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S
an Francisco has been in love with opera for more than 150
years. In fact, citizens during the Gold Rush were mad for it.
In his fascinating history of San Francisco’s passion for
opera, Verdi at the Golden Gate, George Martin cites that if New
York in 1992 were to have presented opera to an audience proportionate to that of San Francisco in 1860, it would have needed to
build twenty additional opera houses and run them every night of
the year. Between 1851—when Bellini’s La Sonnambula was the first
opera performed in the city—and the earthquake of 1906, nearly
5,000 operatic performances were given in San Francisco by more
than twenty troupes in twenty-six different theaters.
San Francisco’s appetite for opera continued into the early twentieth century, with companies like New York’s Metropolitan Opera
making regular visits. Despite numerous performances and the
city’s clear yen for the art form, a resident grand opera company did
not exist. That would be remedied when a young Italian conductor
made his first visit. He would go on to found one of the oldest surviving opera companies in the United States that, for ninety years,
has been internationally renowned for its artistry and innovation:
San Francisco Opera.
Gaetano Merola
TERRENcE MccARTHY
San Francisco
Opera at
In February 1906, a charismatic young Neapolitan conductor
named Gaetano Merola arrived in San Francisco as accompanist to
the singer Eugenia Mantelli for a series of concerts. Youngest son
of a violinist at the royal court of Naples, Merola graduated from
conservatory at sixteen and came to America at nineteen to work
as the assistant to the well-known composer and conductor Luigi
Mancinelli at the Metropolitan Opera. After a year at the Met, he
joined various touring companies. Of his first trip to San Francisco,
Merola was quoted as saying, “If destiny wants me not to return to
Italy, this is the place to settle down.”
After several subsequent trips to the city, Merola began to see
the potential for a permanent opera company here. He saw that the
money San Franciscans paid to hear various touring companies
could easily go towards a permanent opera company. He also knew
of the plans for a grand hall for music and opera, which would eventually become the War Memorial Opera House, and thought that it
ought to be inaugurated by a local group. Merola went about setting
the stage for a resident company by developing contacts with the
city’s philanthropic and Italian communities.
A trip to Stanford University in Palo Alto for a football game
provided the initial spark. Merola noted that Stanford Stadium’s
acoustics were well suited to musical performances and went to
work on securing the space, funding, and artists to present grand
opera there. An orchestra was composed of members of the San
Francisco Symphony and Merola gathered an amateur chorus,
rehearsing them in the basement of a home on Russian Hill.
A crowd of 6,000 came out on June 3, 1922 to hear Leoncavallo’s
Pagliacci, the first performance of the one-week three-opera season
that also included two performances of Carmen and one performance of Faust. Despite strong attendance the venture was not a
financial success, but Merola was not deterred and immediately
began plans for a season at San Francisco’s Exposition Auditorium,
B Y M I C A H S TA N D L E Y
now known as the Bill Graham civic Auditorium. The conductor
worked diligently to secure funding from San Francisco’s business
elite to create a permanent opera company. The money he raised,
combined with funds raised in advance ticket sales, ensured the following 1923 season and established the San Francisco Opera Association—now the oldest surviving opera company on the West coast,
and the third oldest in the nation.
started in earnest when Major charles Kendrick, an influential
businessman and veteran of World War I, suggested that the
opera house be constructed as a memorial to the San Franciscans
who served in the war. Support from the community buoyed the
project, bond issues were passed, and the plans grew to include a
second building across a courtyard from the opera house for the
veterans. Most of this was accomplished by a small group of private citGaetano Merola at the podium
Early Years
izens who lobbied diligently and
From the beginning, the cornerstone
brought the fundraising effort to the
of San Francisco Opera has been
community—making the War Memotruly exceptional singing. Merola was
rial the first opera house in an Ameriable to lure top talent to San Francan city built by public funding.
cisco, and the roster of singers and
On October 15, 1932, the War
conductors that performed here in
Memorial Opera House was inauguthe early years is legendary: Giovanni
rated with a performance of Tosca starMartinelli, claudia Muzio, Beniamino
ring claudia Muzio, Dino Borgioli, and
Gigli, Bianca Saroya, Queena Mario,
Alfredo Gandolfi. The opening gala
Giuseppe De Luca, Ezio Pinza, Tito
gathered large crowds, some watching
Schipa, Lauritz Melchior, Maria Jerthe scene from city Hall across the
itza, Kirsten Flagstad, and Fritz
street, and the first act was broadcast
Reiner. The legacy continues, with
over NBc’s Red Network. A local radio
artists like Anna Netrebko, Simon
announcer described the event as the
Keenlyside, and Piotr Beczala making
fulfillment of “a dream long denied,”
their U.S. debuts with the company.
and the opening line of the opera by
In 1924, Merola and a small group
the character Angelotti, “Ah, finalof artists made a short tour to Los
mente!” drew a significant laugh from
Angeles for a one-week stint. This
the audience. At long last, the comcontinued sporadically until 1937,
pany had its permanent home.
when the company sent 200 artists
In the following years, the comto present five operas at the
pany grew larger, seasons grew longer,
Shrine Auditorium with headand renowned artists continued to
lining artists like Flagstad, Meldelight San Francisco audiences under
chior, Pons, and Jeritza. Demand
Gaetano Merola’s leadership. In
for tickets was high, and fans
August of 1953, Merola was conducting a perfrom as far away as Phoenix and
formance at Stern Grove—the popular conTucson came to attend the season.
cert series originally sponsored by Mrs.
Sigmund Stern. Despite his health probBecause of this success, the comlems that had been worsening with age,
pany went on to present consecutive
Merola was determined to conduct that
Los Angeles seasons through 1964 and
afternoon, saying, “Mrs. Stern has done
expanded the tours to include other
so much for me that I would give my
cities. From San Diego to Seattle, San
life for her.” Things were going well
Francisco Opera had established itself as
until he began conducting, “Un bel
the opera company of the West coast and
dì” from Madama Butterfly. As the
paved the way for other permanent compasoprano sang the word “morire”
nies in california, Oregon, and Washington.
(to die), Merola’s baton hung in
The greatest achievement of the company’s
mid-air and with a dazed look,
early days was the construction of the War
he fell. The charming and
Memorial Opera House. In 1911, a pledge to
beloved conductor had sufraise one million dollars by the Musical Associafered a heart attack and died conducttion of San Francisco for a building in the civic
ing the music he loved, an operatic ending that
center started the fundraising effort. As with most of
he might have chosen for himself, and the legacy he left
San Francisco’s civic projects, there were difficulties
behind was San Francisco Opera.
and progress slowed. But the venture finally got
MARGARET NORTON
San Francisco
Opera Debuts
Since its inception, more than 400
artists, conductors, directors and
designers have made either their
professional or United States
debuts at San Francisco Opera;
among the most prominent are:
Vladimir Atlantov, 1990
Piotr Beczala, 2004
Inge Borkh, 1953
Boris christoff, 1956
Marie collier, 1964
Francis Ford coppola*, 1972
Mario Del Monaco, 1950
Geraint Evans, 1959
Brigitte Fassbaender, 1970
Mafalda Favero, 1938
Leyla Gencer, 1956
Valery Gergiev, 1991
Tito Gobbi, 1948
Sena Jurinac, 1959
Simon Keenlyside, 1993
Richard Lewis, 1955
Pilar Lorengar, 1964
charles Mackerras, 1969
Anna Netrebko, 1995
Birgit Nilsson, 1956
Jarmila Novotná, 1939
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, 1969
(director), 1958 (designer)
Leontyne Price*, 1957
Mado Robin, 1954
Leonie Rysanek, 1956
Hanna Schwarz, 1977
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, 1955
Graziella Sciutti, 1961
Anja Silja, 1968
Giulietta Simionato, 1953
Georg Solti, 1953
Otmar Suitner, 1969
Giuseppe Taddei, 1957
Renata Tebaldi, 1950
christian Thielemann, 1991
Jess Thomas*, 1957
Gabriella Tucci, 1959
cesare Valletti, 1953
Silvio Varviso, 1959
Gösta Winbergh, 1974
Ingvar Wixell, 1967
*professional opera debut
Tenor Jess Thomas (left) discussing Wagner’s Götterdämmerung
with Kurt Herbert Adler, 1969
Kurt Herbert Adler
The man who first rushed to Merola’s side that fateful day at Stern Grove was his right
hand, Kurt Herbert Adler. The Viennese conductor had held positions in Europe and
chicago before Merola invited him to join San Francisco Opera as chorus director in 1942.
Adler’s achievements in transforming the chorus into a professional group led to further
administrative duties with the company, and he eventually became assistant to the general
director in 1952. Three months after Merola’s death, Adler was named as San Francisco
Opera’s artistic director, and his capable leadership skills led him to be appointed as the
company’s next general director in 1957.
With Adler at the helm, San Francisco Opera’s repertoire was greatly expanded beyond
the classics that Merola had programmed, and the company became known for presenting
newly discovered talent. Notable debuts had certainly occurred during Merola’s tenure, and
Adler immediately continued the tradition with the U.S. debuts of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf,
Leonie Rysanek, Leyla Gencer, Birgit Nilsson, and Boris christoff, and the professional
debuts of young American talent like Leontyne Price, furthering San Francisco’s reputation
as a place to hear outstanding new singers. Adler also presented the work of a new production designer, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, in 1958. It was the beginning of a long, fruitful professional relationship that would define them both and bring inventive, often controversial
new productions to San Francisco that had audiences and critics buzzing.
Adler also ushered in some important firsts for the company. In 1957 he founded the
Merola Opera Program, a summer training program for young artists that was the first of
its kind in America. In keeping with its namesake’s mission to cultivate new talent, the
Merola Opera Program has fostered the careers of a number of opera’s superstars, including Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Patrick Summers, Ruth Ann Swenson, Dolora Zajick,
Joyce DiDonato, Thomas Hampson, Anna Netrebko, and Rolando Villazón. Adler also furthered San Francisco Opera’s reach by creating Western Opera Theater in 1966, a touring
company made up of young singers that went to towns all over the West coast to present
opera in places that had little exposure to the artform. Western Opera Theater expanded to
include tours to china (1987) and Japan (1989). The chinese tour marked the first professional American opera company to perform in the People’s Republic.
In his thirty-eight years with San Francisco Opera, Kurt Herbert Adler built upon the sturdy
foundation created by Gaetano Merola and furthered the stature of this company by creating
an inviting, professional space where the world’s great singers, conductors, directors, and
designers could flourish. Luciano Pavarotti and Leontyne Price were among the artists who
made multiple role debuts here. Anja Silja once commented, “Here things are friendly, easygoing. If things collapsed, I could call on people for help.” Price herself described Adler as,
ROBERT PRUZAN
Luciano Pavarotti performing at the
1979 Opera in the Park concert
“strong, opinionated, devious, affectionate, elegant, caring, vindictive, argumentative, ruthless, determined, egomaniacal, charming,
loving, sentimental, and extremely successful.” A complicated man
who contributed much to San Francisco Opera’s storied history.
Heart and Soul
When many people think of opera, the principal singers whose talent
brings the celebrated roles to life are often first in the mind; perhaps
the composers and librettists who wrote these masterpieces as well.
But producing opera requires the artistry and dedication of many disciplines working in sync: orchestra, chorus, dancers, set and lighting
designers, costumers, wardrobe staff, stagehands, electricians, wig
and make-up artists, carpenters, administrative staff, fundraisers,
board members, volunteers—the list is nearly endless. These often
unsung heroes have been the lifeblood of San Francisco Opera since
the beginning, and each group is an important piece in the fabric of
the company’s history. For now, we will focus on two of these groups:
the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and chorus.
When Merola needed an orchestra for his season at Stanford
he turned to the San Francisco Symphony, established in 1911.
This collective relationship between the Symphony and Opera—
and eventually San Francisco Ballet—worked well for nearly sixty
years as each organization shared the War Memorial Opera
House. In 1980, the San Francisco Symphony moved into the new
Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall and the Opera Orchestra was
forced to find twenty-six new musicians to create its own regular
orchestra. Today the San Francisco Opera Orchestra is more than
sixty members strong.
Merola and Adler regularly conducted for the first six decades of
the company’s history and brought prominent conductors to San
Francisco, including Eric Leinsdorf, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli,
Pierre Monteux, and Georg Solti. In 1985, the company appointed
Sir John Pritchard as its first permanent music director, and he was
followed by Donald Runnicles in 1992. During his tenure, Runnicles championed new repertory including the world premieres of
John Adams’s Doctor Atomic and conrad Susa’s The Dangerous
Liaisons, and conducted three Ring cycles. After 17 years with San
Francisco Opera, Maestro Runnicles stepped down as music director in August 2009, and Italian conductor Nicola Luisotti took the
reins later that fall. With Luisotti’s appointment, General Director
David Gockley has reinvigorated the core Italian repertory of this
company founded by an ardent group of Italian Americans.
In the early days, the San Francisco Opera chorus was composed of enthusiastic amateurs who rehearsed during time away
from their full-time jobs. When Adler joined the company as chorus director in 1943, the level of quality began its rise to what it
has become today, as did the pay scale. The San Francisco Opera
chorus has become one of the foremost ensembles of its kind,
so much so that they were the subject of the 1993 Academy
Award-winning documentary In the Shadow of the Stars.
Beyond the Footlights
In 1914, a statue of Verdi was erected in Golden Gate Park and famed
soprano Luisa Tetrazzini sang an aria from Aida as part of the dedication ceremony. In 1971, the Friends of Recreation and Parks approached
Adler to bring opera and the park’s glorious surroundings together
again by presenting a concert featuring San Francisco Opera. With a few
exceptions, the Opera in the Park concert has been presented annually
ever since and featured luminaries of the opera world like Beverly Sills,
Plácido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti—all as the company’s free gift
to the community. From performing at the earliest concerts at the Stern
Grove Festival seventy-five years ago to today’s simulcasts at AT&T
Park, San Francisco Opera has always been devoted to bringing opera
beyond the footlights and into the community.
Another of the company’s missions is its commitment to educating the audiences of tomorrow. Founded in 1939, the San Francisco Opera Guild has been providing arts education to Bay Area
youth for more than seventy years. Perhaps better known for its gala
events, auctions, and fashion shows, the Guild uses these events to
raise funds for award-winning interactive courses both in the classroom and the War Memorial Opera House that, considering cuts in
arts education, may be the only meaningful exposure children
throughout the Bay Area have to the world of classical music.
Furthering San Francisco Opera’s enduring commitment to arts
education, current General Director David Gockley created the company’s Education department in 2008 to give education a new strategic prominence within the company for children, adults, and
families. The department’s Opera ARIA Network (Arts Resources in
Action) encompasses multiple in-school programs for teachers and
students to connect opera with classroom curricula. Family opera
programming and movies, an adult-learning series about opera, university programs, and pre-performance lectures are all part of San
Francisco Opera’s mission to bring life-long learning about this great
art form to the Bay Area.
Some of the company’s ambassadors who perform educational and outreach programs are our resident artists, the Adler
Fellows. The multi-year fellowship program, which operates under
the aegis of the San Francisco Opera center created by San Francisco Opera’s third General Director Terence McEwen, are performance-oriented residencies for the most advanced young singers
and vocal coach/accompanists. The program provides intensive
individual training and roles of increasing importance in San Francisco Opera’s main-stage season in addition to outreach and arts
education performances. As part of the Education department’s
Opera ARIA programs, Adler Fellows made twelve school visits to
1,134 students in the 2011–12 school year.
continued on page 55
San Francisco Opera at 90 continued from page 28
1961
1976
1994
1998
2000
2001
2005
2007
2008
2011
Dello Joio, Blood Moon
Imbrie, Angle of Repose
Susa, The Dangerous Liaisons
Previn, A Streetcar Named Desire
Heggie, Dead Man Walking
chukhadjian, Arshak II
Adams, Doctor Atomic
Glass, Appomattox
Wallace, The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Theofanidis, Heart of a Soldier
1930
1954
Ravel, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges
cherubini, The Portuguese Inn
United States Premieres
Looking Ahead
After Kurt Herbert Adler’s administration, each of the company’s
four general directors brought their own unique talents to ensure
that San Francisco Opera continues to be at the forefront of the
opera world: Terence McEwen, with his commitment to outstanding vocal artistry and developing young talent; Lotfi Mansouri,
who greatly expanded the company’s repertoire and oversaw the
restoration of the War Memorial Opera House in 1996; Pamela
Rosenberg’s ambitious programming of notable U.S. debuts and
world premieres; and now David Gockley, who is dedicated to
building new audiences and the American repertoire of new
opera, as well as ensuring San Francisco Opera’s future.
One of the defining features of Gockley’s tenure has been his
commitment to taking opera out into the community through
state-of-the-art technology. One of his first acts as general director
in 2006 was overseeing San Francisco Opera’s first free live simulcast of Madama Butterfly to a crowd of 6,000 in civic center
Plaza. Simulcasts have since occurred at Stanford Stadium, movie
theaters across the Bay Area, and, of course, AT&T Park. This
September the company celebrates its tenth simulcast—and the
seventh at AT&T Park—with Verdi’s Rigoletto, signifying that this
has truly become a tradition for the Bay Area.
The technology for these simulcasts and other media outreach
comes from another of Gockley’s innovations, the Koret-Taube
Media Suite. The first permanent high-definition broadcast-standard video production facility installed in any American opera
house, the Koret-Taube Media Suite gives the company the permanent capability to produce simulcasts and other projects
including OperaVision, retractable screens that provide close-up
ensemble shots for patrons in balcony seats, and the Grand
Opera cinema Series, live recordings of San Francisco Opera productions available to theaters and performing arts venues.
For Gockley, the future of opera in America depends on the creation
of a repertoire component that speaks to us as Americans. This was a
task he began as general director of Houston Grand Opera—where he
produced more than thirty world premiere works—and he has continued here in San Francisco. The company has mounted three world
1955
1957
1958
1959
1961
1964
1966
1967
1968
1972
1981
1983
1988
1991
2002
2004
Walton, Troilus and Cressida
Poulenc, Dialogues des Carmélites
Orff, Die Kluge
Strauss, Die Frau ohne Schatten
Britten, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Shostakovich, Katerina Ismailova
Janáček, The Makropulos Case
Schuller, The Visitation
Weill, Royal Palace
von Einem, The Visit of the Old Lady
Reimann, Lear
Tippett, The Midsummer Marriage
Rossini, Maometto II
Henze, Das Verratene Meer
Messiaen, Saint François d’Assise
Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre
premieres since 2006, and three more will occur in 2013. In the current
state of American opera with companies programming more traditional fare for budgetary reasons, San Francisco Opera is continuing to
provide audiences with an ambitious mix of new works and classics.
The logistical and space requirements needed for an opera
company are many, and over the years San Francisco Opera has
used work spaces throughout the city for housing costumes,
scenery, and offices. Gockley’s goal since the beginning of his
tenure has been to streamline and consolidate these spaces, and
to that end the company is planning to expand into the fourth
floor of the War Memorial and Performing Arts center in 2015.
This is part of Gockley’s plan to ensure the financial health of the
organization and usher it into the future.
Since its beginning, San Francisco Opera has been a musical
home for artists and audiences alike. Legendary tenor Luciano
Pavarotti once said of San Francisco, “This is my second hometown. Musically, it is my first.” This company stands proudly among
the great opera houses of the world. It has been ninety years of
unparalleled artistry and an unwavering commitment not only to
this most complex and awe-inspiring of art forms, but also to the
community that sustains it.
The Company’s simulcast of Tosca in 2009 drew a crowd of 27,000.
KRISTEN LOKEN
World Premieres
San Francisco Opera Premieres