Fifty-nine years ago on May 5, 1965, San Diego Opera was born.
Launched on a shoestring budget by the grassroots San Diego Opera Guild, the fledgling professional opera company chose as its first production Puccini’s beloved classic “La bohème,” which was performed in English before a capacity crowd of local students on May 5, 1965. Soprano Maralin Niska starred as the consumptive seamstress Mimi and tenor Nicholas Di Virgilio played her lover, the impoverished poet Rodolfo.
So when San Diego Opera General Director David Bennett started thinking about how best to honor the company’s history for its upcoming diamond anniversary season, he went back to the beginning. “La bohème” will open the company’s 60th season on Nov. 1. It will be followed by a holiday choral concert in December and productions of Richard Strauss’ “Salome” and Giuseppe Verdi’s “La traviata” in early 2025.
A scene from San Diego Opera’s 2020 drive-in production of Puccini’s “La bohème” in the Pechanga Arena parking lot.
(Karli Cadel)
“When I was thinking about our history and who are the composers who resonate well with our audience and had a major impact on the world of opera, that’s where the decision began,” said Bennett, who has led the company since 2015. “We started with ‘bohème’ and we’ve performed it every fifth year or so since then. We also presented it at a very important moment in our history with the drive-in ‘bohème’ during the pandemic.”
“Then I thought about Verdi and decided to bring back ‘traviata,’” Bennett said. “We haven’t done much Strauss in our history. It’s been more than a decade since we did ‘Salome.’ It’s very exotic, lush music and tuneful and has incredible dramatic impact. It’s a good counterpoint for the other two. The three of them together feel like a good rhythm for the season.”
Rising Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti starred in San Diego Opera’s 1980 production of “La bohème.”
(Courtesy of San Diego Opera)
San Diego Opera started out in 1950 as a presenting group that sold tickets for touring opera productions by San Francisco Opera and other companies. In 1965 it incorporated and began producing its own work under first artistic director Walter Herbert. Among the famous singers hired to perform for the company over the years were Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Patricia Racette, Beverly Sills, Dame Joan Sutherland and many more. In the company’s early years, all operas were sung in English, but as the audience’s experience and comfort level with the music grew, San Diego Opera began performing all works in their original languages.
In the 1970s and early ‘80s, the company produced a Verdi festival and over the years it has produced many world premieres, including “The Conquistador” and “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego,” as well as the West Coast premieres of Jake Heggie’s “Moby-Dick” and the first mariachi opera “Cruzar la Cara de la Luna.”
A scene from San Diego Opera’s 2012 West Coast premiere of Jake Heggie’s “Moby-Dick,” which featured state-of-the-art projections and a sharply raked stage.
(San Diego Opera)
In 2014, the company nearly shut down due to looming financial problems, but it was rescued in an heroic campaign led by employees, a handful of board members and opera fans worldwide. During the pandemic, San Diego Opera was one of the few opera companies in the nation that continued producing, including presenting the country’s first professional drive-in opera production in the Pechanga Arena parking lot. It returned to indoor concerts and productions in October 2021.
San Diego Opera’s 2024-25 season budget is $9 million, up from $8.2 million for the 2023-24 season. Like all North American opera companies, San Diego Opera has been in recovery mode in recent years after many older patrons, donors and subscribers didn’t return post-pandemic. SDO trimmed its season budgets, put its Detour chamber opera series temporarily on hold and reduced the number of performances it presented for each production to two.
David Bennett is the General Director of San Diego Opera.
(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Thankfully, things are turning around. Single ticket sales have been steadily rising and demand for fully-staged productions is high. Last month’s “Madama Butterfly” sold out both performances and February’s “Don Giovanni” performances were near capacity. So, in a nod to that robust interest, San Diego Opera will present three performances for each of its three productions next season.
Unlike in seasons past when performances were spread out over a week to give singers time for vocal rest between shows, the performances will be presented on three consecutive days. A couple of demanding roles will be double-cast to avoid the risk of vocal strain.
Bennett said the 2024-25 season will showcase voices, chorus and the San Diego Symphony, as well as costumes, but large scenery will be replaced with state-of-the-art projection design, as seen in “Don Giovanni,” which is more cost-effective and can add movement, mood and dimension to the look of a show.
Bennett said projections are just the start of the company’s future design plans. The company is looking into buying a high-definition video wall as a scenic backdrop and he is also following the development of augmented reality technology, where audience members wearing headsets move through an environment where they’d be aurally immersed within an opera.
“What it does is allow us to have more flexibility with how we tell a story in a different way,” Bennett said. “The trend is happening everywhere. We are thinking about how over the past decade we’ve been responsive and adaptable and and how do we take that brand and make sure it’s innovative.”
Down the road, Bennett said he’d like to expand the company’s “footprint” by reviving its young artist program, which would take opera performances out into schools and community centers again.
San Diego Opera Principal Conductor Yves Abel.
(Courtesy of Mi Ji Kim)
Yves Abel, whose contract as principal conductor for San Diego Opera has just been renewed for another three years, will conduct two of the three productions next season, including his first-ever “Salome.”
The Toronto-born conductor, who splits his time between New York City and Florence, Italy, conducted operas last year in the U.S., Spain, France, Hong Kong and Korea. Abel said he is thrilled to carry on his relationship with San Diego Opera because of its commitment to excellence.
“Every time I come here, I know I’ll get a great cast. It’s kind of rare to have a general director who really knows voices. People tend to hire general directors who are really great fundraisers but not necessarily artistic people. David wears both hats equally,” Abel said. “And to be frank, (the San Diego Symphony) really is one of the finest pit orchestras in the country. We are lucky to have this group an to also have a chorus of such a high level.”
San Diego Opera 2024-25 season
Subscriptions are now on sale at sdopera.org. Three-opera subscriptions range from $105 to $885. Single ticket prices are expected to range from $25 to $325.
Soprano Kathleen O’Mara will make her company debut in the role of Mimi in San Diego Opera’s “La bohème” in November 2024.
(Courtesy of San Diego Opera)
‘La bohème’ by Giacomo Puccini
Keturah Stickann, who directed San Diego Opera’s drive-in “La bohème” in 2020, will return to with a new version of her theatrical reinterpretation of Puccini’s 1896 opera as a memory tale told in flashbacks. It’s the story of love, laughter, friendship and loss among a group of starving artists in 1830s Paris. Alternating in the role of Mimi are soprano Kathleen O’Mara in her company debut and San Diego Opera veteran Tasha Koontz. Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya will also make her company debut. Nov. 1, 2 and 3 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
Salome performs the dance of the seven veils in a previous San Diego Opera production of “Salome,” which will be part of the company’s 2024-25 season.
(Courtesy of San Diego Opera)
‘Salome’ by Richard Strauss
Last produced by San Diego Opera in 2012, this 1891 German opera was inspired by Oscar Wilde’s play about princess Salome, who becomes infatuated with John the Baptist (Jochanaan), who is a prisoner in her stepfather King Herod’s court. In exchange for performing the racy dance of the seven veils for Herod, Salome convinces him to give her Jochanaan’s head on a platter. Soprano Marcy Stonikas (last seen as Gertrude in SDO’s 2020 “Hansel and Gretel”) will play Salome. Kyle Albertson (last seen as Sparafucile in “Rigoletto” in 2019) will play Jochanaan. Principal conductor Yves Abel will conduct. March 21, 22 and 23 at the Civic Theatre.
Tenor Zach Borichevsky will play Rodolfo in San Diego Opera’s 2025 production of “La traviata.”
(San Diego Opera)
‘La traviata’ by Giuseppe Verdi
Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’ 1848 novel “The Lady of the Camellias,” Verdi’s 1852 opera is about the dying Parisian courtesan Violetta who falls in love with a nobleman’s son, Alfredo, and makes the ultimate sacrifice to protect his family’s honor. Soprano Andriana Chuchman (who played Micaëla in SDO’s 2017 “Carmen”) will play Violetta and tenor Zach Borichevsky will make his company debut as Alfredo. Abel will conduct.
April 25, 26 and 27 at the Civic Theatre.
Soprano Andriana Chuchman will make her San Diego Opera debut as Violetta in “La traviata” as part of the company’s 2024-25 season.
(San Diego Opera)