Name: The Barber of Seville Encounter
Start: 2026-06-17T19:30:00
Location: War Memorial Opera House

As the San Francisco Opera gears up for a blockbuster season, audiences can look forward to a spectrum of performances that range from the comedic lilt of 'The Barber of Seville' to the psychological complexity of 'Elektra'. The season also boasts a one-night immersive experience of flamenco-inspired festivities and a vibrant celebration of LGBTQIA+ contributions to music, making this summer a true opera lover's delight.

San Francisco Opera: A Summer of Timeless Tales and Bold Productions

San Francisco Opera is bringing a series of captivating performances to the War Memorial Opera House, promising a thrilling experience for opera lovers. Featuring Rossini's comedic masterpiece 'The Barber of Seville' and Strauss' intense 'Elektra,' audiences are in for a treat. The events will showcase top-tier talent, creative direction, and a unique interplay of past and present, all within a month filled with music, drama, and cultural celebration.

Exploring Opera Magic: From Figaro's Schemes to Elektra's Revenge

San Francisco Opera

A jack-of-all trades, the wily barber Figaro has a scheme for anything. Moved by the distress of two young lovers separated by the curmudgeonly Doctor Bartolo, Figaro pulls out his bag of tricks. But will Figaro’s scheming allow Rosina to escape the clutches of her ward into true love’s embrace with Count Almaviva?

Rossini’s exuberant comedy features some of the most joyful music in all of opera. From the famous overture to the irresistible “Largo al factotum,” this masterpiece of comedic writing has delighted audiences for over two hundred years.

In director Emilio Sagi’s flamenco-inspired production, sun-bleached buildings are the backdrop to colorful costumes as the characters’ plans for escape become more and more outrageous. Benjamin Manis returns to conduct this effervescent score.

The Barber of Seville

War Memorial Opera House

Experience the magic of the performing arts with the San Francisco Opera on May 29, 2026. This enchanting evening will begin at 7:30 PM at the historic War Memorial Opera House, located in the heart of San Francisco. Renowned for their breathtaking performances, the San Francisco Opera promises a night of unforgettable music, dramatic storytelling, and world-class talent. Don't miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the captivating world of opera. For more information and to secure your tickets, visit the official website or follow the primary event link. Embrace the elegance, passion, and power of opera with the San Francisco Opera.

Barber of Seville

In a brutal world where revenge is enacted with the axe, Klytämnestra has murdered her husband Agamemnon. Their daughter Elektra is consumed by her grief and is fixated on vengeance against her mother. Justice must be served.

San Francisco Opera’s production, praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as “extraordinary” and “stunning,” brings us to a modern-day museum and an exhibit on Elektra. A young woman grappling with her own life is pulled into the ancient narrative in this ingenious production by Keith Warner—a taut psychological thriller in which the past and the present become one.

Music Director Eun Sun Kim conducts Richard Strauss’ expressionist masterpiece, replete with one of the largest orchestras in the repertoire. The intense emotions of this Greek tragedy are rendered on a vast scale by Strauss’ massive soundscape and a score that winds up the dramatic tension with an intensity that can only lead to one horrific outcome.

Elektra

You’ll begin the evening watching part of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville on stage. You’ll then be immersed in the flamenco world of the opera in a transformed Opera House. This opera and party experience is a unique evening you’ll be telling stories about for years. Tickets limited for this one-night-only event!

The Barber of Seville Encounter

The San Francisco Opera Orchestra and featured artists will perform a high-energy concert celebrating LGBTQIA+ composers, performers, anthems, and so much more!

2026 Pride Concert

He accepts the chance to lead the Republic of Genoa with the hope of uniting his family. But on the very day Simon Boccanegra is elected doge, tragedy strikes—his beloved dies, and his infant daughter vanishes. Now, 25 years later, Boccanegra is a seasoned leader balancing opposing political factions. As he works to bring stability to a fractured republic, fate gives him one more chance at the family reunion he’s longed to secure. 

Simon Boccanegra is both an intimate story of love, loss, and reconciliation, and a larger political allegory for a divided Italy aching for unity. For Verdi, peace can only be achieved when broken bonds are mended—whether between father and daughter, or rival factions of a splintered nation. 

Music Director Eun Sun Kim returns to her exploration of Verdi with this powerful score, filled with some of the most stirring music he ever composed.

Simon Boccanegra

Step into the 2026–27 Season with an unforgettable evening at San Francisco’s iconic City Hall. Your night begins with a sparkling cocktail hour, followed by an exquisite dinner prepared by celebrated local chefs, all set beneath the magnificent dome of City Hall’s breathtaking rotunda. Then journey across the plaza to the War Memorial Opera House for the opening night of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, led by Music Director Eun Sun Kim. When the final ovation fades, return to City Hall for a spectacular after-party, featuring music, dancing, and the company of fellow opera lovers.

Opera Ball 2026

San Francisco City Hall

Just 18 years old, and already the Queen of France, Mary Stuart is poised, politically savvy, and confident in her divine claim to the Scottish throne. However, the Scotland she returns to bears little resemblance to the one she left behind as a child, and she will need every ounce of resolve to hold onto her crown.  

In Mary, Queen of Scots, composer Thea Musgrave brings one of history’s most captivating figures to the stage with a score as bold and compelling as its heroine. As Mary navigates a treacherous political landscape, she leans on her closest advisors: her calculating half-brother James, Earl of Moray; the enigmatic Earl of Bothwell; and her charming, but weak-willed future husband, Lord Darnley. Slowly, but surely, each man’s hunger for her power reveals itself in increasingly manipulative ways, and Mary must outmaneuver one betrayal after the next.

Making her company debut, Clelia Cafiero conducts this co-production with English National Opera by director/designer Stewart Laing sets 16th-century intrigue against a backdrop of contemporary Scottish life and sectarian violence, lending fresh resonance to an almost 500-year-old story.

Mary, Queen of Scots

Manon is young, beautiful, and has a taste for the finer things … which is why her family is sending her to a convent. En route to her new life, she falls for the handsome Chevalier des Grieux and they run away to Paris, the city of love. But their youthful ardor is threatened by fatherly disapproval, and Manon finds herself with a choice to make: wait alone in poverty or embrace the wealth of a new lover? 

Manon composer Jules Massenet’s soaring score captures the intensity of young love as Manon and Des Grieux’s relationship endures twist after turn. Manon must navigate a path that careens between the radiant glow of love and the allure of wealth.

Music Director Eun Sun Kim’s conducting and Vincent Boussard’s cinematic production design brings the drama of Manon into emotional relief. The shimmering stage illuminates both the Champagne effervescence of Paris and the sensual idealism of young love.

Manon

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

Following two seasons of sold-out concerts, Music Director Eun Sun Kim returns to the podium to lead the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in a sumptuous evening of Richard Strauss. The concert features the highly descriptive tone poem Till Eulenspiegel; the Brentano Lieder—one of Strauss' most important sets of songs; and the US debut of a new arrangement of selections from Der Rosenkavalier.

Strauss In Concert

Glowing in the depths of the Rhine River lies magical gold, protected by three Rhinemaidens. Forsaking love, the mercenary Nibelung Alberich steals the treasure and forges a ring of immense power. When Wotan needs to pay the Giants for the building of Valhalla, he sets out to steal the gold from Alberich. These thefts set in motion an upending of world order, the repercussions of which not even Wotan can foresee. 

Das Rheingold heralds the beginning of Wagner’s heroic tetralogy: The Ring of the Nibelung. Continuing her multi-year exploration of Wagner, Music Director Eun Sun Kim takes on this celebrated epic, leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra into the dawn of The Ring. Francesca Zambello’s visionary production brings Wagner’s timeless story close to home and into the 19th-century Gold Rush.

Das Rheingold is the prologue to Wagner’s most dramatic work, which will take the stage in three full cycles in June 2028.

The Barber of Seville Encounter

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