Let’s cut the malarkey about opera. It isn’t a precious art form for the snooty rich and blue hairs. And it isn’t the science that put the Rover on Mars in 2012 or the latest advancement in cancer research.
Opera is basically theater with music, often dramatic music. It is an art form which, at its storytelling best, helps us examine what it means to be human.
And that counts for something.
Today, as in the past, it remains the job of contemporary composers, directors and opera company leaders to keep opera — even the standard repertoire that goes back several centuries — moving forward with style and originality, imparting a sense of the new with productions that speak to us and our own times.
To that end, it is the spirit of the new that marks the summer season of San Francisco Opera’s ongoing 101st year, with three operas on tap beginning May 30 and continuing to June 28 at the War Memorial Opera House.
Notably among the three operas is the highly anticipated American premiere of the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s final opera, “Innocence.” The other two are a new-to-San Francisco production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and Handel’s “Partenope,” an award-winning production, first staged in The City in 2014, in which the 1730 opera meets two 20th-century art movements.
“The Magic Flute,” which opens May 30 and continues in repertory through June 30, will be conducted by company Music Director Eun Sun Kim in a fast-paced and eye-popping hit staging from Barrie Kosky and Susanne Andrade but revived by director Tobias Ribitski.
It draws inspiration from early animation, silent film and 1920s cabaret, showcasing the work of designer Esther Bialas and animator Paul Barritt but still emphasizes the spirit of the Austrian composer and his librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, staged for popular audience appeal.
More than 230 years later, the opera still delights with astonishing music set over a fairytale, with its magic flute and bells, its animals, clown and a romantic couple. Both serious and comic, it is replete with Masonic symbols promoting virtue, love, wisdom and humanism. Catchy melodies abound but the most famous is the “Queen of the Night” revenge aria that, if sung with verve and high energy that delivers one high F after another, can be a true coloratura showstopper.
Sometimes called “the perfect opera,” “The Magic Flute” offers something for everyone, from dedicated opera fans to newbies to entire families.
Mozart’s timeless piece features an international cast of New Zealand-Samoan tenor Amitai Pati (known to Vallejo audiences as one of the Vallejo Festival Orchestra’s Three Tenors production a few years ago) as Tamino; Austrian soprano Christina Gansch as Pamina; and, in a trio of house debuts, Estonian bass-baritone Lauri Vasar as Papageno, South Korean bass Kwangchul Youn as Sarastro and Polish soprano Anna Simińska as the Queen of the Night.
The June 26 performance marks the company’s annual Pride Night at the Opera celebration and precedes Pride weekend in San Francisco, which culminates in the Pride Parade on June 30, a Sunday.
The first American staging of Saariaho’s “Innocence” opens June 1 and continues in repertory through June 21, with its Finnish libretto by Sofi Oksanen, multilingual libretto and dramaturgy by Aleksi Barrière
Since its world premiere in 2021, the opera, a San Francisco Opera co-commission, has earned favorable reviews on stages in southern France, Helsinki, Amsterdam and London. It was Saariaho’s last opera, coming in her fifth decade of composing when her music turned decidedly melodic. She died in June 2023, more than 30 years after the so-called “global era” of opera began with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The opera explores the attempts to heal in the wake of a horrific mass shooting at an international school in Helsinki.
In his company debut, Clément Mao-Takacs will conduct. Acclaimed Australian film and stage director Simon Stone’s original production which takes place on a rotating, two-level cube will be revived by Louise Bakker.
The ensemble cast, performing in nine different languages, includes mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose as the Waitress, Miles Mykkanen as the Groom, soprano Lilian Farahani as the Bride, Claire de Sévigné and Rod Gilfry as the Mother-in-Law and Father-in-Law, respectively, bass Kristinn Sigmundsson as the Priest and Lucy Shelton as the teacher. Multi-genre instrumentalist and vocalist Vilma Jää, whose art spans Finnish folk songs to experimental electronic music, makes her American operatic debut as the student Markéta.
In connection to “Innocence,” San Francisco Opera is working with local and national partner organizations to create opportunities for discussion about the effects of gun violence on individuals and communities. More information will announced closer to the performance period.
We tend to think of Handel mostly as the composer of “Messiah” and other oratorios, but he primarily made a living writing and producing operas.
His operatic works are notable for long stretches of “da capo” arias in which singers sing a line, then sing it again, only more vocally ornamented. No doubt, “Partenope,” opening June 15 and continuing to June 28 in the Olivier Award-winning staging by director Christopher Alden and conducted by early music expert Christopher Moulds, will be marked by the technique.
First presented by San Francisco Opera in 2014, Alden’s staging transforms the story of a Neapolitan queen and her eccentric suitors in a gender-bending plot to a 1920s Parisian salon rife with the Surrealism and Dada art movements.
French soprano Julie Fuchs and countertenor Carlo Vistoli make their house debuts as Partenope and Arsace, respectively. Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, who won acclaim last summer as Frida Kahlo in Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s “El último sueño de Frida y Diego,” and tenor Alek Shrader reprise their roles as Rosmira and Emilio. Baritone Hadleigh Adams is Ormonte, and countertenor Nicholas Tamagna makes his house debut as Armindo.
And in keeping with the tastes of some operagoers and tech buffs, the third performance of each production will be livestreamed.
Tickets for the livestreams, which include a 48-hour on-demand window to access the performance, are $27.50 and available now. All times for livestream performances below are Pacific Standard Time. The dates and times are 7:30 p.m. June 4 for “The Magic Flute”; 7:30 p.m. June 12 for “Innocence”; and 2 p.m. June 23 for “Partenope.” For more information, visit sfopera.com/digital/livestream.
Tickets for the three operas range from $26 to $426 and are available at the San Francisco Opera Box Office, 301 Van Ness Ave., by calling (415) 864-3330, or online at sfopera.com. Subscriptions for all three range from $78 to $1,245.
Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday (Saturdays by phone only). A $2 per-ticket facility fee is included in Balcony 1, 2 and 3 zone prices; all other zones include a $3 per-ticket facility fee.
Dolby Family’s Opera for the Bay program provides $10 tickets to all mainstage performances to Bay Area residents (home address ZIP code between 94000-95999) who have not purchased tickets in the past three seasons.
Opera for the Bay tickets go on sale at noon one month prior to the opening of each production and are limited to two seats per eligible patron. On sale dates for the Dolby tickets are April 30 (“The Magic Flute”), May 1 (“Innocence”) and May 15 (“Partenope”). Visit sfopera.com/dolby for more information.
The War Memorial Opera House is within walking distance of the Civic Center BART/Muni Station and near numerous bus lines, including 5, 21, 47, 49 and F Market Street. There is underground parking at the Civic Center Parking Garage.
Pre-opera talks are held 55 minutes before every performance. The 20-minute talks provide an overview of each opera. Speakers are Robert Hartwell (“The Magic Flute”), Alla Gladysheva (“Innocence”) and Cole Thomason-Redus (“Partenope”).
