San Francisco Opera takes Mozart to the Ballpark

Opera at the Ballpark – Photo: Stefan Cohen

This is the week in which San Francisco Opera and AT&T provide the people of San Francisco and the Bay Area with a wonderful annual gift – the broadcast of an admission-free live performance direct from the stage of the War Memorial Opera House to the big screen at AT&T Park – and this year, the featured opera is Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

Based on the tales of the fictional 17th century libertine Don Juan, the opera tells of Don Giovanni’s exploits in his desire to seduce any woman he chooses, but in the end, his bravado brings about his downfall.

Ildebrando D’Arcangelo as Don Giovanni and Sarah Shafer as Zerlina in Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

 

Scene from Act I of Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

In this production, sung in Italian with English subtitles, the role of the shameless womanizer is sung by Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, in his first performance for the Company. In another debut appearance, soprano Erin Wall sings the role of Donna Anna, soprano Ana María Martínez sings Donna Elvira, and bass Erik Anstine is Leporello.

Leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus (director Ian Robertson) is the illustrious French conductor, Mark Minkowski, making an eagerly-awaited debut with the Company.

Ildebrando D’Arcangelo in the title role and Erik Anstine as Leporello in Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

 

Andrea Silvestrelli as the Commendatore and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo in the title role of Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera

Visit www.sfopera.com for more information, and follow this link to read a preview.

If you’d like to celebrate the joy of opera this Friday, make an evening of it with a group of friends, or treat your family to a grand experience, and head for AT&T Park. The performance starts at 7.30 pm – and you can either sit on the field or in the stands. The gates open at 5.00 pm and if you’d like to go early to get a good spot, register on this link.

Classical KDFC‘s Dianne Nicolini and Hoyt Smith will be your pre-show and intermission hosts, and Beach Blanket Babylon’s Tammy Nelson will lead the crowd in a rendition of Take Me Out to the Opera.

For full information about AT&T Park, including accessibility, parking restrictions and security, visit San Francisco Opera’s AT&T Park information page

San Francisco Opera’s free live simulcast from the War Memorial Opera House takes place at AT&T Park on Friday, June 30, at 7.30 pm. It runs for 3 hours and 20 minutes, including an intermission

 

Source:  San Francisco Opera program notes

 

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