San Francisco Opera: 2026 Adler Fellows

 

War Memorial Opera House

San Francisco Opera has announced its 2026 Adler Fellows. I saw the big Merola concert in August and hoo boy, it must have been tough to decide on which singers to admit to the Adler program. Congratulations to these talented young singers.

First-year fellows:

• Sadie Cheslak, mezzo
• Brian Cho, pianist
• Alexa Frankian, soprano
• Sophia Gotch, soprano
• Gabriel Natal-Báez, baritone

Second-year fellows:

• Mary Hoskins, soprano
• Ji Youn Lee, pianist
• Olivier Zerouali, baritone

Third-year fellow:

• Thomas Kinch, tenor

SF Opera: 2025 Adler Fellows

War Memorial Opera House

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

San Francisco Opera has announced the 2025 Adler Fellows. The last few years of Adlers have been truly wonderful, a varied group of skilled young singers. 

First up, soprano Olivia Smith and bass-baritone Jongwon Han will be back as third-year Adler Fellows. 

Next, the returning second-year fellows are soprano Georgiana Adams, soprano Caroline Corrales, pianist Julian Grabarek, baritone Samuel Kidd, and tenor Thomas Kinch.

The new first-year fellows are soprano Mary Hoskins, pianist Ji Youn Lee, tenor Sam White, and baritone Olivier Zerouali. 

Soprano Arianna Rodriguez, mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz, bass-baritone James McCarthy and pianist Yang Lin have all concluded their fellowships.

I attended two of the Merola concerts and reviewed the Merola Don Giovanni production, and I don't envy anyone trying to choose which Merolini become Adler fellows. The singers in Don Giovanni were a strikingly polished group of singers, a cast that matched the strongly-cast main stage DG directed by Michael Cavanagh a few years ago. Best wishes to all of the 2024 Merolini and to the 2025 Adler Fellows.

 

San Francisco Opera 2024 Adler Fellows; Adler Concert

 

War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

San Francisco Opera announced the 2024 Adler Fellows at the beginning of October. Here's the basic information from the press release:

The artists selected as 2024 Adler Fellows are sopranos Georgiana Adams (Chicago, Illinois), Caroline Corrales (St. Louis, Missouri), Arianna Rodriguez (Fairfax, Virginia) and Olivia Smith (Penticton, British Columbia, Canada); mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz (Oakland, California); tenor Thomas Kinch (Cardiff, Wales); baritone Samuel Kidd (Ann Arbor, Michigan); bass-baritones Jongwon Han (Seoul, South Korea) and James McCarthy (Pleasantville, New York) and coaches/pianists Julian Grabarek (Acton, Massachusetts) and Yang Lin (Shanghai, China). Georgiana Adams, Caroline Corrales, Julian Grabarek, Thomas Kinch, Samuel Kidd and James McCarthy are incoming first-year fellows. Arianna Rodriguez, Olivia Smith, Nikola Printz, Jongwon Han and Yang Lin continue in the program as second-year fellows.

 

The Adler program has trained any number of young singers who went on to good careers in opera. It's always nice to be able to say "I knew them when," and the annual Alder concert is a great opportunity to hear these talented singers. Here are the details for the concert, which has a very interesting program:

THE FUTURE IS NOW: ADLERS IN CONCERT

Saturday, December 2, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Herbst Theatre, Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco

 

San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

Ramón Tebar, conductor

 

Tickets for The Future Is Now range from $34–$69.

 

PROGRAM (subject to change)

 

Overture from Norma (Vincenzo Bellini)

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

 

"Va, crudele … Vieni in Roma!" from Norma (Vincenzo Bellini)

Gabrielle Beteag, Adalgisa • Moisés Salazar, Pollione

 

"Che più t'arresti … Tacea la notte ... Di tale amor" from Il Trovatore (Giuseppe Verdi)

Nikola Printz, Inez • Mikayla Sager, Leonora

 

"Amor ti vieta" from Fedora (Umberto Giordano)

Edward Graves, Count Loris

 

"Ch'il bel sogno di Doretta" from La Rondine (Giacomo Puccini)

Olivia Smith, Magda

 

"Riez, allez" from Don Quichotte (Jules Massenet)

Jongwon Han, Sancho

 

"Sull'aria" from Le Nozze di Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

Olivia Smith, Countess Almaviva • Arianna Rodriguez, Susanna

 

"I was a woman" from prisoner of the state (David Lang)

Nikola Printz, the Assistant

 

"Sometimes th’ pain of missin' him" from Cold Sassy Tree (Carlisle Floyd)

Victor Cardamone, Will Tweedy

 

"Un dì, se ben rammentomi" from Rigoletto (Giuseppe Verdi)

Edward Graves, the Duke of Mantua • Nikola Printz, Maddalena • Arianna Rodriguez, Gilda • Jongwon Han, Rigoletto

 

"Scostatevi ... il Re giunge … Fin dall'età più tenera ... Salirà d'Inghilterra" from Anna Bolena (Gaetano Donizetti)

Jongwon Han, Enrico • Mikayla Sager, Anna Bolena • Victor Cardamone, Percy • Edward Graves, Hervey

 

"Giunse alfin il momento … Deh, vieni non tardar" from Le Nozze di Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

Arianna Rodriguez, Susanna

 

"Let me look around once more … To leave, to break" from Vanessa (Samuel Barber)

Olivia Smith, Vanessa • Edward Graves, Anatol • Nikola Printz, Erika • Gabriella Beteag, Old Baroness • Jongwon Han, Old Doctor

 

"Nessun dorma" from Turandot (Giacomo Puccini)

Moisés Salazar, Calaf

 

"Les Troyens … Je vais mourir … Adieu, fière cite" from Les Troyens (Hector Berlioz)

Gabrielle Beteag, Didon • Nikola Printz, Anna • Jongwon Han, Narbal • Victor Cardamone, Iopas

 

"Già che il caso ci unisce … Beva al tuo fresco sorriso" from La Rondine (Giacomo Puccini)

Edward Graves, Ruggero • Olivia Smith, Magda • Arianna Rodriguez, Lisette • Victor Cardamone, Prunier • The Adler Fellows, chorus

 

The Future is Now

Close of the Adler Fellows concert

Kristen Loken/San Francisco Opera

December 2, 2022

I made it to the annual Adler Fellow songfest the other night, after having missed the 2019 iteration. (I cannot even remember whether there was a 2021 concert. There definitely wasn't one in 2020.) As always, there was a lot of great singing from the Fellows.

The big news is the truly spectacular performances from sopranos Esther Tonea and Mikayla Sager, separately and together. They each had their own showcase: Tonea sang Liù in the stretch of Turandot that runs from "Tanto amore segreto" through to the end of "Tu che di gel sei cinta". Tonea, who won the Met Opera competition in May,  has a rich voice of great breadth - hear her is like having a wall of sound coming at you and surrounding you. She has a marvelously smooth legato and a great high register; she can float her sound gloriously and always maintains a beautiful line. It's a very big voice, and it'll be interesting to see what roles she takes in the future.

Mikayla Sager and Esther Tonea at "The Future Is Now: Adlers in Concert."

Photo: Kristen Loken/San Francisco Opera

Duet from Bianca e Fernando

Sager was equally impressive with a voice of a very different style: dark, focussed, vibrant, and, like Tonea, with wonderful control and a great line. She sang Desdemona's scene from Act IV of Verdi's Otello, and it was as good as I've heard. The high soft phrases were glorious, as were Desdemona's outbursts - and everything in between.

Together, they sang a duet from Bellini's Bianca e Fernando, and it was lovely, but I thought that the lion's share of the music went to Tonea, because Sager's character is an attendant, and ya know, they get interjections and sometimes more. I would have given them one of the Norma duets! Yes, Adalgisa is a soprano role! At intermission, chatting with a friend, neither of us could recall have heard Sager before, but it turned out that we had: as an attendant to Nicole Car, for probably three measures, in last June's Verdi concert. Well, I bet we'll be hearing a lot more from her.

We also heard great work from sopranos Anne-Marie MacIntosh and Elisa Sunshine. MacIntosh opened the concert with a flashy aria from Handel's Scipione, and did it proud, with great runs and terrific trills.  She returned with a few of Turandot's lines in Esther Tonea's big scene, then as Antonia, again really beautifully, in a chunk of Les Contes d'Hoffmann. (Fashion report: my favorite dress of the evening was MacIntosh's off-the-shoulder, very sculptural, red number in the first half of the program. Sorry, no photo!)

Stefan Egerstrom and Anne-Marie MacIntosh with Eun Sun Kim and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra at "The Future Is Now: Adlers in Concert."

Photo: Kristen Loken/San Francisco Opera

Sunshine, along with mezzo Gabrielle Beteag and bass Stefan Egerstrom, performed the singing lesson scene from La Fille du Regiment, and they were, individually and as a group, hilarious. Sunshine got to have a lot of fun, taking off her shoes at one point (and I think subsequently hitting someone with a shoe), interpolating recognizable bits of arias into the singing lesson, and generally have a great time. Again, I ask: why not more comic opera?! Especially when you've got a singer as vocally and dramatically gifted as Sunshine around.

Stefan Egerstrom and Elisa Sunshine in "The Future Is Now: Adlers in Concert."

Photo: Kristen Loken/San Francisco Opera

Sunshine got to show off her other side as well, with a fine rendition of the "Lied der Lulu" from the eponymous opera. 

I think that Beteag got the short end of the stick among the women on this program: her big moment was from Menotti's The Medium. She was fine, but...there's better music, she's a fine singer (and was very funny as the Marquise in the trio with Sunshine and Egerstrom), and I'd like to hear her in better music.

Among the men, Egerstrom gave a tremendous performance in Hunding's solo "Ich weiss ein wildes Geschlecht" from Die Walküre. He has a gorgeous dark bass, and, well, second-guessing everyone, I'd've given him Wotan's farewell if it's not too high for him. I like bass Wotans.

Timothy Murray sang Billy Budd's long scene from that opera, where Billy has been sentenced to death and is musing about about various things. He was good, but better diction would have been nice. Props to Stephanie McNab for some great piccolo playing in the scene.

Tenors Victor Cardamone and Edward Graves were very good in the duet "Ah! vieni, nel tuo sangue!" from Rossini's Otello (which bears little resemblance to Shakespeare's play!), a vocal battle between rivals for Desdemona's hand. (See what I mean?) They are both high tenors with flicker vibratos and good facility in fioriture. Unusually, this made me want to see the work in full, and I am not much of a Rossini fan.

Eun Sun Kim conducted; everything sounded great though I would have liked more schmaltz and rubato in the opening overture to Die Fledermaus.

Concerts at SF Opera, December 2 and 4

Postcard with hand-colored photo of 

War Memorial Opera House and Veterans Building, SF

Collection of Lisa Hirsch

Here are the programs for the Adler Fellows' concert ("The Future is Now") on Friday, December 2, and the SF Opera Chorus concert on Sunday, December 4.

THE FUTURE IS NOW: 2022 ADLER FELLOWS CONCERT

Friday, December 2, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.

Herbst Theatre, Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco

 

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

Eun Sun Kim, conductor

 

PROGRAM (subject to change)

 

Overture from Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II)

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

 

“Scoglio d’immota fronte” from Scipione (George Frideric Handel)

Anne-Marie MacIntosh, Berenice

 

“Se all’impero” from La Clemenza di Tito (W.A. Mozart)

Edward Graves, Tito

 

“Le jour naissait dans le bocage” from La Fille du Régiment (Gaetano Donizetti)

Elisa Sunshine, Marie • Gabrielle Beteag, Marquise • Stefan Egerstrom, Sulpice 

 

“O blonde Cérès” from Les Troyens (Hector Berlioz)

Victor Cardamone, Iopas

 

“Look! Through the port ... Farewell to ye, old Rights o’ Man” from Billy Budd (Benjamin Britten)

Timothy Murray, Billy Budd • Stefan Egerstrom, Dansker

 

“Afraid, am I afraid?” from The Medium (Gian Carlo Menotti)

Gabrielle Beteag, Madame Flora

 

“Tanto amore segreto ... tu che di gel” from Turandot (Giacomo Puccini)

Esther Tonea, Liù • Anne-Marie MacIntosh, Turandot • Timothy Murray, Ping • Edward Graves, Calaf

 

“Era più calmo ... mia madre aveva una povera ancella ... Ave Maria” from Otello (Giuseppe Verdi)

Mikayla Sager, Desdemona • Gabrielle Beteag, Emilia

 

“Ich weiss ein wildes Geschlecht” from Die Walküre (Richard Wagner)

Stefan Egerstrom, Hunding

 

“Lied der Lulu” from Lulu (Alban Berg)

Elisa Sunshine, Lulu

 

“Sorgi, o padre” from Bianca e Fernando (Vincenzo Bellini)

Esther Tonea, Bianca • Mikayla Sager, Eloisa

 

“Ah, vieni! Nel tuo sangue” from Otello (Gioachino Rossini)

Victor Cardamone, Rodrigo • Edward Graves, Otello

 

“Tu ne chanteras plus ... chère enfant que j'appelle” from Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Jacques Offenbach)

Anne-Marie MacIntosh, Antonia • Gabrielle Beteag, Mother’s Voice •  Stefan Egerstrom, Dr. Miracle

 

 

 

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA CHORUS IN CONCERT

Sunday, December 4, 2022, at 2 p.m.

Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater

Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera

Veterans Building, 4th Floor, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco

 

General Admission: $42

 

San Francisco Opera Chorus

Chorus Director John Keene, conductor

Assistant Chorus Master Fabrizio Corona, piano

 

“From harmony, from heavenly harmony” from Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day (George Frideric Handel)

“The many rend the skies with loud applause” from Alexander’s Feast (George Frideric Handel)

 

Choeur des Bergers from L’Enfance du Christ (Hector Berlioz)

 

Selections from Guillaume Tell, Act I (Gioachino Rossini)

            “Quel jour serein le ciel présage”

            “Pasteurs, que vos accents s’unissent”

            “Près des torrents qui grondent”

Soloists: Silvie Jensen, Hedwige • Fernando Ruiz, Arnold • Andrew Thomas Pardini, Guillaume Tell • Wilford Kelly, Melcthal • Jesslyn Thomas, Jemmy • Patrick Hagen, Le Pêcheur

 

“Gli aranci olezzano sui verdi margini” from Cavalleria Rusticana (Pietro Mascagni)

Chorus of the Bells from Pagliacci (Ruggero Leoncavallo)

 

Selections from Quilt Songs: Women Weaving the Fabric of Life

            “Sun Quilt” (Gabriela Lena Frank)

            “Nearly Insane” (Ysaÿe Barnwell)

            “Most Holy Night” (Carol Barnett)

Soloist: Jonathan Smucker

 

Selections from Zigeunerlieder, Op. 103 (Johannes Brahms)

1.                He, Zigeuner, greife in die Saiten ein

Soloist: Michael Jankosky

2.         Hochgetürmte Rimaflut

3.         Wißt ihr, wann mein Kindchen

Soloists: Patrick Hagen, Laurel Cameron Porter

4.         Lieber Gott, du weisst

Soloists: Clare Demer, Whitney Steele, Patrick Hagen, William O’Neill

5.         Brauner Bursche führt zum Tanze

6.         Röslein dreie in der Reihe

Soloists: Sara Colburn, Sally Mouzon, Jonathan Smucker, William O’Neill

7.         Kommt dir manchmal in den Sinn

Soloists: Jesslyn Thomas, Elizabeth Baker, Michael Jankosky, William O’Neill

8.         Rote Abendwolken ziehn

 

“Dirait-on” (Morten Lauridsen; text by Rainer Maria Rilke)

 

“The Rose” (Ola Gjeilo; text by Christina Rossetti)

 

“Sure on this shining night” (Morten Lauridsen; text by James Agee)

San Francisco Opera 2020 Adler Fellows

Here's the months-old San Francisco Opera press release about the incoming Adler Fellows. I will miss some of the outgoing fellows! Ashley Dixon, Natalie Image, Christian Purcell, and Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen have really stood out, and I'm wishing the entire group great careers.

A big welcome to the 2020 Adler fellows:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (October 31, 2019) — San Francisco Opera Center Director Sheri Greenawald today announced the 12 recipients of the 2020 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship. Selected from participants of the Merola Opera Program, the ten singers and two pianists/apprentice coaches begin their fellowships in January 2020. The performance-oriented residency offers advanced young artists intensive individual training, coaching and professional seminars, as well as a wide range of performance opportunities. Since its inception in 1975, the prestigious fellowship has nurtured the development of more than 180 young artists, introducing many budding stars to the international opera stage and launching active careers throughout the world as performers, production artists, arts professionals and educators.

The singers selected as 2020 Adler Fellows are sopranos Anne-Marie MacIntosh (Langley, British Columbia, Canada), Elisa Sunshine (San Clemente, California) and Esther Tonea (Buford, Georgia); mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh (Vancouver, Canada); tenors Zhengyi Bai (Linyi, China), Christopher Colmenero (Burlington, Vermont), Christopher Oglesby (Woodstock, Georgia) and Victor Starsky (Queens, New York); baritone Timothy Murray (Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin); and bass Stefan Egerstrom (Brooklyn Center, Minnesota). Anne-Marie MacIntosh, Elisa Sunshine, Esther Tonea, Victor Starsky, Timothy Murray and Stefan Egerstrom are incoming first-year fellows. 2019 Adlers Simone McIntosh, Zhengyi Bai, Christopher Colmenero and Christopher Oglesby continue in the program as second-year fellows.

The pianists selected for Apprentice Coach Fellowships are first-year fellow Andrew King (Syracuse, New York) and returning second-year Adler Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad (Kyiv, Ukraine). The Adler Fellow apprentice coaches work closely with Mark Morash, Director of Musical Studies of the Opera Center, and John Churchwell, Head of Music Staff at San Francisco Opera. The coaches participate in the musical activities of both San Francisco Opera and the Opera Center and are involved in all aspects of the Adler Fellows’ training by acting as pianists for master classes, working with master coaches and preparing the Adler Fellows for concerts and mainstage roles.

Adler Fellows Concert, December 6, 2019

2019 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows (Photo: Cheshire Isaacs/San Francisco Opera)

The annual year-end Adler Fellows concert is coming up in about two weeks, and as always it's varied and interesting. Eun Sun Kim conducts; she was fabulous in June's Rusalka, so it's likely to be very well conducted.

Here's the program; the missing detail is that tickets will cost $30-65. This concert does tend to sell out, so buy soon.

(I will admit it: I am faintly dubious at a countertenor in Berlioz, as wonderful as Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen is. I once heard a countertenor in the Brahms Four Serious Songs, and that did not work at all.)

THE FUTURE IS NOW: ADLER FELLOWS CONCERT

Friday, December 6, 2019 at 7:30 P.M.

Herbst Theatre, Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco

Featuring the 2019 Adler Fellows:

Mary Evelyn Hangley and Natalie Image, sopranos

Ashley Dixon and Simone McIntosh, mezzo-sopranos

Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor

SeokJong Baek, Zhengyi Bai, Christopher Colmenero and Christopher Oglesby, tenors

Christian Pursell, bass-baritone

Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad, pianist/apprentice coach

César Cañón, pianist/apprentice coach

Eun Sun Kim, conductor

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad, César Cañón, Alessandra Cattani, John Churchwell, Peter Grunberg, Robert Mollicone, Patricia Kristof Moy, and Tamara Sanikidze, musical preparation

####

THE FUTURE IS NOW: ADLER FELLOWS CONCERT PROGRAM

Program subject to change.

Overture from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide San Francisco Opera Orchestra
“Mes amis, écoutez l’histoire” from Adolphe Adam’s Le Postillon de Lonjumeau Zhengyi Bai as Chappelou
“Al mio piè, perchè?... Di qual amor, di quant’ardor” from Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlo Mary Evelyn Hangley as Elisabetta Christopher Colmenero as Don Carlo
“Quando avran fine omai… Padre, germani, addio” from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Idomeneo Natalie Image as Ilia Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad, harpsichord
“Dopo notte” from George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante Ashley Dixon as Ariodante Kseniia Polstiankina Barrad, harpsichord
“Recondita armonia” from Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca SeokJong Baek as Cavaradossi
“Son stanco, ingiusti numi… Deggio morire, o stelle” from George Frideric Handel’s Siroe Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen as Siroe César Cañón, harpsichord
Vaudémont’s Romance from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta Christopher Oglesby as Vaudémont
“Qual furor ti trasporta?… Quest’improvviso tremito” from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Lucio Silla Simone McIntosh as Cecilio Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen as Lucio Cinna César Cañón, harpsichord
“Aleko’s Cavatina” from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Aleko Christian Pursell as Aleko
Tatiana’s Letter Scene from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin Mary Evelyn Hangley as Tatiana
“Une dame de haut parage” from Gioachino Rossini’s Le Comte Ory Simone McIntosh as Isolier Zhengyi Bai as Count Ory
“Toi qui m’es apparue” from Jules Massenet’s Cendrillon Ashley Dixon as Cendrillon Christopher Oglesby as Prince Charming
“È la solita storia del pastore” from Francesco Cilea’s L’Arlesiana SeokJong Baek as Federico
“Le spectre de la rose” from Hector Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Été Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen
“Ah, tout est bien fini… O souverain, o juge, o père” from Jules Massenet’s Le Cid Christopher Colmenero as Rodrigue
“Je comprends que la belle aime la militaire… Enfant chéri des dames des grisettes” from Ambroise Thomas’s Le Caïd Christian Pursell as Michel
“Par le rang… Salut à la France” from Gaetano Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment Natalie Image as Marie Adler Fellows as soldiers