The curtain opened Saturday night at the War Memorial Opera House on the David Hockney designed set of Turandot. Turandot? Had anyone surreptitiously advanced the SF Opera season opening night? Rather, the Merola program was closing their own season on the big stage, and -why not?- had borrowed the set. The singers selected in the Merola program might as well get used to it: their goal is to make it to production like this very Turandot, which will indeed feature four Merola alumni (Daniel Montenegro, Ryan Kuster, Hyung Yun, and Leah Crocetto). more ›

We love to see the future of opera in action, so we embarked onto the Noah's Ark of the Merola program's Il Barbiere of Siviglia last week-end: we saw two performances, two casts, two overall successes, and too much comedy. more ›

How do you sing your goodbyes? So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, of course. Not the artists in the Merola program, they'll stick to what they know best: arias by Mozart, Strauss, Donizetti. They'll shut down this year's opera-star-in-training boot camp Saturday at 7:30pm with a Grand Finale at the Opera House, with the SF Opera orchestra in the pit conducted by Dean Williamson (program in pdf here). more ›

The kids are alright. Every summer, about twenty under-thirty singers get selected after an arduous audition process to participate in the Merola opera program, a ten-week training camp with singing, diction and acting coaches from the SF Opera. This program has been the launch pad for many an illustrious career (see Netrebko, Anna; Hampson, Thomas; Graham, Susan; Racette, Patricia, etc.) Part of the boot camp involves showing off their stuff with the SF Opera orchestra conducted by Mark Morash in a couple recitals and a couple staged productions. This year, or rather, in this economy, Donizetti's Elixir of Love, performed with two alternate casts August 5th through 8th, instead of the typical mix of an offbeat modern and a classic repertoire pieces of years past. more ›

The bad news: The Don Giovanni we witnessed last weekend seemed too big a task for the Merola program. Sure, the singing was stellar. And Donna Anna, Leporello, and the Don himself were admirably cast. But the cringe-inducing stage direction, as well as the evening's lackluster orchestra, would not let us enjoy the opera. Bummer. more ›

Do you guys remember when Steve Nash played hoops for the Santa Clara Broncos? How he single handedly kicked UCLA's tush? Could you tell he was going to become a mega-star, sure shot into the NBA Hall of Fame? If so, we have another exercise for you to identify diamonds in the rough: the Merola Opera program. It's where the kids who sing go learn their trade, improve their voice, diction, acting and all, and show off their stuff through a series of summer events: a free concert in Yerba Buena gardens, that we missed, two operas (Albert Herring on July 18th and 20th and Don Giovanni on August 1st and 3rd) and a grand finale (August 16th) to wrap up the summer and send the kids home singing Ce n'est qu'un au revoir. Some will then become Adler fellows and perform on the SF Opera stage, and some will become bona fide stars. To know which one, you'll have to listen for that fellow who can hit that three point aria at the buzzer to steal the game. more ›