SF Opera Cast Change: Richard Strauss Concert

War Memorial Opera House and Veterans Building

Postcard from personal collection of Lisa Hirsch

Well, here's an interesting cast change: Adela Zaharia is ill and won't be able to sing in next Friday's all-Strauss concert by Eun Sun Kim and the SF Opera Orchestra.

The Brentano Lieder are also off the program. Instead, it'll be the Four Last Songs, sung by soprano Kathleen O'Mara. You have a chance to not only hear an up-and-coming young soprano, but if you were at SF Symphony earlier this month, you can compare and contrast conductor and soloist in the VLL.

Kim was electrifying in Elektra in June, and of course the VLL are different in every way but I'd expect this to be an excellent concert. I will miss it because I am reviewing SFS that night.

Here's the press release:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (October 30, 2026) — Due to illness, soprano Adela Zaharia will be replaced by soprano Kathleen O’Mara as soloist for San Francisco Opera’s Strauss in Concert conducted by Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim on Friday, November 6 at the War Memorial Opera House. O’Mara will perform Strauss’ Four Last Songs in place of the previously scheduled Brentano Lieder.

 

Kathleen O’Mara was recently awarded 1st Prize at the 2025 Queen Sonja Singing Competition and 1st Prize and the Birgit Nilsson Prize at the 2024 Operalia Competition. She is a graduate of LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program and is a 2024 recipient of the prestigious Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation. O’Mara’s current season includes Micaëla (Carmen) and Liù (Turandot) at LA Opera and house debuts at Dallas Opera (Elsa in Lohengrin) and Santa Fe Opera (Liù). On the concert stage, O’Mara debuts with the Barcelona Symphony in Act I of Die Walküre conducted by Ludovic Morlot and makes her Carnegie Hall recital debut presented by The Juilliard School. Her engagements last season included her Edinburgh International Festival debut in Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied conducted by Donald Runnicles, the Oslo Philharmonic’s annual outdoor concert at The Palace Square, Metropolitan Opera (Donna Anna in Don Giovanni), Milan’s Teatro alla Scala (Helmwige in Die Walküre), Munich’s Bavarian State Opera (Fifth maidservant in Elektra) and Seattle Opera (Micaëla). A native of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, O’Mara holds a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College.

 

Following sold-out concerts of symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven in 2024 and 2025, Maestro Kim and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra return to the War Memorial Opera House stage with an evening dedicated to the music of Richard Strauss. This one-night-only event includes the U.S. premiere of a new suite of music from Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier; one of the composer’s early tone poems, Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks; and in what would become his songs of farewell, the Four Last Songs.

 

The program opens with Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, the 1895 tone poem that musically illustrates the irreverent adventures and demise of the trickster Till, a German folk hero. The Four Last Songs (1948), among the composer’s most profound and beautiful works, will be performed by soprano Kathleen O’Mara.

 

After intermission, Maestro Kim and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra will present the U.S. premiere of Der Rosenkavalier Suite, a new arrangement by Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan and Czech arranger Tomáš Ille. The well-known Rosenkavalier Suite from the past century, thought to have been arranged by conductor Artur Rodzinski in 1944, emphasizes the waltz music in Strauss’ 1911 opera but bears little relation to its dramatic plot. At 35 minutes in duration, Jordan and Ille’s new suite, commissioned by Radio France and premiered in 2021, is longer than the older Rosenkavalier Suite and utilizes the colors of the orchestra to relate the story of Strauss’ beloved romantic comedy.

 

Throughout her tenure as San Francisco Opera’s Music Director, Eun Sun Kim has led a wide repertoire of opera and concert works, including the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra, Richard Wagner’s Parsifal, Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fidelio and his Ninth and Fifth Symphonies. In 2026, Maestro Kim has conducted the music of Richard Strauss, including Ariadne auf Naxos in Berlin, along with Elektra with San Francisco Opera. The San Francisco Chronicle said of Elektra, “Kim leads with propulsion and breathtaking control over the immense orchestra—Strauss never met an instrument he couldn’t stuff into a score—and miraculously retains clarity even in the loudest passages.” During San Francisco Opera’s current season, Maestro Kim also conducts Massenet’s French repertoire gem Manon (October 15–November 1) and Wagner’s Das Rheingold (May 29–June 22, 2027), the latter a prelude to complete cycles of Wagner’s Ring in Summer 2028.

 

Friday Photo

Street Corner

Aix-en-Provence, France

July, 2026

 

Friday Photo

Lucy (left) and the Halloween display up the street

Oakland, CA

September, 2026

 

They're Doing It Again. And Again and Again.

Antonín Dvořák

Recent performances of Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, From the New World, at San Francisco Symphony and the season in which it was performed:

•  Xian Zhang, 2021-22
• Joshua Weilerstein, summer 2023
• Dalia Stasevska, 2023-24
• Cristian Macelaru, 2025-26 
• Jaap van Zweden, 2026-27

C'mon, folks. Great piece, but give it a break.

Museum Mondays

Nativity of the Virgin

Albrecht Aldorfer, c. 1520

Alte Pinakothek, Munich

July, 2026

 

Friday Photo

Fontaine de la Rotonde

Aix-en-Provence

July, 2026

 

Museum Mondays

Forbidden "Art"

Lenbachhaus Museum

Munich, Germany

July, 2026

 

Simon Boccanegra at San Francisco Opera

Amartuvshin Enkhbat as Simon Boccanegra, Christian Van Horn as Jacopo Fiesco, and Eleonora Buratto as Amelia Grimaldi in Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra."

Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

I've filed my Simon Boccanegra review with Opera – it'll be in the November issue – so now I can read what everyone else has to say and create a review roundup. My review praised the performers and damned original director Claus Guth, whose production muddied the waters of an already murky plot while draining the emotional life from a deeply emotional opera. 

I wish I'd had more space to detail the failures. The photo above says it all: three impassive singers not able to interact.

• Steven Winn, SFCV / SF Chronicle. "Brilliant realization"
• Joshua Kosman, On a Pacific Aisle. "A risible stage production"
• Harvey Steiman, Seen & Heard. "Unfortunately, a misguided production drained some of the juice from the music and almost all of the opera’s tale of messy politics and a too-late healing of nasty family secrets."
• Lisa Hirsch, Opera. "An opaque and sometimes laughable Claus Guth modern-dress production." I  also wish I could have squeezed in how great Van Horn looked in that coat.  (See below)
• Gary Kamiya, Kamiya Unlimited. A hilarious and accurate description of the plot complications in Simon, plus "Claus Guth’s aggressive directorial choices (Guth’s production was first staged in Hamburg in 2006 and revived here by Katherine M. Carter) only made matters worse."
• Michael Strickland, SF Civic Center. "However, the 20-year-old staging by German director Claus Guth for the Hamburg Opera was Euro Konzept at its most deliberately alienating and ridiculous."
• Charlise Tiee, Opera Tattler. "The direction was an obstruction to the narrative rather than elucidating the text" and also "To be honest, I enjoyed the production very much as it is absurd and unintentionally funny."

Here's the coat, also Christian Van Horn. I interviewed Van Horn and Brandon Jovanovich in February, 2019, when both were in Paris Opera's Les Troyens. They are both very tall, and this kind of tailoring looks great on tall men. 

 Christian Van Horn as Jacopo Fiesco in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra

Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

 

Friday Photo

Melon, plum, peach, apricot, all from the farmers market

Aix-en-Provence, France

July, 2026

 

San Francisco Symphony Last Week

Michael Tilson Thomas

Photo: Brandon Patoc, courtesy of San Francisco Symphony

I didn't review SF Symphony's Concert for MTT, a concert in honor of and in memory of the late conductor, whose leadership over his 25 years as music director was truly remarkable. It was as you might expect, a varied program of music that was important to him, sung or played or conducted by those who were close to him.

Of course, I had some favorites; Sasha Cooke singing, Jamie Bernstein's amazing recollections of the young MTT and their long friendship (and his friendship with her father Leonard), Teddy Abrams and Edwin Outwater's conducting, the Symphony Chorus in a brief marvel by Meredith. Monk, reminisces by bass Chung-Wai Soong and piccolo player Catherine Payne (she was hilarious!). I wish Flicka had been there; at MTT's 80th birthday concert, she was riveting in a Debussy song.

I did review the Strauss program the day before, with Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Renée Fleming. 

Media round-up of both:

• Lisa Hirsch, SFCV and SF Chronicle. Despite what I note about her singing, Fleming did get a standing ovation from a loving audience. If you're looking for a great performance of Vier Letzte Lieder, try Soile Isokoski, who is about perfect. Historically, Kirsten Flagstad is amazingly grand and beautiful. Jessye Norman's recording is eccentrically slow, magnificently sung.
• Joshua Kosman, On a Pacific Aisle, Strauss concert and MTT concert. I agree with him about Fleming, on all counts. I was never a fan, but I loved Ruth Ann Swenson, whose career roughly paralleled that of Fleming. Swenson was not much of an actress, but she sang with such joy and liveliness, and, to my ear, a much more beautiful voice.
• Jeff Kaliss, MTT concert, SFCV
• Matthew Travisano, Parterre Box

 

Museum Mondays

Detail, Annunciation

Fra Filippo Lippi, c 1443-45

Alte Pinakothek, Munich

July, 2026

 

New Member of the Household

This little dog – she weighs 27 pounds – came to live with us about a month ago. Her name is Lucy, and your guess is as good as ours as to her ancestry. Obviously one of the short-legged breeds (Dachshund, Corgi, Basset hound), probably some kind of terrier, other than that, who knows.

We chose her for her size and behavior: small enough to be carried down stairs, if necessary, good with cats.

That's working out fine. I actually picked her up today (I'd let her climb somewhere that maybe she shouldn't jump down from) and she was good with that.

Here she is with Julius the day they met:

She has annoyed him a few times enough that he has hissed and taken a swat at her, but he hasn't drawn blood. They are fine with each other.

She is a cheery dog with a sweet temperament, though shy. She was quite fearful when she moved in but she's settling in nicely and is less fearful on walks and when she meets other people.

She knows "come," which is good, but not really any other commands. We're making progress on "sit," but as it happens, Julius now has a more reliable "sit" than she does. He is very food motivated.

 

Feast of St. Francis of Assissi

Philippe Sly (Saint François)

Saint François d’Assise, Messiean

Salzburg Festival, August, 2026

Photo: Monika Rittershaus, courtesy of the Salzburg Festival

Director/Sets/Costumes/Lighting, Romeo Castellucci) 

More photos of this stunning production.

 

San Francisco Opera Announces 2028 Ring Casting

Die Walküre, Act 1

2018 San Francisco Opera Ring

Brandon Jovanovich (Siegmund) and Karita Mattila (Sieglinde)

Photo: Cory Weaver / San Francisco Opera

San Francisco Opera will revive Francesca Zambello's production of Der Ring des Nibelungen (Richard Wagner) in 2028, and they've announced full casting this week, almost a year after the initial announcement. Pricing is also available; subscribers and anyone who has donated at least $150 can apply for Ring tickets starting on October 13.

If you're not sure whether Wagner is for you, you can always get a June, 2027, subscription ticket to Das Rheingold, the prologue and shortest of the Ring operas. There are also numerous excellent Ring productions available on DVD or streaming. 

Seeing the Ring, in several productions and with several conductors, has been among the greatest theatrical / operatic experiences of my life. I am very much looking forward to hearing SFO music director Eun Sun Kim conduct the Ring; her Wagner to date has been superb. If you can swing it, I encourage you to go. (And if you have any thoughts about the cast, I welcome comments!)

SUMMER 2028 OPERA SEASON: DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN

 

CYCLE 1: June 13 (7:30 p.m.); June 14 (6 p.m.); June 16 (6 p.m.); June 18 (1 p.m.)

CYCLE 2: June 20 (7:30 p.m.); June 21 (6 p.m.); June 23 (6 p.m.); June 25 (1 p.m.)

CYCLE 3: June 27 (7:30 p.m.); June 28 (6 p.m.); June 30 (6 p.m.); July 2 (1 p.m.)

All cycle performances are presented on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

 

Production:
Conductor	Eun Sun Kim
Director	Francesca Zambello
Set Designer	Michael Yeargan
Costume Designer	Catherine Zuber
Original Lighting Designer	Mark McCullough
Revival Lighting Designer	A.J. Guban
Original Projections	Jan Hartley
New Projections, Remounted by	S. Katy Tucker
Choreographer	Denni Sayers
Associate Director     (Das Rheingold, Siegried)	Denni Sayers
Associate Director     (Die Walküre, Götterdämmerung)	Christian Rath
Chorus Director	John Keene

 

Co-production with Washington National Opera

Sung in German with English supertitles

 

DAS RHEINGOLD by Richard Wagner

June 13 (7:30 p.m.), 20 (7:30 p.m.) and 27 (7:30 p.m.), 2028

 

Approximate running time:	2 hours, 35 minutes without intermission
World Premiere:	Munich; September 22, 1869
First SF Opera Performance:	November 1, 1935
Most Recent SF Opera Performance:	June 2018
Cast:
Wotan	Brian Mulligan
Loge	Brenton Ryan
Alberich	Falk Struckmann
Fricka	Judit Kutasi
Erda	Sadie Cheslak
Mime	Zhengyi Bai
Fasolt	Kwangchul Youn
Fafner	John Relyea
Froh	Christopher Sokolowski
Donner	Lauri Vasar
Woglinde	Sofia Gotch
Wellgunde	Laura Krumm
Flosshilde	Taylor Raven

 

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

 

 

DIE WALKÜRE by Richard Wagner

June 14 (6 p.m.), 21 (6 p.m.) and 28 (6 p.m.), 2028

 

Approximate running time:	4 hours, 30 minutes with two intermissions
World Premiere:	Munich; June 26, 1870
First SF Opera Performance:	November 4, 1935
Most Recent SF Opera Performance:	June 2018
Cast:
Brünnhilde	Tamara Wilson
Wotan	Brian Mulligan
Sieglinde	Julie Adams
Siegmund	Christopher Sokolowski
Fricka	Judit Kutasi
Hunding	Kwangchul Youn

 

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

 

 

SIEGFRIED by Richard Wagner

June 16 (6 p.m.), 23 (6 p.m.) and 30 (6 p.m.), 2028

 

Approximate running time:	5 hours with two intermissions
World Premiere:	Bayreuth; August 16, 1876
First SF Opera Performance:	November 6, 1935
Most Recent SF Opera Performance:	June 2018
Cast:
Siegfried	Simon O’Neill
Brünnhilde	Tamara Wilson
Mime	Zhengyi Bai
The Wanderer (Wotan)	Brian Mulligan
Alberich	Falk Struckmann
Fafner	John Relyea
Erda	Sadie Cheslak
Forest Bird	Sofia Gotch

 

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

 

 

GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG by Richard Wagner

June 18 (1 p.m.), 25 (1 p.m.) and July 2 (1 p.m.), 2028

 

Approximate running time:	5 hours, 15 minutes with two intermissions
World Premiere:	Bayreuth, August 17, 1876
First SF Opera Performance:	November 9, 1935
Most Recent SF Opera Performance:	June/July 2018
Cast:
Brünnhilde	Tamara Wilson
Siegfried	Simon O’Neill
Gunther	Lauri Vasar
Hagen	John Relyea
Waltraute	Annika Schlicht
Gutrune	Julie Adams
Alberich	Falk Struckmann
First Norn	Sadie Cheslak
Second Norn	Annika Schlicht
Third Norn	Mary Hoskins
Woglinde	Sofia Gotch
Wellgunde	Laura Krumm
Flosshilde	Taylor Raven

 

San Francisco Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Opera Chorus

  

Friday Photo

Cassoulet (duck in glass jar, pork in a tin can), jarred ratatouille, and jarred cardoons

Seen in a small grocery store

Aix-en-Provence

July, 2026

 

MTT and Joshua Robison's Home for Sale

2670 Pierce Street, San Francisco

Michael Tilson Thomas and Joshua Robison called the house in the photo above their home for 30 years. They're both gone now, MTT in April, of glioblastoma, and Robison in February, in his sleep, presumably of the effects of a fall some months previously.

Now it's on the market, for nearly $10 million. It has seven bedrooms, 4 full and three half baths, a gorgeous kitchen, and various reception rooms, all over about 7,000 square feet. Note that it was last sold in 1994, for $1.4 million. That certainly gives you a glimpse of what has happened in SF real estate.

It is a gorgeous house, and you'll see from the photos that it has been carefully staged. There's a crib in the photos but no sign of dogs. I'm guessing that it has also been repainted, as I would expect a certain amount of blue, MTT's favorite color on the walls somewhere in the house.

Big sigh. They're really gone, always to be missed.