SAN FRANCISCO, CA. (www.sfchronicle.com PR) WHO: San Francisco Opera
Music Director Donald Runnicles conducts the Opera orchestra and stars from the Company's upcoming productions in a free performance in Golden Gate Park. Artists expected to appear are from the 2004 fall productions of Cosi fan tutte, La Traviata, and Billy Budd, including Ruth Ann Swenson, Nathan Gunn, Rolando Villazon, Hanno Mueller-Brachmann, Claudia Mahnke,
Alexandra Deshorties, Paul Groves, Troy Cook, Catherine Cook and Kristin Clayton.
In past years, as many as 35,000 Bay Area music lovers have enjoyed an afternoon of music and song under the sun in the rolling green of Sharon Meadow.
WHAT: The 31st Anniversary FREE Opera in the Park concert. The summer's end tradition in the park, this performance boasts some of opera's "greatest hits" with selections from the world's best-loved scores. Opera in the Park is akin to San Francisco Opera's opening night gala, but without the formal attire.
WHERE: Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
WHEN: Sunday, September 12, 2004 - 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
FEATURING: The 2nd annual Perfect Picnic Contest. Bay Area foodies will once again compete for big prizes courtesy of San Francisco Opera, and The Chronicle Cooking School.
The Korbel and Fetzer Vineyards Tasting Tent. Proceeds benefit Chronicle Charities, Inc.
ADMISSION: The Opera in the Park concert is free for all.
HISTORY: The Opera in the Park tradition first began in 1971 through the inspiration of then Opera General Director Kurt Herbert Adler as a way of making opera more accessible to the public. The performance is an event for opera lovers of all ages, and it's a wonderful introduction to those new to the sounds of opera. Sun hats and picnics on the rolling lawn of the meadow set the fun and relaxed mood.
PUBLIC INFO: For more information about the concert, the public can check out The Chronicle's event web site at https://www.SFGate.com/Chronicle/Events/Opera. For public transportation information, please call 415-673-MUNI.
Opera in the Park is produced by San Francisco Chronicle Charities, Inc., in partnership with San Francisco Opera, and the San Francisco Parks Trust.
San Francisco Parks Trust is the recently adopted name for the vital 33-year-old non-profit organization that formerly operated as Friends of Recreation & Parks. San Francisco Parks Trust (SFPT) continues the organization's commitment to protecting, enhancing and promoting stewardship for San Francisco's parks, recreation centers and open spaces, and provides funding for critically needed programming and activities for residents throughout the City.
SFPT fundraises for a wide range of projects and programs that improve the safety and quality of parks while encouraging increased visitation and promoting a sense of community. From Golden Gate Park to the hundreds of neighborhood parks, recreation centers and playgrounds throughout the city, SFPT fosters a renewed sense of pride in our valuable urban resources.
SFPT supports neighborhood communities through the following ongoing programs
- Project ReCreation rallies volunteers to provide critically needed upgrades and renovations to the City's most used playgrounds and recreation centers, fostering community involvement and encouraging civic pride and park stewardship.
- Music In The Parks - SFPT collaborates with neighborhood organizations around the City to host a free annual spring and fall concert series that capitalizes on the Bay Area's best weather to promote stewardship and enjoyment of neighborhood parks.
- Project JumpStart makes it possible for the development of vital community-based programs that enhance the lives of San Franciscans, capitalizing on collaboration and relationship building to create sustainable community-initiated programming.
SFPT has been a fundraising leader in
- The Campaign to Restore the Conservatory of Flowers, which raised $25 million towards the restoration and transformation of this historic landmark
- Restoring Golden Gate Park's Children's Playground, Carousel and the Coit Tower murals
- Revamping Golden Gate Park's West End
- Renovating the historic Beach Chalet and opening the first San Francisco Parks Visitor Center
- Illuminating the Palace of Fine Arts and Washington Square
- Restoring the Music Concourse Fountains and Shakespeare Garden
- Awarding grants to neighborhood park groups
- Reforesting parks with thousands of trees and plants
The non-profit Friends of Recreation & Parks, now San Francisco Parks Trust, was founded in 1971 by F. Everett Cahill, Mary Margaret Casey, Ann Miller, Michael Painter and Walter Shorenstein, among others.
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
San Francisco Opera is the second largest opera company in North America and the largest performing arts organization on the West Coast. Since its inception in 1923, the Company has been heralded for its first-rate productions and top casts of international opera stars.
Originally presented over two weeks, the Company's season now contains approximately 75 performances of 9 operas spanning from September through July. At the conclusion of the 2003-04 Season, San Francisco Opera presented over 200 operas including 28 American premieres - five of them world premieres - by composers such as Dello Joio, Heggie, Henze, Honegger, Imbrie, Janacek, Messiaen, Milhaud, Poulenc, Previn, Prokofiev, Ravel, Rossini, Schuller, Shostakovich, Strauss, Susa, Tippett, von Einem and others.
Pamela Rosenberg is the fifth General Director of San Francisco Opera and the first woman in the Company's history to hold that position. She assumed the post of General Director officially on August 1, 2001, following the tenures of founder Gaetano Merola, Kurt Herbert Adler, Terence A. McEwen and, most recently, Lotfi Mansouri. Maestro Donald Runnicles is the Music Director.
In January of 2001, Rosenberg announced her first artistic initiative for San Francisco Opera, Animating Opera, a multi-year plan of interwoven themes and series including: Seminal Works of Modern Times; The Faust Project; Composer Portrait: Janacek/Berlioz; Women Outside of Society: Laws Unto Themselves; Metamorphosis: From Fairy Tales to Nightmares; Utopia in the Age of Enlightenment; and Outsiders or Pioneers?: The Nature of the Human Condition.
Incorporated within the production programming of Animating Opera are the American stage premieres of Olivier Messiaen's Saint Francois d'Assise and Gyorgy Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, and a new commission entitled Doctor Atomic scheduled for the 2005-06 Season.
San Francisco Opera boasts the world's most comprehensive array of training programs and performance opportunities for young artists under the auspices of the San Francisco Opera Center. Led by Sheri Greenawald, the Opera Center administers the Merola Opera Program, Adler Fellowship Program, Showcase Series, Schwabacher Debut Recitals, Brown Bag Opera and Educational Programs.
In San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area, San Francisco Opera has many programs intended to educate and introduce the public to opera. Through programs facilitated by our education and outreach division, in-school and in-theater educational activities, along with teacher training served over 40,000 Californians during the 2003-04 Season.
Each year San Francisco Opera also presents several free concerts: Opera in the Park, taking place each year in Golden Gate Park, Opera in the Gardens at Yerba Buena Gardens located in down town San Francisco, and Brown Bag Opera created in 1974 to provide free, live operatic entertainment in shopping malls, schools, city parks, retirement homes, hospitals, downtown courtyards and the San Francisco International Airport. Through these free concerts, the Company is able to reach thousands of Bay area residents.
