Subscriptions and single tickets available for San Francisco Opera's 2024–25 Season
102nd Season opening weekend features Music Director Eun Sun Kim on the podium September 6 for Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera and Opera Ball, free Opera in the Park concert on September 8
Season features the West Coast premiere of Poul Ruders and Paul Bentley’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Eun Sun Kim conducting Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and a 200th-anniversary performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
Mainstage repertory showcases international casts in new-to-San Francisco stagings of Un Ballo in Maschera, The Handmaid’s Tale, Tristan und Isolde and Mozart’s Idomeneo with revivals of Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini’s La Bohème
Additional events include Carmen Encounter and a Pride Concert
Dolby Family discounted ticket program back by popular demand
Subscriptions and single tickets available at sfopera.com and (415) 864-3330; Livestream tickets go on sale July 31
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (July 24, 2024) — San Francisco Opera’s 102nd season opens September 6 with Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim leading a weekend of festivities. Opera Ball, co-presented by San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Opera Guild, ushers in the 2024–25 Season with celebrations at City Hall and the War Memorial Opera House along with the opening of a new-to-San Francisco Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi’s UN BALLO IN MASCHERA. On Sunday, September 8 Kim will lead the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and stars of the new season in the annual, free Opera in the Park concert at Robin Williams Meadow in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
Highlights of the Fall Season include Leo Muscato’s production of UN BALLO IN MASCHERA (September 6–27) conducted by Eun Sun Kim. American tenor Michael Fabiano, Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian, the fast-rising Mongolian baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat in his Company debut, Chinese soprano Mei Gui Zhang and Romanian mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi star in Verdi’s fast-paced work. Next comes the West Coast premiere of THE HANDMAID’S TALE (September 14–October 1), composer Poul Ruders and librettist Paul Bentley’s acclaimed operatic adaptation of the best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood. Mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts heads an assemblage of riveting stage artists in this vision of a dystopic American future where women are held in child-bearing servitude. Karen Kamensek conducts the new co-production by San Francisco Opera and The Royal Danish Theatre directed by John Fulljames.
Wagner’s path-breaking masterpiece TRISTAN UND ISOLDE (October 19–November 5) returns to the War Memorial Opera House stage for the first time in nearly two decades with Eun Sun Kim at the helm. Simon O’Neill and Anja Kampe are featured in the title roles in director Paul Curran’s production from Venice’s Teatro La Fenice. Along with her leadership of towering operas by Verdi and Wagner, Kim will lead the amassed forces of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus and four vocal soloists in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (October 26) in a special, one-night-only performance honoring the work’s 200th anniversary.
The Fall Season concludes with Francesca Zambello’s production of CARMEN (November 13–December 1) featuring mezzo-soprano Eve-Maud Hubeaux as Carmen and soprano Louise Alder as Micaëla, both in their American debuts, tenor Jonathan Tetelman performing Don José for the first time and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Escamillo. Benjamin Manis joins the Company to conduct this spectacular revival. The Company’s popular Encounter series returns on November 21 with CARMEN ENCOUNTER where attendees take in the first portion of Bizet’s opera followed by an immersion in the world of Carmen within a transformed Opera House.
The 2025 Summer Season opens with Puccini’s LA BOHÈME (June 3–21) in John Caird’s production with two brilliant casts including Pene Pati and Evan LeRoy Johnson as Rodolfo and Karen Chia-ling Ho and Nicole Car as Mimì with maestro Ramón Tebar on the podium. Mozart’s early masterpiece IDOMENEO (June 14–25) takes the stage in director Lindy Hume’s new-to-San Francisco Opera production inspired by the turbulent seas off the Tasmanian coast. Music Director Eun Sun Kim leads a sterling Mozartian cast of Matthew Polenzani as Idomeneo, Daniela Mack as his son, Idamante, Elza van den Heever as Elettra and Ying Fang in her Company debut as the Trojan princess, Ilia. On June 27, San Francisco Opera presents a special Pride Concert celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community with an evening of music, immersive projections and more.
OPENING WEEKEND (September 6–8)
The Company’s new season opens Friday, September 6 with Opera Ball, the annual benefit co-presented by San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Opera Guild. The celebratory evening of music, community and philanthropy begins with a cocktail reception and sumptuous dinner at City Hall. Guests then proceed to the Opera House where the curtain rises on the new season with Music Director Eun Sun Kim leading Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera. Dancing and late-night bites await back at City Hall after the opera.
Opera Ball is made possible, in part, by Opening Weekend Grand Sponsor Diane B. Wilsey and is co-chaired by Romana D. Bracco and Valerie Crane Dorfman. Proceeds benefit a wide range of artistic initiatives at San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Opera Guild’s education programs which reach thousands of students in K-12 classrooms and afterschool programs. For more information, visit sfopera.com/operaball.
BRAVO! CLUB, the community of young professionals and opera lovers, will kick off the new season on September 6 with a special Cocktail Celebration. Visit sfopera.com/bravo for more information.
Opening weekend concludes with the San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park on Sunday, September 8. The free annual concert showcases Eun Sun Kim, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and stars of the Company’s fall season at Robin Williams Meadow in Golden Gate Park.
DISCOUNTED TICKETS
Since 2022, the Dolby Family’s Opera for the Bay discounted tickets program has welcomed more than 15,000 new and returning San Francisco Opera audience members into the Opera House at a ticket price of $10. Due to the overwhelming success of the program, Opera for the Bay tickets will continue to be offered for each San Francisco Opera mainstage performance during the 2024–25 Season. Those with a home address zip code between 94000-95999 who have not purchased tickets in the past three years are eligible to purchase two Opera for the Bay tickets which go on sale at noon roughly one month prior to the opening of each production. Inventory is limited and sell out quickly. On-sale dates for Dolby Family’s Opera for the Bay tickets for the 2024–25 Season are:
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA and THE HANDMAID’S TALE August 6
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE and BEETHOVEN 9 August 27
CARMEN October 8
CARMEN ENCOUNTER October 15
LA BOHÈME April 22
IDOMENEO and PRIDE CONCERT April 29
LIVESTREAMS
The third performance of each mainstage opera during the 2024-25 Season will be livestreamed. Tickets for the opera streams include a 48-hour on-demand viewing window. Tickets will be available beginning July 31 for $27.50. All times below are Pacific Time (PT). For more information visit sfopera.com/digital/livestream.
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA Sunday, September 15 at 2 PM
THE HANDMAID’S TALE Friday, September 20 at 7:30 PM
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE Sunday, October 27 at 1 PM
CARMEN Tuesday, November 19 at 7:30 PM
LA BOHÈME Tuesday, June 10 at 7:30 PM
IDOMENEO Friday, June 20 at 7:30 PM
*For the complete press release, including cast and calendar, open the PDF version above.