San Francisco Opera

Gaetano Merola (1923–1953)[edit]

Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when he first visited the city.^[1] In 1909, he returned as the conductor of the International Opera Company of Montreal, one of the many visiting troupes that frequented the bustling city. Continued visits over the next decade convinced him that an opera company in San Francisco was viable.


Merola moved back into the city in 1921 while living with Mrs. Oliver Stine's support Oliver Stine. He drafted plans for a new, locally-owned opera company that would not rely on visiting troupes, a common practice for some opera companies since the Gold Rush. By the next year, Merola organized a trial season at Stanford University.^[2] The first performance occurred in the Stanford Cardinal's football stadium on June 3, 1922, with operatic tenor Giovanni Martinelli performing in Pagliacci, Carmen, and Faust.


The five-day season's lacked any financial success; Merola instead successfully raised funds for a full season of opera in the following year. Following this, the first unaffiliated performance given by the San Francisco Opera was La bohème, with Queena Mario and Giovanni Martinelli, on September 26, 1923, in the city's Civic Auditorium.


In subsequent years, SFO would perform a wide array of Italian operas, rarely performing a given opera more than once. SFO seasons seldom lasted more than two months, and occasionally performed less than one month. The 1923-24 season included productions of Andrea Chénier and Mefistofele with Beniamino Gigli, Tosca with Giuseppe De Luca and Martinelli, and Verdi's Rigoletto with Queena Mario, De Luca, and Gigli.


During the nine years following the opening season, the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House was designed by Arthur Brown Jr.