The good news: After making do, surprisingly well, with a high-school auditorium for the past couple of years, Merola Opera Program's staged productions are returning to Cowell Theater, freshly renovated. With a unique location at the tip of a former pier in San Francisco Bay and a comfortable 437-seat theater, Cowell is a fine venue.
But another aspect of the return to Cowell, not mentioned in the announcement, is how to deal with the approximately quarter-mile long corridor between parking and the theater entrance. Deal, that is, by the program's majority patrons/supporters of a certain age, many of them with little cartilage left even for a moderate hike. (The writer knows whereof he speaks.)
A partial solution in the past was a golf cart with a volunteer driver, going back and forth. Often inadequate, at times non-existent, the service needs attention, and perhaps even some investment.
When I asked Merola Program officers, they were forthcoming about their own concern and pledged attention to the matter. Program Chair Jayne Davis wrote:
Thank you for your concern about the Cowell gauntlet. As you understand so well, it's a real problem for both sides. I have passed on your concerns to Jean Kellogg. Hopefully we can think of some solution other than asking the elderly and/or disabled to come early. After all, what do they do with themselves during that time, when we haven't yet opened the theater?"
Kellogg, the program's executive director, wrote:
We have been fully aware of this situation, working with Fort Mason Center, and will address any possible issues so our patrons can enjoy a comfortable and rewarding experience at the Cowell Theater. All of us at the Merola Opera Program and all of the artists are delighted to be performing in a professional theater again, and we’re looking forward to welcoming our audience members to the Cowell Theater this season."
Walking or riding, this is what's on tap for this summer at Cowell from the 58-year-old program, training 29 singers and artists this year, who participate in a 12-week intensive program, June 8-August 22:
A double bill of Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, on July 23 and 25, conducted by Mark Morash and directed by Peter Kazaras
Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, on Aug. 6 and 8, conducted by Warren Jones and directed by Nic Muni.
Public performances by the Merola Program begin on July 9, with the Schwabacher Summer Concert in the S.F. Conservatory of Music, repeated at a free, outdoor performance on July 11, in Yerba Buena Gardens. The concluding event takes place in the War Memorial Opera House on Aug. 22, with the Merola Grand Finale.
The 2015 San Francisco Opera season includes 14 internationally acclaimed Merola alumni: René Barbera (2008), Catherine Cook (1990), Leah Crocetto (2008), Mark Delavan (1985), A.J. Glueckert (2012), Susan Graham (1987), Thomas Hampson (1980), Philip Horst (1999), Bryan Hymel (2001), Daveda Karanas (2007), Daniela Mack (2007), Nadine Sierra (2010), Alek Shrader (2007), Philippe Sly (2011), and conductor Patrick Summers (1986, 1987).