Following next month’s Schwabacher Summer Concert, which will present extended scenes from six operas, the Merola Opera Program will shift its attention to a fully staged production of a single opera. This year’s opera will be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 527 Don Giovanni, an opera that has engaged the attention of many author and philosophers. The production will be directed by soprano Patricia Racette, a Merola alumna from 1988, whose career as a soprano encompassed a prodigious number of operas in a challenging number of languages! Through those experiences, Racette is well aware of the interplay between music and narrative and should be well-equipped to do justice to both of those factors.
On the musical side she will work with conductor Stefano Sarzani. In addition, casting has now been announced. The title role will be taken by baritone Hyungjin Son; and his servant Leporello (obliged to get them out of the trouble he creates) will be sung by bass-baritone Donghoon Kang. The narrative is structured around three of Giovanni’s “conquests,” one from the past (Donna Elvira, sung by soprano Viviana Aurelia Goodwin), one in the present (Donna Anna, sung by soprano Lydia Grindatto), and one in the “anticipated future” (the peasant girl Zerlina, sung by soprano Moriah Berry). Additional characters account for two “complications.” The first is that the Don’s efforts to seduce Anna are thwarted by her father, the Commendatore (bass-baritone Benjamin R. Sokol). Giovanni slays the Commendatore in the first act but is then haunted by him in the second. The other “complication” is that Zerlina is about to marry Masetto (bass-baritone Justice Yates), who always seems to thwart the Don’s progress.
Like the Schwabacher Concert, this production will be given two performances. They will be on Thursday, August 1, at 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday, August 3, at 2 p.m. They will both take place in the Concert Hall of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music at 50 Oak Street, a short walk north of the Van Ness Muni station. Once again Merola will be offering tickets to those 25 and under for only $10. In addition, there will also be a $10 rate for those seeing their first Merola production, using the code MEROLANEW during the purchase. All other ticket prices will be either $35 or $65. As of this writing, the Web page for purchasing tickets is not available. Tickets may be purchased by calling the San Francisco Opera Box Office at 415-864-3330. Box Office Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday. The Box Office itself is in the War Memorial Opera House on the southwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and Grove Street. On Saturday the Box Office can be reached only by telephone. Those hours also apply to Group Sales.
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