2019–20 Season

The Marriage of Figaro

MUSIC BY WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Here comes the bride. And her rival. And the man trying to seduce her. And his wife.

Lust, power, and gossip threaten to throw all of Figaro’s wedding plans into disarray. How will the wily servant save the day? Find out in this irresistible, brand-new production of Mozart’s masterpiece.

San Francisco Opera New Production

Meet the Cast

Sung in Italian with English supertitles

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Pre-Opera Talks

Perfect for newcomers, opera aficionados or anyone in between, our pre-opera talks provide an engaging 25-minute overview of the opera. Free to ticketholders, 55 minutes prior to curtain in the Orchestra section. Speaker: Kip Cranna.

Open Curtain

Have you always wanted to see the inner workings of our stage? At select performances, our curtain is open during intermission and we narrate the live changeover. Dates: Saturday, October 19 and Friday, October 25.

REVIEWS

This Figaro is both delicious to hear and often — and authentically — laugh-out-loud funny.

– San Francisco Classical Voice

a splendid demonstration of how to present one of the funniest, sweetest, sexiest and most emotionally probing works in the operatic repertoire

– San Francisco Chronicle

in the hands of director Michael Cavanagh, everything in this opera… came through perfectly.

– San Francisco Chronicle

Bass-baritone Michael Sumuel, stepped handsomely into the title role, shaping his performance with plenty of theatrical gusto and vocal suavity.

– San Francisco Chronicle

As Susanna, soprano Jeanine De Bique gave a performance of charisma and wit.

– San Francisco Chronicle

Baritone Levente Molnár was a tonally robust Count and soprano Nicole Heaston brought splendor and tenderness to the Countess.

– San Francisco Opera

The evening’s most impressive debut was that of mezzo-soprano Serena Malfi as the hormonally addled and eternally randy pageboy Cherubino.

– San Francisco Chronicle

[Henrik] Nánási spurred the Opera Orchestra to acts of fleetness and rhythmic vivacity.

– San Francisco Chronicle

The antagonists were superbly embodied by Catherine Cook as Marcellina, Greg Fedderly as the oleaginous Basilio, and James Creswell as Dr. Bartolo

– San Francisco Chronicle

festive and a satisfying evening in a new staging

– OperaWire

Energetic and full of brilliant Mozartian coloration, we had a chance to appreciate once again the genius of the young composer.

– OperaWire

Constance Hoffman’s costumes…are hand-in-glove perfection.

– san Francisco Classical Voice

Synopsis

Two servants must outmaneuver the nobleman of the house before they can marry.

READ COMPLETE SYNOPSIS >

CAST AND CREATIVE

CAST

Figaro	Michael Sumuel
Susanna	Jeanine De Bique ^*
Count Almaviva	Levente Molnár ^*
Countess Almaviva	Nicole Heaston ^*
Cherubino	Serena Malfi ^*
Doctor Bartolo	James Creswell
Marcellina	Catherine Cook
Don Basilio	Greg Fedderly
Don Curzio	Brenton Ryan
Barbarina	Natalie Image
Antonio	Bojan Knežević

PERFORMANCES

Oct 11, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 27; Nov 1

CREATIVE

Conductor	Henrik Nánási
Director	Michael Cavanagh
Set Designer	Erhard Rom
Costume Designer	Constance Hoffman
Lighting Designer	Jane Cox ^*
Choreographer	Lawrence Pech
Chorus Director	Ian Robertson

* San Francisco Opera debut

San Francisco Opera new production.

Previous performances of The Marriage of Figaro can be found in our Archive.

MADE POSSIBLE BY

John A. & Cynthia Fry Gunn; the Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for New Productions; the Koret Foundation; Jan Shrem & Maria Manetti Shrem; and the Thomas Tilton Production Fund.