San Francisco Opera to Stage One-Night-Only Performance of EUN SUN KIM CONDUCTS VERDI

San Francisco Opera presents Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi, a one-night-only concert honoring the work of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi on Thursday, June 30 at 7:30 pm at the War Memorial Opera House. Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim, closes her first season as leader of the Company's artistic forces, conducting the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Chorus and soloists Nicole Car, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Etienne Dupuis and Soloman Howard with current San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows soprano Mikayla Sager, tenor Edward Graves, bass Stefan Egerstrom. Chorus Director John Keene, who begins his tenure this summer, prepares the Chorus.

The concert is the sole chance to experience Kim's conducting during the Company's Summer Season, which includes performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni and Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang's Dream of the Red Chamber. Verdi's seminal operas Luisa Miller, Il Trovatore and Don Carlo are featured on the program.

Luisa Miller, a rarely heard work from the composer's middle period, is full of longing melodies that reflect a story centered on a couple's love, complicated by politics. The concert continues with selections from the propulsive score of one of Verdi's most well-known titles, Il Trovatore. The second half of the concert is dedicated to Don Carlo, a work of political intrigue, love triangles and familial duty, set during the Spanish Inquisition. The Carlo-Posa Act II duet, auto-da-fé and rarely performed ballet music (the latter from the French version, Don Carlos, composed for the Paris Opera) are among the highlights from Verdi's grand opera which has multiple performing versions.

AFTER-PARTY

10:15 pm Green Room, Veterans Building

Following the concert, join Eun Sun Kim and the cast over drinks and bites in the Green Room at the Veterans Building. After-party tickets are $250. Proceeds benefit the company's annual campaign in support of Kim's vision for the future of opera.

LIVESTREAMS

Virtual tickets for the livestream of Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi are now on sale. The livestream option for select performances this summer enables audiences to experience San Francisco Opera from anywhere in the world. The streamed performance of Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi will be presented live only, beginning at 7:30pm PT on Thursday, June 30.

Virtual livestream tickets for the summer season are $25 each.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Seoul-born conductor Eun Sun Kim's rapid rise on the American opera scene began with remarkable debuts with Houston Grand Opera conducting Verdi's La Traviata in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, as a late replacement at the Cincinnati May Festival and with San Francisco Opera for the benchmark presentation of Dvořák's Rusalka in 2019. As a result of her success with Houston Grand Opera, that company designated her guest principal conductor in 2018. And six months after her remarkable San Francisco Opera debut, the Company appointed her as its new music director. Kim opened San Francisco Opera's 99th season, her inaugural season as music director, with Puccini's Tosca on August 21, 2021; it was the first opera to be presented in the War Memorial Opera House since the pandemic shutdown. She led the Company's new production of Beethoven's Fidelio in October and made important debuts with the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, conducting Puccini's La Bohème and Tosca, respectively. In December 2021, she was named a New York Times Breakout Star for Classical Music. During San Francisco Opera's Centennial Season, she is scheduled to conduct the Opening Night Concert, the world premiere of John Adams' Antony and Cleopatra, the annual free community concert Opera in the Park, Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites, Verdi's La Traviata and Puccini's Madame Butterfly.

Australian soprano Nicole Car bows with the Company for the first time as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni this summer and performs as a soloist at Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi. Of her role debut as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata at the Sydney Opera House, Limelight Magazine observed, "... she is a complete performer, equally seductive both vocally and dramatically." Her recent leading roles include Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème (Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera), Elisabetta in Verdi's Don Carlo (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni (Paris Opera) and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Vienna).

Verdi's music plays an important part in Arturo Chacón-Cruz's repertoire. His 2021-22 season includes engagements in I Due Foscari (Paris' Salle Gaveau), Simon Boccanegra (Palermo's Teatro Massimo), Don Carlo (Maryland Lyric Opera), Il Trovatore (Teatre Principal de Maó) and La Traviata (Seville's Teatro La Maestranza). Chacón-Cruz made his San Francisco Opera debut as the Duke in Verdi's Rigoletto in 2012, a performance for which the San Francisco Chronicle praised his "enormous grace, charisma and stamina. Here, clearly, is a singer of major promise." He returned as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème in 2017, the same year he won San Francisco Opera's Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Emerging Stars Competition. The Mexican tenor was most recently a subject of the Company's Webby Award-winning, short-form video series In Song; his episode included a performance with young mariachi students.

Canadian baritone Etienne Dupuis, who recently took on the role of Rodrigue in Don Carlos (Verdi's original version in French) at the Metropolitan Opera which OperaWire called a "star-making performance," bows in San Francisco for the first time this summer in the title role of Don Giovanni. Amongst the musical excerpts he is scheduled to perform at this concert will be the Act IV duet from Il Trovatore with his wife, soprano Nicole Car, as Leonora. Dupuis is slated to add the Conte di Luna in Il Trovatore to his repertoire in Montreal later this year.

Bass Soloman Howard made his San Francisco Opera debut as Timur in Puccini's Turandot in 2017. He returned this past fall as Angelotti in Puccini's Tosca and Don Fernando in the Company's new production of Beethoven's Fidelio. This summer he joins the cast of Mozart's Don Giovanni as the Commendatore. His many Verdian engagements have included Wurm in Luisa Miller with Lyric Opera of Chicago and English National Opera, Jacopo Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra with Bordeaux Opera, the Friar in Don Carlo with LA Opera, the King in Aida at the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera and Madrid's Teatro Real, Banquo in Macbeth at Glimmerglass Festival and the High Priest in Nabucco in Washington. Next season, he is scheduled to perform his first Ramfis in Aida at London's Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Tickets for Eun Sun Kim Conducts Verdi at the War Memorial Opera House range from $29 to $249.

After-Party at the Green Room tickets are $250.

Livestream tickets are $25.

Tickets are available via the San Francisco Opera Box Office at (415) 864-3330 and online at sfopera.com/verdi.

San Francisco Opera requires all patrons aged 12 and older to show proof of vaccination and a booster shot (if eligible per the CDC guidelines), received at least 7 days before the performance, along with a photo ID for admission to performances at the War Memorial Opera House. Proof of vaccination is required for children aged 5 to 11 (defined as two weeks after their final shot). Unvaccinated attendees ages 5 years and up are not permitted. If you are attending with any children under the age of 5, please call the Box Office at (415) 864-3330. All patrons must wear well-fitted masks that cover their nose, mouth and chin when inside the War Memorial Opera House unless they are actively eating or drinking in the lobbies. Food and drinks are not permitted in the theater. A non-vented N95 mask is strongly recommended for maximum protection. These safety policies also apply at the Green Room. For complete information about the Company's health and safety protocols, visit sfopera.com/safetyfirst.

To ensure flexibility for patrons in this transitional season, exchanges will be accepted without incurring a fee up to two hours before performances. Refunds will be available if patrons must miss a performance due to COVID. Refund requests must be made at least two hours before the performance. View sfopera.com/ticketpolicy for more information.

The War Memorial Opera House is located at 301 Van Ness Avenue. Patrons are encouraged to use public transportation to attend San Francisco Opera performances. The War Memorial Opera House is within walking distance of the Civic Center BART/Muni Station and near numerous bus lines, including 5, 21, 47, 49 and F Market Street. For further public transportation information, visit bart.gov and sfmta.com.

All casting, programs, schedules and ticket prices are subject to change. For further information about San Francisco Opera's 2021-22 Season, visit sfopera.com/onstage.

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