Philip Skinner is an American bass-baritone who has sung leading roles in both North American and European opera houses. A veteran performer at San Francisco Opera, he made his debut there in 1985 and has gone on to sing over 35 roles with the company. In 2007, Skinner created the role of Edgar Ray Killen when San Francisco Opera staged the world premiere of the Philip Glass opera, Appomattox , [1] and in 2015 he created the role of Casaubon in Allen Shearer's Middlemarch in Spring. [2] He is a graduate of Northwestern University and received his master's degree from Indiana University, where he sang in the American premiere of Janáček's The Excursions of Mr. Brouček to the Moon . [3] [4]
The San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California.
Robert Woodruff is an American theater director.
Lotfollah "Lotfi" Mansouri was an Iranian-born opera director and manager. His directing career began in around 1960. He is best known for being the General Director of the Canadian Opera Company and of the San Francisco Opera, which he ran from 1988 through 2001. In 1992 he became a Chevalier of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His autobiography was published in 2010.
Appomattox is an opera in English based on the surrender ending the American Civil War, composed by Philip Glass, with a libretto by the playwright Christopher Hampton. The work had its world premiere at the San Francisco Opera on October 5, 2007, with a cast that included Dwayne Croft as Robert E. Lee and Andrew Shore as Ulysses S. Grant. The revised version commissioned and premiered by the Washington National Opera on November 14, 2015, expanded the work from 90 minutes to 160 minutes and added roles for Martin Luther King Jr. and Lyndon Johnson.
Jack Curtis Dubowsky is an American composer and author who has composed music for film, chorus, and concert performance. His music has been performed by the San Francisco Choral Artists, the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco, Elevate Ensemble, and others.
Nathaniel Stookey is an American composer and musician.
David Gockley is an American opera company administrator. He served as general director of Houston Grand Opera from 1972 to 2005 and San Francisco Opera from 2006 to 2016. He is a student of Margaret Harshaw.
Moby-Dick is an American opera in two acts, with music by Jake Heggie and libretto by Gene Scheer, adapted from Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick. The opera received its premiere at Dallas Opera in Dallas, Texas, on 30 April 2010. Heggie dedicated the opera to Stephen Sondheim.
Andrew Shore, is an English operatic baritone.
The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) is a youth orchestra organized by the San Francisco Symphony. The SFSYO performs an annual concert series and has made several recordings. The orchestra rehearses in Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall and has been directed by Radu Paponiu since the 2024-2025 season.
Z Space is a regional theater and performing arts company located in the Mission District of San Francisco, California. Z Space is one of the leading laboratories for developing new voices, new works, and new opportunities in the American theater. In addition to commissioning and producing its own works, Z Space also presents productions created by other organizations.
William Burden is an American opera singer (tenor). Since his professional debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1992, he has performed in lead roles in North America and Europe.
Allen Raymond Shearer is an American composer and baritone.
Zheng Cao was a Chinese-born, American operatic mezzo-soprano known for her signature role of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She performed this role with opera companies such as San Francisco Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Pittsburgh Opera, Vancouver Opera, Washington National Opera and San Diego Opera, and under the baton of Seiji Ozawa with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Her portrayal of the role of Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro also earned her recognition at several American opera companies, including San Francisco Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. She died from lung cancer in San Francisco, California in 2013.
Harvey Milk is an American opera with music by Stewart Wallace and libretto by Michael Korie, based on the life and death of the American gay activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was assassinated along with San Francisco mayor George Moscone on 27 November 1978. The opera was originally in 3 acts, and was a joint commission by Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera, and San Francisco Opera, and received its premiere on 21 January 1995 by Houston Grand Opera. A revised version in 2 acts received its premiere on 11 June 2022 by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Claudia Stevens is an American musician, performance artist and librettist. Initially a pianist specializing in contemporary music, she is recognized for creating and performing widely an array of interdisciplinary solo performance works, and for her collaborations with composer Allen Shearer as librettist of twelve operas.
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is an opera with music by American composer Mason Bates and an English-language libretto by Mark Campbell. It was commissioned by Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, with support from Cal Performances. The opera is about Steve Jobs, one of the most influential people in recent history; it is set at a time when he must confront his own mortality and circle back on the events that shaped his personal and professional life.
Elza van den Heever is a South African soprano in opera and concert, who began her career as a mezzo-soprano. She has appeared in leading roles at major houses and concert halls of the world. One of her signature roles is Elisabetta in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, which she performed for her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2012 and subsequently recorded live.
Sandpaper Ballet is a ballet choreographed by Mark Morris to music by Leroy Anderson. It was created for the San Francisco Ballet, and premiered on April 27, 1999, at the War Memorial Opera House.
Joshua Kosman is an American music critic who specializes in classical music. Kosman was the chief classical music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle from 1988 to 2024, with a particular interest in contemporary classical music, championing composers such as John Adams and Aaron Jay Kernis. Described by the music critic Jayson Greene as having a "congenial, probing tone that blends a reporter’s instincts with a critic’s acumen," he has written for a variety of other publications.