Rigoletto, featuring music by Giuseppe Verdi and a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, will kick off the company's 90th season Sept. 7. The production, which will run through Sept. 30, will feature Zeljko Lucic and Marco Vratogna alternating in the titular role, Aleksandra Kursak and Albina Shagimuratova alternating in the role of Gilda, and Francesco Demuro and David Lomeli alternating as the Duke of Mantua. Also in the cast are Kendall Gladen as Maddalena, Robert Pomakov as Count Monterone and Andrea Silvestrelli as Sparafucile. Giuseppe Finzi and Nicola Luisotti alternate as conductor for the performances.
The opening night of Rigoletto will be a benefit event, co-produced with the San Francisco Opera Guild, in support of the San Francisco Opera and Opera Guild education programs.
Following Rigoletto will be The Capulets and the Montagues, a new production with music by Vincenzo Bellini. The opera, which runs Sept. 29-Oct. 19, will feature Nicole Cabell as Giulietta, Joyce DiDonato as Romeo, Saimir Pirgu as Tybaldo and Eric Owens as Capellio. Vincent Boussard directs and Riccardo Frizza conducts.
Moby-Dick, with music by Jake Heggie and a libretto by Gene Scheer, will run Oct. 10-Nov. 2. The production, directed by Leonard Foglia and conducted by Patrick Summer, includes Stephen Costello as Greenhorn (Ishmael), Ben Heppner and Jay Hunter Morris alternating as Captain Ahab, Morgan Smith as Starbuck, Jonathan Lemalu as Queequeg, Talise Trevigne as Pip, Matthew O'Neill as Flask and Robert Orth as Stubb.
Richard Wagner's Lohengrin, directed by Daniel Slater and conducted by Luisotti, will run Oct. 20-Nov. 9. The opera, which contrasts the lust for power with the search for faith, features Brandon Jovanovich in the title role, Camilla Nylund as Elsa Von Brabant, Petra Lang as Ortrud, Gerd Grochowski as Friedrich Von Telramund, Kristinn Sigmundsson as Heinrich Der Vogler and Brian Mulligan as King's Herald. Angela Gheorghiu and Patricia Racette will alternate in the titular role in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, directed by Jose Maria Condemi, Nov. 15-Dec. 12. The cast also includes Massimo Giordano and Brian Jagde alternating Mario Cavaradossi, Roberto Frontali and Mark Delavan alternating Baron Scarpia, Christian Van Horn and Ryan Kuster alternating Angelotti, Joel Sorensen as Spoletta and Dale Travis as Sacristan.
In 2013, the company will offer The Tales of the Hoffmann, with music by Jacques Offenbach and a libretto by Hules Barbier and Michel Carré, June 6-July 6; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Così fan tutte June 9-July 1; and the world-premiere productions of The Gospel of Mary Magdalene (June 19-July 7) and The Secret Garden (March 1-10).
San Francisco Opera is located at 301 Van Ness Avenue (at Grove Street) in San Francisco, CA. For more information, visit sfopera.com.
