San Francisco Opera dives into spring with live performances
San Francisco Opera is returning to live performances.
With events in the War Memorial Opera House still off the schedule for the foreseeable future, the company under general director Matthew Shilvock has announced an innovative spring season featuring the company’s first in-person events since the start of the global pandemic.
Highlights include drivethrough performances of “The Barber of Seville” and a live concert by company Adler fellows. An art-song series, podcasts and streamed performances of Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” complete the calendar.
The live events begin with “Barber” performed April 23-May 15 at the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael. Rossini’s beloved comic opera will be presented in 90-minute, intermission-less “drive-in style” performances, with singers performing live and the audience in cars.
The cast features baritone Lucas Meachem in the title role and mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack as
Rosina. Tickets are $250 per car for live viewing, $50 per car to view a live simulcast in a separate lot, and $25 for digital streams.
A second live, drive-through event, “The Adlers: Live at the Drive-In,” will present artists from the company’s prestigious Adler Fellowship program appearing with live accompaniment. There are three performances: 8 p.m. April 29, May 6 and 13. Tickets are $150 per car; $50 live simulcast, $15 digital streams.
Shilvock, announcing the lineup, said the company worked in partnership with UC San Francisco and other health experts to develop safe in-person performances.
“There is an incredible reawakening of the arts ahead of us,” he said. “As the pandemic recedes, we need that visceral energy of live performance — artists and audiences connected in magical moments of emotive expression — more than ever. At San Francisco Opera we are committed to getting back to it safely this spring.”
The spring season begins March 6 with a complete cycle of Wagner’s monumental “Ring,” its four operas captured digitally during the company’s acclaimed 2018 Ring Festival and presented in free virtual programs through March 31.
Ancillary events include a full slate of “Ring” lectures, interviews and special events, including a conversation with New Yorker critic Alex Ross and awardwinning playwright Tony Kushner on “Wagnerism,” priced at $15 and broadcast at 5:30 p.m. March 9.
Additional free events include a new video series, “In Song,” introducing portraits of artists performing and discussing the artsong repertoire. Singers scheduled to appear include mezzo-sopranos J’Nai Bridges and Jamie Barton, tenor Pene Pati and soprano Amina Edris. Also on the schedule: “North Stage Door,” a new podcast exploring opera stagecraft; and “Atrium Sessions,” a series of short-form video performances by contemporary artists recorded at the Atrium Theatre.
Tickets and more information is available at 415-864-3330 or www.sfopera.com.