Postcard from my personal collection
San Francisco Opera announced its 2026-27 season yesterday. One of the operas in the season, Wagner's Das Rheingold, was announced for the season in November, when preliminary Ring casting was announced. Last year's season announcement mentioned Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots, for a future season, which has now arrived. I have some personal thoughts that weren't appropriate for my S.F. Chronicle article on the season. Let's go opera by opera.
- Simon Boccanegra, Verdi, opens the season, with Eun Sun Kim conducting and what looks like a terrific cast. Kim conducted Rigoletto, which opened the current season, with nuance and oh so much color; it was just great. Amartuvshin Enkhbat has the ideal voice for the title role and I hope that he'll be strongly directed. I checked out some videos of Eleanora Buratta, making her SFO debut as Maria/Amelia (you know that there are two characters who are known under two names in this opera, right? Be prepared to be confused.), and wow, what a voice. Christian Van Horn is Jacopo Fiesco. I love this opera beyond reason and I'm greatly looking forward to seeing it again, after a fifteen-year gap since I saw it at the Met with Abuser 1 in the title role and Abuser 2 conducting, with King of the Gods James Morris as Fiesco, a performance that leaves me slightly queasy in retrospect.
- Mary, Queen of Scots, Musgrave, opens next, and I'm excited to hear the work and the performers. Heidi Stober has already gotten raves for her assumption of the title role last year at ENO, and you may have spotted me raving about her Seattle Daphne. Thomas Kinch, third-year Adler and Heldentenor, plays the Earl of Bothwell; debuting baritone Thomas Mole is Mary's brother James Stewart. Clelia Cafiero conducts.
- Manon, Massenet. I liked this production a lot when it premiered with Ellie Dehn and Michael Fabiano, and I'm a fan of the new Manon/Chevalier pairing, Amina Edris and Pene Pati. It'll be different and I'm sure good. James Creswell, whom I admire a lot, returns as the Comte Des Grieux; Eun Sun Kim conducts.
- The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart. Sebastian Weigle, whom I've never heard, conducts a cast of singers I haven't heard in these roles before except for Catherine Cook and Maurizio Muraro. Peter Kellner is new to the company; I expect Olivia Smith, Slávka Zamečníková, and Simone McIntosh to be excellent. I didn't love the production in its first bring-up, but we'll see what revival director Shawna Lucey does with it.
- Das Rheingold, Wagner. Eun Sun Kim starts the company's revival of Francesca Zambello's production in the summer of 2027, with, so far, a complete cast turnover. We will get our first local taste of Brian Mulligan's Wotan (though you can see his Walküre Wotan on Medici TV, in concert, conducted by Yannick Nezeh-Seguin, with Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde), which I expect to be beautifully sung and thoughtful. Kim's three Wagner productions at SFO have all been tremendously conducted, from the first downbeat of Lohengrin to the closing measures of Parsifal. We were lucky to have Donald Runnicles for 17 years and we are incredibly fortunate to have Kim now.
- Tosca, Puccini. Shawna Lucey's production is back, with Clelia Cafiero back, conducting Rachel Willis-Søorensen in her role debut as the Roman diva, Riccardo Massi as Cavaradossi, and Quinn Kelsey as the evil Scarpia.
Elsewhere:
- Janos Gereben, SFCV
- Parterre Box
- Gabe Meline, KQED
- James Ambroff-Tahan, Examiner
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