Stage Director

Sir John Falstaff finds himself a bit short on cash, so he hatches a scheme: seduce two merry (and wealthy) wives of Windsor and live out his days in luxury. Too bad this bumbling knight happened to send both his targets the same love letter! Now Alice Ford and Meg Page are set on teaching Falstaff a lesson, and it's not long before a long list of his adversaries join in. Audiences are in for a whirlwind of disguises and deceptions, and maybe even an unexpected dip in the River Thames.

James Conlon conducts one of his personal favorites, Verdi's utterly delightful comic masterpiece. Longtime company favorite Craig Colclough stars as the boastful Falstaff, leading a brilliant ensemble cast that includes Nicole Heaston, Ernesto Petti and Hyona Kim among the pranksters all too happy to take the errant knight down a peg, with Deanna Breiwick and Anthony León as the young lovers desperate to steal a private moment to themselves among the madness. This classic comedy gets an equally classic staging by Lee Blakeley, with atmospheric sets and sumptuous period costumes designed by Adrian Linford.

Falstaff

The Music Center

Opera’s iconic double bill—Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci—brings timeless tales of love, jealousy, honor, infidelity, and murder to San José in February 2026. Filled with some of the most recognizable music of all time, including Cavalleria’s intermezzo and the haunting ‘Vesti la Giubba’ from Pagliacci, showcasing Italian Versimo at its best. Maria Natale makes a powerful return to Opera San José as the passionate Santuzza, joined by audience favorite Kidon Choi, who brings intensity and heart to the role of Tonio. Celebrated composer Alma Deutscher returns to conduct with Opera San José CEO and General Director Shawna Lucey directing this landmark production.

EPSG:4326

Cavalleria Rusticana | Pagliacci

California Theatre

Prince Orlofsky is throwing the costume party of the century, and everyone is determined to be there. Dr. Falke invites his friend Eisenstein for a gentleman’s night out on the town. Little do they know that Eisenstein’s wife, Rosalinde, and her maid, Adele, each have their own mischievous plans. What starts as a harmless prank soon escalates into an epic battle of the sexes, filled with disguises, flirtations, and comedic deceptions. No matter how the evening ends, one thing is for sure — you can blame it on the champagne!

Die Fledermaus (2025)

Webster University

This all-new production of Bartók’s haunting Bluebeard’s Castle will have audiences on the edge of their seats. Directed by OSJ General Director/CEO Shawna Lucey and conducted by OSJ Music Director Joseph Marcheso, this powerful one-act opera presented in English follows Judith as she abandons a peaceful existence to marry the mysterious Duke Bluebeard. Unlocking rooms in her eerie new home, she discovers her new husband’s dark past, delving into the frightening corners of his troubled imagination.

Bluebeard’s Castle

Violetta Valéry is the queen of Parisian nightlife for now, but she knows that life in the fast lane can't last forever. The arrival of a fresh-faced suitor offers her an unexpected taste of true love, until society’s disapproval threatens to tear them apart.

Rachel Willis-Sørensen, one of the most acclaimed American sopranos of her generation, returns as the glamorous Violetta, whose time is quickly running out. Rising star Liparit Avetisyan is the enamored Alfredo, with Kihun Yoon as his disapproving, controlling father. Verdi master James Conlon conducts one of opera’s most enduring tragedies in this vibrant and luxuriously rich new-to-L.A. production that shines the spotlight on Violetta’s tragic attempts to outrun her fate.

La Traviata

Los Angeles Music Center

Turiddu returns from war to find his love, Lola, married to another. In a scheme to induce jealousy, he seduces Santuzza. As swiftly as she is beguiled, Santuzza is discarded while Turiddu begins an affair with his old flame. After the conclusion of Easter Mass, passions erupt and expose the ugliness of jealousy. With stirring melodies as iconic as the story, Cavalleria rusticana reveals the consequences of infidelity and the lengths we might go to for revenge.

Cavalleria rusticana | Pagliacci

Lyric Opera of Kansas City

Back for the first time in almost 20 years,  OSJ opens its ambitious 40th anniversary season with Gounod’s classic adaptation: Romeo et Juliette. This Romantic love story arrives at the California Theatre in a new production created by Shawna Lucey, her first collaboration since the visionary director became Opera San José’s 4th General Director. Its impassioned french music, famous melodies and timeless story will inaugurate a new season, featuring new residents and guests making role debuts. Music Director Joseph Marcheso conducts the Opera San José Orchestra. 

Romeo & Juliet

Fame. Power. Fortune. Violetta Valéry has it all as Paris’ most admired courtesan. But never has she allowed herself to experience true love. All that changes when a naive young man enters her Paris salon and offers her a romance full of tenderness and compassion. But can their love ever be free from the social stigmas of her past?

Oracle Park

War Memorial Opera House

It’s a busy day in the manor house as the staff prepare for the marriage of the wily valet Figaro and his quick-witted fiancée, the maid Susanna. But the head of the house, Count Almaviva, wants Susanna for himself—and he’s used to getting his way. With the help of the slighted Countess, Figaro and Susanna work to turn the manor upside down in order to exchange their holy vows of matrimony. 

You can’t help but fall in love with Mozart’s endearing comedy of schemes and disguises. But hidden beneath its lighthearted façade is an exploration of the social constructs of power and class. At every turn, the servants are one step ahead of the Count.

Set at the birth of America, San Francisco Opera’s production highlights the deconstruction of class within a recently-built manor house. Scaffolding, blueprints and the dust of recently plastered walls pervade Erhard Rom’s set design, suggesting a new world emerging that challenges old ideals.  

Conductor Sebastian Weigle makes an exciting house debut on the podium.

The Marriage of Figaro

The gripping intensity of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic arrives in an all-new production at the California Theatre, led by visionary General Director Shawna Lucey. Chronicling the moral and emotional turmoil surrounding the Manhattan Project, this opera dramatizes the high­stakes days when J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team confronted the ethical weight of unleashing unprecedented destructive power. Haunting choruses and pulsating rhythms capture the tension between scientific breakthrough and human conscience. In the heart of Silicon Valley, where ideas become forces that shape the globe, this landmark work lands not only as history, but as a reflection of our own innovation and its enduring consequence. Maestro Joseph Marcheso returns to the podium to conduct this essential inquiry into the soul of the machine.

Doctor Atomic

Political tensions are high in Rome in June, 1800—and the opera singer Floria Tosca gets caught in the crosshairs when her lover, the painter Mario Cavarodossi, aids an escaped prisoner to safety. When the tyrannical chief of police Baron Scarpia pulls Carvardossi in to be interrogated, Tosca must decide whether she’s willing to sacrifice her honor to save her love.

Tosca returns to the War Memorial Opera House in this beloved San Francisco Opera production. Puccini’s tragic masterpiece has one of the most tightly-wrought opera scores, ratcheting up the already high-stakes drama at every turn. Can our heroine escape Baron Scarpia’s lascivious power? Can she find a way out of the trap closing in on her? 

Director Shawna Lucey and designers Robert Innes Hopkins and Michael Clark take us around Rome to the three distinct locations of Tosca: the towering sanctuary of Sant’Andrea della Valle, Scarpia’s oppressive lair in the Palazzo Farnese, and the roof of the Castel Sant’Angelo where the story will come to its dramatic conclusion. Clelia Cafiero takes the podium to conduct one of Puccini’s most celebrated works.

Stage Director

Shawna Lucey

Events

Upcoming events

Oct 31 - Nov 29, 2026

The Marriage of Figaro · San Francisco Opera

14 - 28 Feb, 2027

Doctor Atomic · Opera San Jose

Jun 4 - Jul 2, 2027

Tosca · San Francisco Opera

Past events

Apr 18 - May 10, 2026

Falstaff · LA Opera

Feb 15 - Mar 1, 2026

Cavalleria Rusticana | Pagliacci · Opera San Jose

About

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