San Francisco Opera 2018 -- 2019

Today next season's schedule for the San Francisco Opera has appeared.  It has shrunk to 8 operas.  This say new productions, but most of them come from other companies.  We are now working without a music director, so you should regard most of this conductors as auditioning.

We start with the fall series.

Cavalleria Rusticana / Pagliacci

Music by Pietro Mascagni / Ruggero Leoncavallo
September 7–30, 2018
Conductor:  Daniele Callegari*
An Opéra Royal de Wallonie (Liège) production by Jose Cura

Cast for Cavalleria:
Turiddu: Roberto Aronica
Santuzza Ekaterina Semenchuk
Alfio Dimitri Platanias *
Lola Laura Krumm
Mamma Lucia Jill Grove

Cast for Pagliacci:
Canio Marco Berti
Nedda Lianna Haroutounian
Tonio Dimitri Platanias *

Roberto Devereux

Music by Gaetano Donizetti
September 8–27, 2018
Conductor:  Riccardo Frizza
A Canadian Opera Company production directed by:  Stephen Lawless

This features the excellent cast:
Elisabetta (Elizabeth I) Sondra Radvanovsky
Roberto Devereux Russell Thomas
Sara Jamie Barton

Tosca

Music by Giacomo Puccini
October 3–30, 2018
Conductor:  Leo Hussain*
A San Francisco Opera production premiere directed by:  Shawna Lucey

with:
Floria Tosca: Carmen Giannattasio
Mario Cavaradossi: Brian Jagde
Baron Scarpia: Scott Hendricks

Arabella

Music by Richard Strauss
October 16–November 3, 2018
Conductor:  Marc Albrecht*
A co-production of the Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera and Canadian Opera Company:  Tim Albery*

Arabella Ellie Dehn
Zdenka Heidi Stober
Matteo Daniel Johansson *
Mandryka Brian Mulligan

It's a Wonderful Life

Music by Jake Heggie
November 17–December 9, 2018
Conductor:  Patrick Summers
West Coast Premiere:  Leonard Foglia

George Bailey: William Burden
Clara: Golda Schultz *1
Clara Kearstin Piper Brown *2

There are three operas for the summer series.

Carmen

Music by George Bizet
June 5–29, 2019
Conductor:  James Gaffigan
Francesca Zambello production from Opera Australia.

This features the excellent cast:
Carmen J'Nai Bridges
Don José Matthew Polenzani welcome back Matthew.
Micaëla Anita Hartig *

Orlando

Music by George Frideric Handel
June 9–27, 2019
Conductor:  Christopher Moulds*
A production of Scottish Opera directed by:  Harry Fehr*

Orlando Sasha Cooke
Angelica Heidi Stober
Dorinda Christina Gansch *
Medoro Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen
Zoroastro Christian Van Horn

Rusalka

Music by Antonín Dvořák
June 16–28, 2019
Conductor:  Eun Sun Kim*  (A woman conductor from South Korea)
A production of Lyric Opera of Chicago:  David McVicar

Rusalka Rachel Willis‐Sørensen
The Prince Brandon Jovanovich
Vodník (Water Gnome) Kristinn Sigmundsson
Ježibaba Jamie Barton  (worth the ticket just for this)

Only one of these is actually a new production so I changed the information.  They're just new to us.