The pairing of Italian operas "Cavalleria Rusticana" ("Rustic Chivalry") and "Pagliacci" ("Clowns") has been famously successful for more than a century.
With little lag time between a hectic summer and new fall season, San Francisco Opera is launching the first productions fully programmed (with one exception) by the administration of General Director Matthew Shilvock.
For American lovers of singing, late summer can be a dry spell, best deployed to clear the ears from the extreme singing that is opera, since more is coming.
Over the past few years, Betsy Wolfe has played major roles in four Broadway musicals: "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," "Bullets Over Broadway," "Falsettos," and "Waitress."
The San Francisco Symphony's 2018-19 season starts next week, marking the next-to-last year of Michael Tilson Thomas' historical term as Music Director.
San Francisco's Merola Opera Program, known for selecting and intensively training some of the most promising young talent in the world, recently finished its 2018 Summer Festival with a Grand Finale at the War Memorial Opera House.
Author Don Shewey is a therapist whose work with gay men concerns issues of sex and intimacy. He has a lot of wisdom and experience to share in his new book "The Paradox of Porn - Notes on Gay Male Sexual Culture" (Joybody Books).
Of the Gilbert & Sullivan "big three," which include "H.M.S. Pinafore" and "The Mikado," "The Pirates of Penzance" or "The Slave of Duty" arguably remains the most popular.
Nonesuch has just released the first recording of "Doctor Atomic," composer John Adams' opera about the Manhattan Project, which had its world premiere from San Francisco Opera in 2005.
