War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco
Photo by Lisa Hirsch
Well, this is a little bit of a head-scratcher: for many years, the San Francisco Opera season announcement has been made in the second or third week of January, whether there was a press conference or just an email announcement, or, during the pandemic, a livestream. I think that the last press conference was in January, 2017; in attendance were John Adams and Peter Sellars, because of Girls of the Golden West, and Francesca Zambello, because of the June, 2018 Ring.
Today, I got an email saying that the announcement will be made on February 20, about four weeks from now. I don't know whether this indicates a permanent change in the announcement date, or if something about the 2024-25 season is still up in the air, whether it's casting for a particular opera, or decisions being made about which operas are on the schedule, or decision over when each opera will be seen during the season. Or even some combination of those possibilities! You know: "We can do six performances of mumphy-ump with Tenor A and Soprano A, followed by 3 with Tenor B and Soprano B, OR we can split those roles up among a different number of singers, but Baritone A can't sing on dates 1, 2, and 3...."
February OPERA "We hear that..." says John Fulljames will direct Paul Ruder's "The Handmaid's Tale" in autumn 2024 at SFO. So there's that to ponder in the meantime. -- Floyd Ross
ReplyDeleteYep! Covered in a speculation posting last month, I think. This is rescheduled from the 2020-21 season.
ReplyDeleteI suspect they’re nailing down a co-production (of a new work or existing rep). We already know about productions of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘The Barber of Seville’ (for Lawrence Brownlee). But this very delayed announcement date seems to be the new normal.
ReplyDeleteI did not know about "Barber".
ReplyDeleteI was at Lyric Opera of Chicago in November for ‘Jenufa’ and ‘The Daughter of the Regiment’ and he mentioned in the upcoming engagements part of his “Daughter” bio that he’d be Almaviva in SF. I have to assume it’s the 24/25 season.
ReplyDelete