David Gockley (born July 13, 1943,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

) is an American

opera company Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

administrator. He served as general director of Houston Grand Opera from 1972 to 2005 and

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

from 2006 to 2016. He is a student of

Margaret Harshaw Margaret Harshaw (12 May 1909 – 7 November 1997) was an American opera singer and voice teacher who sang for 22 consecutive seasons at the Metropolitan Opera from November 1942 to March 1964. She began her career as a mezzo-soprano in the ea ...

Biography

Richard David Gockley was born in Philadelphia and grew up in

Wayne, Pennsylvania Wayne is an unincorporated community centered in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on the Main Line, a series of highly affluent Philadelphia suburbs located along the railroad tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad and one of the wealthiest areas ...

. He holds a bachelor's degree from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, where he sang with the Jabberwocks, and a master's degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. According to San Francisco Opera's website, his father was an athletic coach and inspired his early love for sports, and he inherited a passion for music from his mother. He is the father of three children: Meredith, Lauren, and Adam. He has served as president of

OPERA America __NOTOC__ Opera America, styled OPERA America, is a New York-based service organization promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera in the United States. Almost all professional opera companies and some semi-professional companies i ...

and is currently a board member.

Houston Grand Opera

In 1970, Gockley joined Houston Grand Opera as business manager and was appointed general director in 1972. Under his tenure, Houston Grand Opera presented 35 world premieres and six American premieres. Gockley oversaw the founding of the Houston Grand Opera Studio in 1977, the company's young artist development program, and the opening of the

Wortham Theater Center The Wortham Theater Center is a performing arts center located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The Wortham Theater Center, designed by Eugene Aubry of Morris Architects, was built out of private funds totaling over $66 Million. The ...

in 1987. He introduced “plazacasts”, free broadcasts of mainstage opera productions to outdoor audiences; created OperaVision, a series of screens located throughout the Wortham Center that projected close-up shots of the action on stage; and began annual radio broadcasts of Houston Grand Opera performances in the U.S. and abroad. After a 33-year tenure as general director, Gockley resigned from Houston Grand Opera in 2005 to assume the post of general director for San Francisco Opera.

San Francisco Opera

Gockley became San Francisco Opera's sixth general director on January 1, 2006. Under Gockley's leadership, San Francisco Opera (SFO) has presented the world premieres of '' Appomattox'' by

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and Christopher Hampton in 2007; '' The Bonesetter's Daughter'' by

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and

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in 2008; and

Christopher Theofanidis Christopher Theofanidis (born December 18, 1967, in Dallas, Texas) is an American composer whose works have been performed by leading orchestras from around the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Mosco ...

and Donna Di Novelli's ''Heart of a Soldier'' in 2011. The company also presented the West Coast premieres of

Rachel Portman Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman,
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'' and

Jake Heggie Jake Heggie (born March 31, 1961) is an American composer of opera, vocal, orchestral, and chamber music. He is best known for his operas and art songs as well as for his collaborations with internationally renowned performers and writers. B ...

's chamber opera '' Three Decembers''. San Francisco Opera also presented three world premieres in 2013:

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and

Carey Harrison Carey Harrison (born 19 February 1944) is an English novelist and dramatist. Early years and education Harrison was born in London to actor Rex Harrison and actress Lilli Palmer, and raised in Los Angeles and New York, where he attended the ...

’s ''

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'', based on the children's book by

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in conjunction with

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

Cal Performances Cal Performances is the performing arts presenting, commissioning and producing organization based at the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California. The origins of Cal Performances date from 1906, when stage actress Sarah Bernhardt ...

;

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’s ''The Gospel of

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''; and

Tobias Picker Tobias Picker (born July 18, 1954) is an American composer, artistic director, and pianist, noted for his orchestral works ''Old and Lost Rivers'', ''Keys To The City'', and ''The Encantadas'', as well as his operas ''Emmeline'', ''Fantastic Mr. ...

and J.D. McClatchy’s ''

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'', based on the novel by

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. San Francisco Opera will present the world premieres of ''

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'' by

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and Luca Rossi in the summer of 2015, based on novel of the same name by

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, and ''

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'' by

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and

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yell ...

in fall 2016, based on the work of the same name by 18th-century

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writer

Cao Xueqin Cáo Xuěqín ( ; ); (4 April 1710 — 10 June 1765)Briggs, Asa (ed.) (1989) ''The Longman Encyclopedia'', Longman, was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty. He is best known as the author of ''Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the Four G ...

. Gockley oversaw the creation of San Francisco Opera's Koret-Taube Media Suite, the first permanent high-definition broadcast-standard video production facility installed in any American opera house according to the company's website. Through the Koret-Taube Media Suite, he expanded on the plazacasts he pioneered at Houston Grand Opera with a series of “simulcasts”, live broadcasts of San Francisco Opera mainstage performances to remote locations. The company has presented eight simulcasts throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area, specifically to San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza, Stanford University's Frost Amphitheater, and seven simulcasts presented on the scoreboard at San Francisco's AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. All simulcasts have been presented free to the public, drawing as many as 200,000 people collectively. San Francisco Opera also broadcast a live performance of ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' to four theaters across Northern California in June 2007. Gockley continued his OperaVision program at San Francisco Opera and supervised the presentation of four San Francisco Opera productions in movie theaters across the United States. Unlike the Metropolitan Opera, which began live broadcasts of performances to theaters in 2006 using projection systems used for advertising, The opera partnered with The Bigger Picture to present four operas in a feature–film quality digital cinema format in 2008. In 2007, the opera returned to national and international radio after 25 years under Gockley's leadership. Earlier in 2007, Gockley announced the appointment of Italian conductor

Nicola Luisotti Nicola Luisotti (born 26 November 1961, in Viareggio, Italy) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds the title "Director Principal Invitado" (principal guest conductor) of Madrid's Teatro Real. Biography Luisotti grew up in Bargecchia. He ...

as the company's new music director, effective September 2009. Luisotti is the company's third music director following Sir John Pritchard and

Donald Runnicles Sir Donald Cameron Runnicles OBE HonFRSE (born 16 November 1954, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish conductor. Life and career The son of William Runnicles, a director of a furniture supply company and a choirmaster and organist, and Christin ...

. In January 2009, Gockley announced the reappointment of

Patrick Summers Patrick Summers (born August 14, 1963) is an American conductor best known for his work with Houston Grand Opera (HGO), where he has been the artistic and music director since 2011, and with San Francisco Opera, where he served as principal gue ...

as principal guest conductor and named Giuseppe Finzi as the company's new assistant music director.Joshua Kosman, "San Francisco Opera tightens belt for 2009-10," ''San Francisco Chronicle,'' January 2009
/ref> In May 2011, it was announced that Gockley's contract was to be extended through SFO's 2015–16 season. Gockley announced his retirement in 2014 and transferred leadership to Matthew Shilvock in August 2016.

Awards and honors

* Dean's Award for “Distinguished Professional Achievement”, Columbia University Business School * Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters, University of Houston, 1992 * Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts, Brown University, 1993 * William Rogers Award, Brown University, 1995

References

Sources

* Cummings, David, ''International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory,'' Cambridge, England: Routledge; 17 edition June 13, 2000;

External links

San Francisco Opera's official website

Houston Grand Opera's official website
* Gockley, David and Louis Marchiafava
David Gockley Oral History
Houston Oral History Project, June 12, 1976. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gockley, David 1943 births Living people Brown University alumni Columbia Business School alumni Opera managers People from Philadelphia