SFO Brings Lucia to the Drive-In

Natalie Dessay singing the Mad Scene aria from Lucia di Lammermoor (photograph by Terence McCarthy, courtesy of SFO)

In addition to its Opera is ON service of streaming video recordings of past performances for opera lovers, San Francisco Opera (SFO) will pursue another approach by offering its first-ever operatic drive-in event. The opera to be presented will be Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and the video was recorded during the 2008 Spring Season. In this production the title role was sung by soprano Natalie Dessay. Casting also included SFO debuts of tenor Giuseppe Filianoti in the role of Lucia’s beloved Edgardo and baritone Gabriele Viviani as her brother Enrico. The production was originally staged at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence by Graham Vick, and it was brought to San Francisco by Marco Gandini. The conductor was Jean-Yves Ossonce, making his United State debut.

The video will be presented at the Fort Mason Flix Drive-In, where it will be displayed by a 40’ X 20’ LED screen. To make this a “real drive-in experience,” Off the Grid food trucks will provide snacks for viewers to take back to their respective cars. The event will take place on Sunday, October 25. 98 cars with pre-purchased tickets will be admitted beginning at 5 p.m. Vehicles will be spaced six feet apart with an eighteen-foot drive lane every two rows. Guests must remain in their cars during the opera and wear a mask when leaving to visit the food trucks or the restrooms. The running time of the opera will be approximately two and one-half hours. Tickets may be purchased through an SFO Web page or by calling the Box Office at 415-864-3330. General admission will be $49 per car with a $5 handling fee. The entrance to the Fort Mason Center for the Arts & Culture is located at 2 Marina Boulevard.