SFO at SFO

Hand-colored photo of the War Memorial Opera House and Veterans Building

Collection of Lisa Hirsch

My article on the San Francisco Opera archive mentioned an exhibit of archival material at the San Francisco Airport Museum. It's in the Harvey Milk Terminal 1, Departures Level 2, Gallery 1D, through Aug. 13, 2023. Because I don't know whether I'll be at the airport between now and then - it depends on whether I go to Scotland in the spring, which in turn depends on work and COVID - I figured I probably would not get to see it. Now there's a press release from San Francisco Opera, and it turns out that there is a way to see it without flying: you can make an appointment by emailing curator@flysfo.com.

There's some very cool stuff at this exhibit!

Kirsten Flagstad's Brünnhilde costume and winged helmet

Photos courtesy of SFO Museum

San Francisco, CA (December 20, 2022) — SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport recently unveiled a new exhibition in connection with San Francisco Opera’s centennial titled San Francisco Opera: A Centennial Celebration. The curated installation in the Harvey Milk Terminal 1 (located post-security in Departures Level 2) showcases the Company’s first century and the art of operatic stagecraft.

 

The exhibition, on view through August 13, 2023, captures San Francisco Opera’s rich history through a selection of costumes, stage props, set models, video and archival photographs from the collections of San Francisco Opera, the Museum of Performance + Design and the Metropolitan Opera Archives.

 

Costumes worn by operatic superstars who have graced San Francisco Opera’s stage during the past century are the focus of the presentation. Highlights include:

 

• The cape and hat worn by famed Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette during San Francisco Opera’s inaugural 1923 season.
• Legendary Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad’s Brünnhilde costume from Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre in the 1935 Company premiere of the composer’s four-opera cycle, The Ring of the Nibelung.
• The military outfit worn by French soprano Lily Pons in Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment during the 1940s.
• A dress from Massenet’s Manon worn by soprano and inaugural recipient of the Company’s Opera Medal, Dorothy Kirsten.
• American soprano Leontyne Price’s costume from the 1981 production of Verdi’s Aida. An iconic interpreter of the title role, Price sang her first Aida with San Francisco Opera in 1957.