Photo Flash: San Francisco Opera's ANDREA CHENIER

San Francisco Opera's 2016-17 Season opens Friday, September 9 with a gala performance of Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier in a new production by Sir David McVicar. Company Music Director Nicola Luisotti leads a stellar cast, including three international stars making their San Francisco Opera debuts in the demanding lead roles: South Korean tenor YongHoon Lee in the title role, Italian soprano Anna Pirozzi as Maddalena di Coigny and Georgian baritone George Gagnidze as Carlo Gérard. The opening night festivities are distinguished by San Francisco Opera Guild's glamorous Opera Ball 2016: La Révolution et L'Amour and BRAVO! Club's Annual Opening Night Gala. The opening of the Company's 94th season also marks the beginning of Matthew Shilvock's inaugural season as General Director. Shilvock is the seventh General Director in the Company's history.

Last performed by San Francisco Opera in 1992, Giordano's powerful opera about lovers caught up in the turbulence of the French Revolution returns in a new staging by the director whose productions of Berlioz's Les Troyens and Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg thrilled San Francisco Opera audiences in 2015. Sir David McVicar's lavish, period interpretation of Andrea Chénier, with sets designed by Robert Jones and costumes designed by Jenny Tiramani, is a co-presentation with London's Royal Opera, Covent Garden and the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing. When unveiled in London in January 2015, McVicar's staging was praised as "a 'realistic' picture of 18th-century France as it passes from gilded ancien régime splendour to stern revolutionary austerity" (The Telegraph). This vivid realization of Giordano's passionate tale of love and idealism under the looming shadow of the guillotine will be personally directed by McVicar in its United States premiere at San Francisco Opera.

Filled with soaring arias and duets, including one of the most thrilling finales in all of opera, Andrea Chénier explores this critical period in French history through the love triangle of the patriotic poet Chénier, based on a historical figure who was sent to the guillotine during the Reign of Terror, the young aristocrat Maddalena di Coigny and Carlo Gérard, a servant who rises to become a revolutionary leader and who controls the couple's fate. South Korean tenor YongHoon Lee, "dramatically intense and vocally elegant" (The New York Times), makes his San Francisco Opera debut in the title role, a favorite among tenors for its passionate, show-stopping arias. The exciting Italian soprano Anna Pirozzi, who "wins hearts and minds through fearsome dramatization and thrilling vocal power" (The Financial Times), performs the role of Maddalena, including her poignant Act III aria, "La mamma morta" ("They killed my mother"). The commanding Georgian baritone George Gagnidze performs arguably the work's most complex character, Carlo Gérard. In the aria "Nemico della Patria?" ("An enemy of the state?"), Gérard is torn between honor and his love for Maddalena and makes a decision that seals Chénier's fate.

Giordano populated his opera with several important character roles, each bringing realistic touches to the romantic narrative and revealing how the Revolution affected all aspects of French life. African-American mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges, a veteran of Lyric Opera of Chicago, will make her San Francisco Opera debut as Bersi. Canadian bass Robert Pomakov portrays the revolutionary Mathieu, baritone David Pershall makes his Company debut as Chénier's friend Roucher and tenor Joel Sorensen is L'Incredibile, a revolutionary spy. San Francisco Opera Chorus Director Ian Robertson leads the Company's acclaimed chorus in the crowd scenes that punctuate the work.

Now in his eighth season as San Francisco Opera Music Director, Nicola Luisotti conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus in this season-opening run of Giordano's enduring favorite. Luisotti led acclaimed performances last season of Lucia di Lammermoor, Luisa Miller and Don Carlo at San Francisco Opera. During the 2015 summer season, he conducted the world premiere performances of Italian composer Marco Tutino's Two Women (La Ciociara). Other recent engagements include Rigoletto at Madrid's Teatro Real and Milan's Teatro alla Scala, Il Trittico and La Traviata at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and Rigoletto at Opéra Bastille in Paris.

Andrea Chénier was the second opera to be presented by the Company during its inaugural season when it was conducted by San Francisco Opera founder Gaetano Merola. The September 27, 1923 performance starred the famous tenor Beniamino Gigli as Chénier, the first in a proud succession of leading tenors to sing the title role with the Company, including Giovanni Martinelli (1930), Mario Del Monaco (1950-1959), Richard Tucker (1955-1965), Franco Corelli (1965) and Plácido Domingo (1975).

Sung in Italian with English supertitles, the six performances of Andrea Chénier are scheduled for September 9 (8 p.m.), September 14 (7:30 p.m.), September 17 (7:30 p.m.), September 22 (7:30 p.m.), September 25 (2:00 p.m.) and September 30 (7:30 p.m.), 2016.

- See more at: http://sfopera.com/about-us/press-room/press-releases/Andrea-Chenier-2016/#sthash.M11G3Lwa.dpuf

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