As the first part of San Francisco Opera’s 101st season is coming to an end, a handful of musicians are making the transition from the last production of the year to the December special events.
From L’elisir d’amore, whose final performance on Dec. 9 is the end of the fall season in the War Memorial Opera House, conductor Ramón Tebar, soprano Arianna Rodriguez (Giannetta), and pianist Marika Yasuda (from the music staff) are heading over to the Dec. 2 Adler Fellows concert, “The Future Is Now,” in Herbst Theatre.
The other special event is the Dec. 8 SF Opera Chorus concert in the Taube Atrium Theater. Chorus Director John Keene conducts, and Associate Chorus Master Fabrizio Corona accompanies the program.
The evening features music by Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Lili Boulanger, and Florence Price along with works by Mozart, Gabriel Fauré, and Stephen Paulus.
Participating Adler Fellows in the Dec. 2 concert are sopranos Arianna Rodriguez, Mikayla Sager, and Olivia Smith; mezzo-sopranos Gabrielle Beteag and Nikola Printz; tenors Victor Cardamone, Edward Graves, and Moisés Salazar; bass-baritone Jongwon Han; and pianists Yang Lin and Marika Yasuda. They are accompanied by the SF Opera Orchestra under Tebar’s baton.
On the program: scenes and arias from operas by Vincenzo Bellini, Puccini, and Mozart, along with 20th- and 21st-century works by Samuel Barber, Carlisle Floyd, and David Lang.
Between the opening overture from Norma and closing chorus from La rondine, program items include, among others, “Che più t’arresti … Tacea la notte” from Il trovatore, “Amor ti vieta” from Fedora, “Ch’il bel sogno di Doretta” from La rondine, “Riez, allez” from Don Quichotte, “I was a woman” from prisoner of the state, and “Sometimes th’ pain of missin’ him” from Cold Sassy Tree.
The Adlers concluding their fellowships with this concert are second-year fellows Beteag, Cardamone, Graves, Sager, and Yasuda and first-year fellow Salazar.
Continuing in the program in 2024 as second-year Adlers are Han, Lin, Printz, Rodriguez, and Smith.
Tickets for “The Future Is Now” range from $34 to $69; for the SF Opera Chorus in concert, they are $42. Both are available at the SFO box office at 301 Van Ness Ave. or by calling 415-864-3330.
