World Premiere Run Review: A Visually Spectacular, Musically Brilliant Production of Huang Ruo’s and David Henry Hwang’s “The Monkey King” – San Francisco Opera, November 16, 2025.

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I attended the second of eight San Francisco Opera performances in the world premiere run of Huang Ruo’s and David Henry Hwang’s opera “The Monkey King”. With this new work, San Francisco Opera continued its production of operas based on great Chinese classical literature. Nine years ago the first of these extraordinary operas, Bright Sheng’s … Read more

Review: Brandon Jovanovich Leads Outstanding Cast in Matthew Ozawa’s Attractive “Parsifal” Production

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I attended the third of five scheduled San Francisco Opera performances of Matthew Ozawa’s handsome new produciton of Wagner’s “Parsifal”, The opera was beautifully sung, the singers accompanied by the brilliant sound of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, led by the company’s Music Director, Maestra Eun Sun Kim. Brandon Jovanovich’s Parsifal [Photo: The naive, youthful … Read more

Historical Review: Gounod’s “Faust” Starring Kraus, Ghiaurov, Saunders and Wixell – San Francisco Opera, November 4 and November 12, 1967

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During San Francisco Opera’s 1967 Fall opera eason I had already seen eight of the 13 scheduled operas performed. In the first weekend of November, I had the attended the American premiere of Schuller’s “The Visitation” on Friday night. On the following Saturday night, I saw the season’s second of five performances of Gounod’s “Faust”. … Read more

Review: Jamie Barton and Ryan McKinny Excel in 25th Anniversary Revival of Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking” – San Francisco Opera, September 14, 2025

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On the 25fh anniversary of its San Francisco Opera world premiere, Jake Heggie’s opera “Dead Man Walking” was presented again. The conductor of the world premiere, Maestro Patrick Summers returned for the anniversary revival, as did mezzo-soprano Susan Graham who created the role of Sister Prejean in the first performances. In the revival, she assumed … Read more

Review: Immensely Satisfying “Rigoletto” Performance Led by Amartuvshin Enkhbat and Adela Zaharia – San Francisco Opera, September 13, 2025

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The San Francisco Opera’s music director, South Korean Maestra Eun Sun Kim, has committed to conducting one Verdi and one Wagner opera each San Francisco Opera season. This provides the company with an opportunity to give special attention to works of the two 19th century operatic geniuses. Verdi’s mid-19th century opera “Rigoletto” is the third … Read more