The Merola Opera program is one of the best kept opera secrets in San Francisco. It is a program for "young" opera singers who are being developed (and discovered) at the beginning of their careers.
I'm not sure when the auditions and training parts of the program occur, but the productions are held in the summer. They are happily presented when the opera itself is dark. My first exposure to the program was when I was attending summer school at Berkeley and we wanted to see a production of The Magic Flute. The Merola Opera was presenting it at a winery in the south bay. A very creditable performance (even without a world-class Queen of the Night) and an unforgettable memory. (My first Magic Flute.)
This summer, Merola presented a number of free programs, as well as a Mozart opera (La Finta Gardinera) that was very reasonably priced. I first enjoyed them out on the lawn at the Yerba Buena Center in July. This was a very nice program, as, instead of presenting single arias from various operas, it presented whole snippets of operas. Perhaps one or two scenes from a given opera.
The one that stole the show was a production of a little known Faust with the scariest and most convincing Mephistopheles I have ever seen. The performer had a powerful bass voice and a commanding and intimidating stage presence. He received, deservedly, a standing ovation.
I was later able to attend the grand finale program in the Opera House. This was an extremely polished production. It was quite amazing what the stage directors were able to achieve with one or two pieces of furniture on the stage, and a couple of well chosen props (a few red flowers, a long trailing stole, etc.).
As with the Yerba Buena outdoor production, the singing was uneven, with far too many shrill sopranos. Interestingly, when one of the shrill sopranos stopped trying to over-project her voice and sang a quiet Handel lament, her sound improved immeasurably. The tenors were, however, all outstanding (a number of them were from China). Many of the male singers, my bass who had previously sung Mephistopheles and another bass-baritone were very fine. read more