San Francisco Opera

San Francisco Opera is an opera company in San Francisco, United States, presenting classical and contemporary works at the War Memorial Opera House with international singers and orchestra. The theater seats more than three thousand and offers multiple productions per season with rotating casts and stagings.

Gaetano Merola founded the company in 1923, establishing it as the third largest opera organization in North America. The group moved into the newly built War Memorial Opera House on Van Ness Avenue in 1932, where it still performs today.

The opera house organizes the free Opera in the Park concert at Golden Gate Park each year, attracting thousands of visitors. The performance allows audiences to experience arias and ensemble scenes from the upcoming season in a relaxed outdoor setting, introducing opera singers to the public without a ticket barrier.

The season runs from September through July, with performances on select evenings and weekend matinees at 301 Van Ness Avenue. The theater is located in the Civic Center and is well served by public transit, with limited street parking nearby.

The company has commissioned and premiered twenty-one new operas, contributing to the growth of the American opera repertoire. Many of these works were later adopted by other opera houses across North America and Europe, expanding the canon beyond traditional European material.