2 p.m. on September 29. The September 21 performance will be this season’s Opera at the Ballpark production. This will be a free simulcast transmitted in high definition from the stage of the War Memorial Opera House to the new Mitsubishi Electronic Diamond Vision Board at Oracle Park. 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.

All 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. Those planning to go to Oracle Park will be admitted at no charge, but registration is strongly advised. An Eventbrite event page has been created to process registrations.