San Francisco Opera Opening 2024

The high society event known as the opening of the San Francisco Opera season took place Friday night and it was a kick.

For those who purchased the whole package, the marathon celebration began at 5PM across the street at a sit-down dinner in San Francisco City Hall.

Then they picked up their tresses and walked across Van Ness Avenue for an 8 PM curtain time for the opening of a production of Verdi's tragic opera, Un Ballo in Maschera.

The crowd was actually not fully seated until about 8:30 PM.

We were then presented with a video with clips of successful recent productions at the opera along with a testimonial to Cynthia and John Gunn who have given many millions of dollars to the company while serving on the Board.

It seems that one of the Gunn's favorite pieces of music is Bernstein's Overture to Candide, so the SF Opera Orchestra under Music Director Eun Sun Kim performed that first.

Then we all stood for a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, which traditionally opens the opera season just like a Giants or 49ers game, and then the delicate opening of the overture to Un Ballo in Maschera finally began.

Rather like some of the partygoers I was only attending for the festivities rather than the opera itself, which I will be seeing next Wednesday, so I bought an inexpensive standing room ticket and wished a happy opening day to backstage friends like Michael Mohammed above...

...and Andrew Korniej (above right), a longtime supernumerary with the company, and his spouse.

Since the recent retirement of Joshua Kosman, San Francisco's only full-time music critic for a daily newspaper, arts freelancers are having to step up. Pictured above is the extraordinarily competent Public Relations Director Jeffery McMillan in the Press Room with a writer from SF/ARTS Monthly

Also attending was KALW radio host David Latulippe and his companion...

...along with Steven Winn, one of the best arts writers in the country whose reviews I tend to wholeheartedly agree with more often than not.

Accompanied by her friend Terence Shek, Charlise Tiee has already published her review online (click here for The Opera Tattler).

Writing under a tight deadline, Lisa Hirsch (above left) has had her review published in the San Francisco Chronicle (click here). Posing next to her is West Edge Opera Board Member Terri Stuart.

Watching the parade go by from a solitary pillar with an amused observer's eye was the supremely talented arts writer Georgia Rowe. "There's a lot of kids here tonight," she said, and I was confused because there weren't any children. "I mean there are a lot of younger people than usual," Georgia explained, and she was right.

This was a good thing because the opera performance wasn't finished until close to midnight, and there was still an Opera Ball scheduled for City Hall afterwards. I lasted through the first two acts before heading home, and am looking forward to seeing the whole opera at an earlier hour with a less distracted audience.