Good News and Bad from SF Opera

The good stuff first:

• The new Don Giovanni production will be simulcast to four locations on Friday, June 22, at 8 p.m. The announcement I have says that this is being done "In a partnership with UC Berkeley's Cal Performances, the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis, the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, and San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts," so presumably those are the locations. Admission is free, but you need a ticket! More information here.


• Some of the Adler fellows will perform in Civic Center Plaza at 4:40 pm on Saturday, June 23 during the San Francisco Pride events.

And the bad. I quote from email I received today:

A pilot program that features high-definition video viewing of close-up, mid-range and full stage ensemble shots of the performance on stage will be tested at every Don Giovanni performance this summer. Two 6' by 9' retractable screens, complete with supertitles, will be hung from the ceiling on both sides of the balcony, offering patrons in the Balcony Front level and above a whole new way to experience opera.

Hello, David Gockley! The opera house isn't a movie theater or an audience member's home. Putting movie screens in the balcony is likely to encourage talking during the performance and inattention to what's happening on stage. Yes, the stage is far away from the balcony, but somehow the balcony sells out anyway. Please take those screens away.