The San Francisco Opera Center (SFOC) is the

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 ...

's professional training center for opera singers. Based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, it encompasses two different professional tracks for training: a summer training program known as the Merola Opera Program and a two year long term resident artist program known as the Adler Fellowship. For twenty years the SFOC also operated a touring opera company, the Western Opera Theatre, but for financial reasons this touring company was disbanded in 2003. In addition to providing training for opera singers, the Merola Opera Program also provides training for vocal coaches and stage directors. Four singers each year from the summer Merola Opera Program are offered Adler Fellowships with the San Francisco Opera. Soprano Sheri Greenawald served as director of the San Francisco Opera Center from 2002 through 2020.

History

The San Francisco Opera Center was founded in 1982 by San Francisco Opera director Terence A. McEwen with the intent of consolidating the operation and administration of various educational,community outreach, and performance programs already existing at the

, including the Adler Fellowship Program, Merola Opera Program, Western Opera Theatre, the "Showcase Series", "Brown Bag Opera", "Opera Center Singers", and "Schwabacher Recitals", among others. The Merola Opera Program was the oldest of these programs, being established more than sixty years ago. On August 30, 1953,

founder and first General Director,

Gaetano Merola Gaetano Merola (4 January 1881 – 30 August 1953) was an Italian conductor, pianist and founder of the San Francisco Opera. Biography Merola was born in Naples, the son of a Neapolitan court violinist and studied piano and conductor at the ...

, died at Stern Grove while conducting a young American singer in "Un bel di" from ''Madama Butterfly''. Maestro Merola wanted to provide young American singers opportunities as little formal training was available in the United States at the time and scant audition opportunities existed on the west coast. This prompted Mrs. Leland Atherton Irish of the Opera Guild of Southern California to ask the new San Francisco Opera General Director,

Kurt Herbert Adler Kurt Herbert Adler (2 April 1905 – 9 February 1988) was an Austrian-born American conductor and opera house director. Biography Adler was born in Vienna, Austria, to a Jewish family; his mother, Ida Bauer, was one of the first patients of ...

, why young western singers had to go to New York to audition. The Merola Memorial Fund was used to underwrite the San Francisco Opera Debut Auditions, professional auditions for singers from the western United States. The first regional auditions were held in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco. Two hundred thirty-seven young singers applied and two hundred twelve were auditioned. Fifteen singers advanced to the semi-finals, on June 2, 1954. The eight finalists went on to the first San Francisco Opera Debut Auditions which took place at KNBC studios on June 13 and were broadest over KNBC.

Merola Opera Program

The Merola Opera Program is a world-renowned opera training and performance program for promising young artists. Named for San Francisco Opera's first general director,

, the Merola Opera Program began during the 1954-55 season and established its full training program in 1957. In 2010 ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' stated that the Merola Opera Program "outranks any comparable program in the country, not only in the range, intensity, and quality of its training, but in the stature of its alumni." Training for opera singers includes masterclasses with leading singers in the field, daily individual sessions with

vocal coach A vocal coach, also known as a voice coach (though this term often applies to those working with speech and communication rather than singing), is a music teacher, usually a piano accompanist, who helps singers prepare for a performance, often a ...

es, acting classes, stage movement classes, and classes in applying ones own stage makeup and dealing with the unique challenges of moving and singing arias in period costumes. The Program annually offers approximately 30 artists the opportunity of studying, coaching, and participating in master classes with established professionals for eleven and twelve weeks during the summer (12 weeks for apprentice coaches and 11 weeks for singers). Participants also perform in two complete opera productions with orchestra and the Schwabacher Summer Concert. The program incorporates intensive training in operatic repertory languages, diction, acting and movement and culminates with the Merola Grand Finale, a concert with full orchestra at the

War Memorial Opera House The War Memorial Opera House is an opera house in San Francisco, California, located on the western side of Van Ness Avenue across from the west side/rear facade of the San Francisco City Hall. It is part of the San Francisco War Memorial and ...

. Merola also enables young coach accompanists and stage directors of exceptional talent to develop skills through the apprentice coach and stage director programs. The Merola Opera Program is a financially independent 501(c)3 organization that operates in close collaboration with the San Francisco Opera Center and San Francisco Opera. The Merola Opera Program is free to its artists and is supported by contributions of individuals, foundations and government entities. The program covers the artists' travel, housing, weekly stipends and all training expenses. In addition, Merola alums may apply for Career Grants up to $12,000 for the five years following their participation in the program.

Merola alumni

Brian Asawa Brian Asawa (October 1, 1966 – April 18, 2016) was a Japanese American opera singer who sang as a countertenor. About Asawa, ''Opera News'' stated: "In his prime, Asawa was an electric performer, his fearless performing style supported by a voice ...

(1991) * Ricardo Bernal * Gregory Carroll * Laura Claycomb (1989 & 1990) *

Mark Delavan Mark Delavan is an American operatic bass-baritone. He was a national finalist of the Metropolitan Opera auditions and an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera. Early life His mother was a soprano and his father was an Opera singer, co ...

(1985) * John Del Carlo *

Joyce DiDonato Joyce DiDonato (née Flaherty; born February 13, 1969) is an American lyric-coloratura mezzo-soprano. She is notable for her interpretations of operas and concert works in the 19th-century romantic era in addition to works by Handel and Mozart. ...

(1997) * Julianna Di Giacomo *

Susan Graham Susan Graham (born July 23, 1960) is an American mezzo-soprano. Life and career Susan Graham was born in Roswell, New Mexico on July 23, 1960. Raised in Midland, Texas, Graham is a graduate of Texas Tech University and the Manhattan School of ...

(1987) * Nancy Gustafson (1982) *

Thomas Hampson Thomas Walter Hampson (born June 28, 1955) is an American lyric baritone, a classical singer who has appeared world-wide in major opera houses and concert halls and made over 170 musical recordings. Hampson's operatic repertoire spans a range ...

(1980) *

Elza van den Heever Elza van den Heever (born 1979) is a South African soprano in opera and concert, who began her career as a mezzo-soprano. She has appeared in leading roles at major houses and concert halls of the world. One of her signature roles is Elisabett ...

(2003 & 2004) * Bryan Hymel *

Gary Lakes Gary Lakes (born September 26, 1950) is an American opera heldentenor. Lakes was born in Woodward, Oklahoma, and raised in Irving, Texas. He made his professional debut with the Seattle Opera in the role of Froh in 1981 in Richard Wagner, Wagn ...

(1981) * Sylvia McNair (1982) *

Leona Mitchell Leona Pearl Mitchell (born October 13, 1949, Enid, Oklahoma) is an American operatic Grammy Award-winning soprano who sang for 18 seasons as a leading spinto soprano at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In her home state of Oklahoma, she rec ...

(1971) * Paula Murrihy * Anna Netrebko (1996) *

Patricia Racette Patricia Lynn Racette (born 1965) is an American operatic soprano. A winner of the Richard Tucker Award in 1998, she has been a regular presence at major opera houses internationally. Racette has enjoyed long-term partnerships with the San Franci ...

(1988) *

John Relyea John Relyea (born 1972 in Toronto) is a Canadian bass-baritone opera singer and winner of the 2003 Richard Tucker Award. He was born in 1972 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to Gary Relyea, one of Canada's well-known opera singers, and a native Es ...

(1995) *

Kurt Streit Kurt Streit (born 14 October 1959 in Itazuke, Fukuoka, JapanInternational who's who in music and musicians' directory: (in the classical and light classical fields), David M. Cummings, Volume One, 2000/2001) is an Austrian-American tenor who perfor ...

(1986) * Fernando del Valle *

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 ...

* Ruth Ann Swenson (1981 & 1982) *

Jess Thomas Jess Thomas (August 4, 1927 – October 11, 1993) was an American operatic tenor, best known for singing Richard Wagner, Wagner compositions. Biography Jess Floyd Thomas was born in Hot Springs, South Dakota. As a child, he took part in va ...

(1957) * Riki Turofsky *

Carol Vaness Carol Theresa Vaness (born July 27, 1952) is an American lirico-spinto soprano and university professor. Early life and education Vaness was born in San Diego and graduated with her bachelor's degree from California State Polytechnic Universit ...

(1976) *

Rolando Villazón Rolando Villazón Mauleón (born 22 February 1972) is a Mexican operatic tenor, stage director, author, radio and television personality and artistic director. He now lives in France, and in 2007 became a French citizen. Villazón has published ...

Deborah Voigt Deborah Voigt (born August 4, 1960) is an American dramatic soprano who has sung roles in operas by Wagner and Richard Strauss. Biography and career Early life and education Debbie Joy Voigt was born into a religious Southern Baptist family ...

(1985) * Dolora Zajick (1983)

Adler Fellowship

The Adler Fellowship is a program to support young singers managed by the

, started under the leadership of General Director Terence A. McEwen. The fellowship is named after

who managed the opera from 1953 until 1981. The fellowship comes with training and performance opportunities."Adler Fellowship Program", with list of Adler Fellows
on sfopera.com

Fellows

* Gregory Stapp (1982) * Ruth Ann Swenson (1983-84) * Nancy Gustafson (1983-84) *

David Malis David Malis (born c. 1957) is an American operatic baritone. In 1985 he won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. His roles include Papageno in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera i ...

(1984-85) * Dolora Zajick (1984-85) * Monte Pederson (1985-86) * Philip Skinner (1986-87) *

(1986) *

(1986-87) * Kevin Anderson (1988) * Janet Williams (1988-89) *

(1989-90) * Mary Mills (1990–91) * Laura Claycomb (1991-1993) *

(1992) *James Caputo (1993) *Daniel Sumegi (1993–94) *Claudia Waite (1994–95) * Zheng Cao (1995-96) *

(1996-97) *

Stuart Skelton Stuart Skelton (born 1968 in Sydney) is an Australian operatic heldentenor. In 2016 he opened the Metropolitan Opera season with Nina Stemme in Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde''. Discography Studio concert recordings *2008: Mahler – '' Das Li ...

(1996-97) *

Armando Gama Armando António Capelo Diniz da Gama (1 April 1954 – 17 January 2022) was a Portuguese singer-songwriter and baritone opera singer, whose physical trademark for decades was his shoulder-length jet black hair. Life and career Gama grew up i ...

(1998-99) *

James Westman James Westman (born September 16, 1972) is a Canadian baritone known for his interpretation of the Verdi, Puccini and bel canto operatic repertoire, and particularly his signature role of Germont in '' La traviata'', which he has sung in over 1 ...

(1999) * Katia Escalera (2001) * Elizabeth Caballero (2003) * Lucas Meachem (2004) * Nikki Einfeld (2004-05) * Thomas G. Glenn (2004–05) * Joshua Bloom (2004-05) *

Sean Panikkar Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angli ...

(2005-06) * Noah Stewart (2007) * Daniela Mack (2008-09) *

Brian Jagde Brian Jagde is an American operatic tenor. He has performed roles at leading opera houses throughout the world, including the San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe ...

(2010-2012) *

Nadine Sierra Nadine Sierra (born May 14, 1988) is an American soprano. She is most well known for her interpretation of Gilda in Verdi's ''Rigoletto,'' and Lucia in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor.'' Currently performing in leading roles in the top opera hou ...

(2011–2012) * Ao Li (2011-2013) *

Philippe Sly Philippe Sly (born 1988 or 1989 in Ottawa) is a Canadian bass-baritone and opera, oratorio and recital singer. Biography Sly grew up in Ottawa, joined local boys and adult choirs and studied music at McGill University. In 2011 he was one of ...

(2013-14) * Pene Pati (2016-17)

References

External links

Merola Opera Program website
{{Coord, 37, 46, 43, N, 122, 25, 16, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title Music schools in San Francisco Training programs