Insider's Guide to the San Francisco Opera (War Memorial Opera House)
December 10, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Act III of Otello. Photo by Terrence McCarthy.
Head north on Van Ness any evening just before dusk, and you're apt to encounter a nattily attired procession filing into the War Memorial Opera House, home of the San Francisco Opera (get directions). The spectacle recalls an earlier, classier time in San Francisco history, when men donned cufflinks and women found regular occasion to break out the gems and pearls.
Generations of San Francisco's well-heeled have scurried across Van Ness since 1932, when the San Francisco Opera — the nation's second largest opera company (next to NYC's Metropolitan Opera) — inaugurated the War Memorial Opera House with a performance of Tosca. Nearly eight decades and countless Tosca's later (not to mention La Boheme's, Madam Butterfly's and Rigoletto's), the opera is still going strong, welcoming some 500,000 visitors a year.
Backstage and Back in Time
This season's robust lineup of ten operas and 75 performances should entice opera aficionados from near and far. If you're new to this time-honored art, whet your whistle on the company's in depth Web site, which offers history, education and advice for first-timers.
Then deepen your experience with a pre-show tour of the War Memorial Opera House, led by one of the opera's trained volunteers docents. The tour takes a look backstage and back in time at the architecture, construction, recent renovations, and storied past of this historic beaux arts building, guiding you through the opera boxes, auditorium, wig, and makeup departments.
About Arts & Minds
Everyone likes some form of art. From a pop song with a memorable hook to an ancient sculpture that survived thanks to its exquisite workmanship, art appeals to the mind and soul. In Arts & Minds, we suggest upcoming events and other activities in San Francisco in the fine arts, performing arts, and everything in between.
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