DAVID GOCKLEY became San Francisco Opera's sixth general director on January 1, 2006, following in the footsteps of General Directors Gaetano Merola (1923-1953), Kurt Herbert Adler (1953-1981), Terence A. McEwen (1982-1988), Lotfi Mansouri (1988-2001), and Pamela Rosenberg (2001-2005). Considered one of the major innovators in American opera, Gockley came to San Francisco from Houston Grand Opera (HGO), the organization that he led for more than three decades. Gockley transformed HGO from a small regional company into one of the leading opera companies in the United States by a bold mixture of traditional and adventurous repertoire, the application of modern technology to reach new audiences, artistic excellence, and solid financial governance. A self-described "progressive traditionalist," Gockley is passionately committed to the premise that opera is a living art form that speaks to a variety of audiences.

Gockley is recognized for being a risk-taker, for mounting dynamic theatrical productions and exploring daring artistic ideas, and for balancing new, progressive productions and traditional operatic repertoire. Under his leadership, San Francisco Opera (SFO) has already presented two world premieres and two West Coast premieres. In the fall of 2007, SFO presented Appomattox, commissioned from composer Philip Glass and librettist Christopher Hampton. In the fall of 2008, the Company unveiled composer Stewart Wallace and Bay Area novelist Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter, based on her best-selling novel of the same title. The Company also presented the West Coast premieres of Rachel Portman’s The Little Prince and Jake Heggie’s chamber opera Three Decembers. SFO began its presentation of a new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle in 2008 with Das Rheingold. The second installment of the cycle, Die Walküre, is presented in June 2010 and the full presentation of the cycle will be given in the summer of  2011. San Francisco Opera Artistic Adviser Francesca Zambello directs this new Ring cycle and Donald Runnicles conducts.

Gockley is committed to broadening and diversifying audiences for San Francisco Opera, and during his first months as general director he took opera to the center of the community with a free outdoor simulcast-the first in the Company's history-of Puccini's Madama Butterfly in May 2006. Subsequent simulcasts included Rigoletto in October 2006, reaching 15,000 people in San Francisco and Stanford University's Frost Amphitheater; Don Giovanni in June 2007, which was broadcast to 7,000 people in four theaters across Northern California; Samson and Delilah for an audience of 15,000 at AT&T Park in September 2007; Lucia di Lammermoor at AT&T Park for an crowd of 23,000; and Tosca, also at AT&T Park, for a record-breaking audience of 27,000 in June 2009. In 2007, Gockley led San Francisco Opera to take these innovations even further and created the Koret-Taube Media Suite. The first permanent high-definition broadcast-standard video production facility installed in any American opera house, the Koret-Taube Media Suite gives the Company the permanent capability to produce simulcasts and other projects including OperaVision, where retractable screens provide full stage, close-up, and mid-range ensemble shots in high-definition video for patrons in balcony seats. Gockley ushered in another first for San Francisco Opera in December 2007 when the Company announced an agreement for distribution of six operas per year to movie theaters across the globe. This agreement with The Bigger Picture, a subsidiary of Access Integrated Technologies, Inc., marked the first time that any opera company has utilized the feature film quality digital cinema format and underscores how the era of digital cinema is transforming how and where great entertainment reaches new audiences. In 2007 Gockley also launched radio partnerships with San Francisco’s Classical 102,1 KDFC and the WFMT Radio Network in Chicago, returning regular San Francisco Opera broadcasts to the national and international radio airwaves for the first time in 25 years. Under Gockley’s leadership, San Francisco Opera has announced plans for three world premieres and two Bay Area premieres in upcoming seasons by composers Christopher Theofanidis, Mark Adamo, Jennifer Higdon, Jake Heggie, and John Adams.

David Gockley joined Houston Grand Opera in 1970 as business manager, armed with both a musical background and a business degree from Columbia University. Two years later, at age 29, he became general director. Under his leadership, HGO received a Tony, two Emmy, and two Grammy awards; established the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra; and became America's leading commissioner and producer of new works. By 2006, HGO had 35 world premieres to its credit, including Thomas Pasatieri's The Seagull (1974); Carlisle Floyd's Bilby's Doll (1976) and Cold Sassy Tree (2000); Leonard Bernstein's A Quiet Place (1983); Mark Adamo's Little Women (1998) and Lysistrata (2005); John Adams's Nixon in China (1987); Sir Michael Tippet's New Year (1989); Meredith Monk's ATLAS (1991); Stewart Wallace's Harvey Milk (1995); Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas (1996) and Salsipuedes (2004); Rachel Portman's The Little Prince (2003); and Jake Heggie's The End of the Affair (2004). Among the six American premieres presented during Gockley's tenure was the 1984 premiere of Philip Glass's Akhnaten. In 1975, HGO presented the first fully-staged production of Scott Joplin's Treemonisha. The next year, HGO restored George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess to the American operatic repertory with a landmark production that went on to win Tony and Grammy awards.

Gockley initiated international and national tours, taking HGO to Broadway, Europe, Japan, and Egypt. In 1996, Porgy and Bess marked HGO's debut at Milan's La Scala and Paris's Opera Bastille. Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts, directed by Robert Wilson, was featured at the inaugural Lincoln Center Festival '96 and the 50th Edinburgh International Festival. In 1988, HGO's world premiere production of Nixon in China also traveled to Edinburgh. Through Gockley's efforts, HGO began annual radio broadcasts on National Public Radio, the European Broadcast Union, and Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A number of HGO's productions under Gockley, including Willie Stark, Treemonisha, Little Women, and the Emmy award-winning Nixon in China, have been televised on PBS/WNET's Great Performances series. HGO's numerous recordings include Treemonisha (Deutsche Grammophon), Porgy and Bess (RCA), Cold Sassy Tree (Albany), Florencia en el Amazonas (Albany), Tod Machover's Resurrection (Albany), Little Women (Ondine/Koch), Bright Sheng's Song of Majnun (Delos), ATLAS (ECM), and the Grammy award-winning Nixon in China (Nonesuch).

Gockley's pioneering new innovations at HGO included the free outdoor "Plazacasts" of mainstage opera productions; the Multimedia Modular Stage, a stage system utilizing huge projection screens to provide a sense of intimacy in large outdoor settings (similar to the stages used by rock bands, the design was the first of its kind for opera production); and OperaVision, a system of plasma and projection screens located in the upper levels of the theater to provide audiences with close-up shots and supertitles. In 1977, Gockley co-founded the Houston Grand Opera Studio to develop the talents of young singers with a potential for major careers in opera and musical theater. The program has helped to nurture the careers of Joyce DiDonato, Denyce Graves, Eric Halfvarson, Susanne Mentzer, and many others. One of the crowning achievements of Gockley's tenure was the 1987 opening of Wortham Theater Center, HGO's home. The $72 million performing arts center was built entirely with private funds.

David Gockley was born in Philadelphia in 1943 and grew up in Wayne, Pennsylvania. His father was an athletic coach and inspired his early love for sports. From his mother he inherited a passion for music. He pursued vocal studies at Boston's New England Conservatory and then studied conducting and composition at Brown University, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1965. In 1970, he received a master's degree from Columbia University Business School, which also named him the first recipient of the Dean's Award for "Distinguished Professional Achievement." Gockley's alma mater, Brown University, awarded him an honorary doctorate of fine arts in 1993 and, in 1995, recognized him with the William Rogers Award for outstanding professional achievement and extraordinary service to humanity. Gockley has served as president of OPERA America. He is the father of two daughters, Meredith and Lauren, and a son, Adam.