La Rondine - San Francisco Opera

Vincenzo Bellinis bel canto masterpiece I Capuleti e i Montecchi, inspired by the tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet, is what The New York Times calls an opera of definite dramatic appeal. Joyce DiDonato, winner of the Grammy Award and the ECHO Klassik, and Nicole Cabell as the ill-fated lovers Romeo and Giulietta headline a cast of international stars. Directed by Vincent Boussard in his U.S. debut and led by returning conductor and bel canto specialist Riccardo Frizza, this new co-production has sets created by French opera, theater and dance designer Vincent Lemaire. The production also features stunning costumes by renowned fashion designer Christian Lacroix, a frequent collaborator with Mr. Boussard and a prominent fashion icon known for both his couture house as well as his theater, ballet and opera costumes.

She didn’t know his name. She didn’t know his background. But what Luisa Miller did know was that her heart belonged to the stranger Carlo as soon as she clapped eyes on him. But the secret behind Carlo’s identity is the least of her problems in Giuseppe Verdi’s star-crossed romance Luisa Miller, a tale of class, deception and betrayal set in the Alps.

Bellini's radiant retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a beacon in the bel canto tradition. San Francisco Opera's co-production features two of the greatest voices in bel canto together for the first time: mezzo Joyce DiDonato and soprano Nicole Cabell. Their compelling duet is one of the finest marriages between two voices in many, many years. The production, directed by Vincent Broussard and featuring costumes by Christian Lecroix, is captured in brilliant HD.

Roderick Usher is the last surviving male member of his family, living as a recluse in the ancestral home with his twin sister, Madeline. She is slowly dying of a disease for which her doctor seems unable or unwilling to find a cause or a cure. Roderick begs an old friend to visit. Shortly after the friend’s arrival, Madeline is found dead and is buried in a vault beneath the house. In an attempt to calm the increasingly distracted Roderick, his friend reads to him a medieval romance. As the climax of the tale is reached, the figure of Madeline appears—she has been buried alive and has clawed her way out of the vault to find her brother. Roderick is overcome by horror and as he and Madeline both confront death, the House of Usher collapses around them

Get ready for Das Rheingold, the first chapter in Richard Wagner’s four-part epic, The Ring of the Nibelung. Travel to a world where gods, giants, and dwarves vie for control over the realms of myths and mortals.

The season kicks off with Boitos resplendent retelling of Goethes Faust, a monumental work of 'choral grandeur and melodic richness' (The New York Times) in one of the most impressive productions ever seen at the War Memorial Opera House. The cast includes Ramón Vargas, a tenor 'in ravishing voice' (Financial Times), as the philosopher who sells his soul to the Devil; the 'luminous, compelling' Patricia Racette (Washington Post) as the woman he desires; and, in the vividly menacing title role, the 'seductively malevolent' bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov, a 'fullbodied bass-baritone' renowned for his 'wonderfully evil portrayals' (The New York Times).

A young student, Ernesto, who lives with his old bachelor uncle, Don Pasquale, has refused to wed the woman of his uncle’s choosing because he is in love with a young widow, Norina. Pasquale has decided to punish Ernesto by getting married and fathering an heir, thereby cutting off his nephew without a penny. Dr. Malatesta, a friend of Pasquale as well as Ernesto and Norina, has devised a plan to both save Pasquale from his folly and help the young couple.

A brilliant comedy about a lecherous glutton who vainly attempts to seduce two women at once, Falstaff features renowned Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel in one of his legendary signature roles. Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta is Alice Ford and Italian baritone Fabio Capitanucci makes his Company debut as her husband.

Witness the fall of Troy and the rise of an even greater nation in Hector Berlioz’s monumental five-part epic The Trojans. Opera legend Susan Graham, a master of the French opera repertoire, leads the cast as the lovesick queen Dido, who welcomes the Trojan refugees to her shores—only to have her heart broken by one of their heroes.

It is love at first sight when the knight Walther von Stolzing first meets the goldsmith’s daughter, Eva. But tradition trumps love in 19th-century Nuremberg. Her father has decreed there’s only one way to win Eva’s hand in marriage, and that’s to join Nuremberg’s guild of competitive singers—and beat them all in song.