San Francisco Opera's MEFISTOFELE Comes to DVD and Blu-ray Next Week

Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele, in one of the most impressive productions ever seen at the War Memorial Opera House, comes to audiences on DVD and Blu-ray on September 30, 2014 in San Francisco Opera's latest video release in partnership with EuroArts Music International. An illustrious international cast-led by Ildar Abdrazakov, Ramón Vargas and Patricia Racette-brings Boito's retelling of the Faust tale to life in this spectacular production conceived by Robert Carsen and conducted by Music Director Nicola Luisotti. Distributed worldwide by Naxos on September 30, 2104, the DVD and Blu-ray recordings will be available from all major retailers and the San Francisco Opera Shop (shop.sfopera.com).

Recorded live in October 2013, Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov, whose "voice is massive...his singing...piping hot, precise and stinging" (San Jose Mercury News) is Mefistofele. In his staged role debut, "Abdrazakov is stunning in the title role. The voice is bright and burly-and so is Mr. Abdrazakov. He is charismatic, dramatically clever and (with red tails in the sunset) the ultimate tempter and tease" (Huffington Post). Mexican tenor Ramón Vargas, who gave "a superbly florid and eloquent account of his dying aria" (San Francisco Chronicle), also makes his fully staged role debut as Faust, the forlorn philosopher who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for perpetual youth. "As the inquiring Faust, cad though the character may be, Ramón Vargas is Heaven-sent" (Huffington Post). American soprano Patricia Racette, "whose singing was a tour de force" (San Jose Mercury News), appears as both Margherita and Elena. Racette "is a wonder...she sings fabulously and becomes the role on stage -- from the simple country girl to the tragic victim to the glamorous Helen of Troy" (San Francisco Classical Voice).

San Francisco Opera Music Director Nicola Luisotti, who "led a richly colored, sensitively detailed and altogether thrilling account of this wonderful score" (The Classical Review), conducts the acclaimed San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Ian Robertson, San Francisco Opera Chorus Director). "...Heaven itself opens up, as Ian Robertson's mighty Opera Chorus -- 90 strong, plus the cherubim of 30 children choristers -- first whisper from the distance, then shake the rafters...advancing toward the audience in a phalanx of crowned, masked angels" (San Francisco Examiner).

Conceived by Robert Carsen (originally co-produced by San Francisco Opera and the Grand Théâtre de Genève and receiving its premiere in Geneva in 1988 and in San Francisco in 1989), the production, which "imagines the universe as a cosmic theater: Earth, Heaven and Hell, all rolled into one" (San Jose Mercury News), features sets and costumes "imaginative and stunning to behold" (San Jose Mercury News) by Michael Levine and is directed here by Laurie Feldman. "Marshaling forces that include six principals, a chorus of 90, a 30-member children's chorus, 12 ballet dancers and 45 supers, revival director Laurie Feldman...forged crowd scenes so vast and various that a viewer might well have suspected digital enhancement" (The Classical Review).

Mefistofele is the fourth DVD/Blu-ray release in San Francisco Opera's collaboration with EuroArts Music International (euroarts.com) and Naxos of America (naxosusa.com). The Company's critically lauded productions of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's Moby-Dick and Gaetano Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia were released in October 2013, followed by The Gershwins' Porgy And BessSM in March 2014. Upcoming releases include Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi starring Nicole Cabell and Joyce DiDonato, and Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat directed by Francesca Zambello and featuring an extraordinary ensemble cast spanning the worlds of opera and Broadway including Heidi Stober, Michael Todd Simpson, Patricia Racette, Bill Irwin, Harriet Harris, Morris Robinson and Angela Renée Simpson. For more information and video clips of San Francisco Opera's media releases, go to sfopera.com.

Company Sponsors John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn are proud to support Mefistofele. This production is made possible, in part, by Opening Weekend Grand Sponsor Diane B. Wilsey, The Thomas Tilton Production Fund, and Thomas and Barbara Wolfe. Major support for this production also provided by the Great Interpreters of Italian Opera Fund established by Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem. Nicola Luisotti's appearance made possible by Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem, Chairs, Amici di Nicola of Camerata. Mr. Abdrazakov's, Ms. Racette's, and Mr. Vargas' appearances are made possible by a gift to the Great Singers Fund by Joan and David Traitel.

San Francisco Opera's Mefistofele was recorded live in high-definition utilizing the facilities of the Koret-Taube Media Suite at San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House.

Watch highlights from the production below!

Pictured: Mefistofele - Ildar Abdrazakov (Mefistofele) and Ramón Vargas (Faust). Photo by Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera.