Nearly five years ago, I made the difficult choice to leave behind my then 15 years of training and experience as a solo pianist, and embark on a master’s degree in Collaborative Piano. Little did I know then that the huge amount of work, responsibility, and study that degree and my subsequent apprenticeships demanded would culminate in my current profession as a coach/accompanist here at San Francisco Opera.  In searching for the skill set that would make me an ideal candidate for an Adler position here (I must confess here that coming here to SFO was a longtime dream of mine), I was lucky enough to get my hands dirty in the rehearsal rooms, orchestra libraries, coaching studios, and orchestra pits of Virginia Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Washington National Opera, doing my best to learn as much as I could experientially about every cog in this Rube Goldberg machine we call opera!

Making his San Francisco Opera debut with The Magic Flute this summer, Scottish-born Rory Macdonald has rapidly established himself as one of Britain’s most talented, dynamic young conductors. Below Rory shares the challenges and thrills of conducting one of Mozart's most beloved operas.

San Francisco Opera's Media Department works tirelessly to capture and produce the best and most stirring moments on stage. Below is a blog post from Media Coordinator and Assistant Video Director Jessica Shown-Morgan on her recent trip to see the co-production of Moby Dick at San Diego Opera. Moby Dick makes its Bay Area premiere at San Francisco Opera on October 10, 2012.

Lauré Campbell has served as San Francisco Opera’s orchestra librarian for an incredible 41 seasons. From just down the hall from the orchestra pit, Lauré’s job has been to acquire the sheet music for each production – whether from the Company’s own library or another source, mark it up to the necessary specifications, and have it ready for each member of the orchestra. Retiring this spring, we asked Lauré a few questions about what’s changed during her tenure, what hasn’t, and what she’ll miss most.

San Francisco Opera Principal Oboist Mingjia Liu knows it takes a whole lot of time and preparation for any orchestra member to prepare their music for an opera performance. What many people do not realize is that playing the oboe includes a whole other type of preparation--reed preparation. In this video, Mingjia explains the unique task he tackles every single day before he even lifts his instrument out of the case.