San Francisco Opera's 103rd Season Opens September 5 with Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto
Scenes from Rigoletto (Photos: Cory Weaver); San Francisco Opera Music Director Eun Sun Kim (Photo: Stefan Cohen)
Music Director Eun Sun Kim conducts cast featuring Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Yongzhao Yu, Adela Zaharia, J’Nai Bridges, Peixin Chen
Amartuvshin Enkhbat (Rigoletto), Yongzhao Yu (the Duke), Adela Zaharia (Gilda),
J’Nai Bridges (Maddalena), Peixin Chen (Sparafucile)
Tickets available at (415) 864-3330 and sfopera.com
Saturday, September 13 matinee performance will be livestreamed
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 5, 2025) — San Francisco Opera opens its 103rd season on Friday, September 5 with Opera Ball, the opening night benefit gala co-presented with San Francisco Opera Guild, and Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto (September 5–27), led by Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim.
The story of Rigoletto centers around the titular jester who hurls insults at courtiers for the amusement of the Duke of Mantua. At home, Rigoletto is a loving, protective father to a daughter he keeps hidden from the depraved world at court. When one of the targets of Rigoletto’s cruelty curses him, tragic repercussions follow. The fast-paced action of Verdi’s score, filled with turbulent drama and memorable tunes, like the aria “La donna è mobile,” made the opera a breakout hit in 1851. Rigoletto, which remains one of the composer’s most popular works, marks the beginning of Verdi’s “middle period,” a time when he produced a series of classics in rapid succession, including Il Trovatore (1853), La Traviata (1853) and Un Ballo in Maschera (1859).
Eun Sun Kim, noted for bringing “tonal muscle and stylistic variety” (San Francisco Chronicle) to her performances of Verdi, adds Rigoletto to her initiative to conduct major works by Verdi and Richard Wagner in San Francisco every season. Later this fall, Kim leads San Francisco Opera’s free Opera in the Park concert at Golden Gate Park on September 7, a new production of Wagner’s Parsifal (October 25–November 13) and a one-night-only concert featuring Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and music by Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (November 1). Later in the upcoming season, Kim conducts Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Elektra (June 7–27, 2026) for the first time.
Jose Maria Condemi directs San Francisco Opera’s acclaimed Rigoletto production, which evokes the surreal perspective paintings of Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico through the work of set designer Michael Yeargan, costume designer Constance Hoffman and original lighting designer Mark McCullough, recreated in this revival by San Francisco Opera’s Lighting Director Justin A. Partier. Company Dance Master Colm Seery is the choreographer, and Chorus Director John Keene prepares the artists of the San Francisco Opera Chorus.
The Company debut of Amartuvshin Enkhbat as Renato in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera in 2024 was hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a revelation. The best Verdi baritone we’ve had here in many years.” A native of Sukhbaatar aimag Khalzan in Mongolia, Enkhbat returns as Rigoletto, a pinnacle role of the baritone repertoire which he has performed more than 100 times around the world.
Romanian soprano Adela Zaharia, who portrayed Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni here in 2022 and returned in 2023 as a soloist for San Francisco Opera’s 100th Anniversary Concert, brings her “beautifully timbred voice” (Platea Magazine) to Rigoletto’s daughter, Gilda. Tenor Yongzhao Yu, praised by Opera News for his “thrilling top notes,” makes his house debut as the Duke of Mantua.
Mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, who portrayed Carmen with the Company in 2019 and was featured in San Francisco Opera’s video portrait series, In Song, is Maddalena. Chinese bass Peixin Chen joins the Company as Sparafucile. Chen will return in November to create the role of Supreme Lord Laozi in the world premiere of Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang’s The Monkey King (November 14–30). Baritone Aleksey Bogdanov takes on the role of the aggrieved father, Monterone, who curses Rigoletto, and mezzo Stella Hannock portrays the maid, Giovanna.
The cast includes current San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows Olivier Zerouali (Marullo), Samuel White (Borsa), Jongwon Han (Count Ceprano) and Caroline Corrales (Countess Ceprano). Former Adler Fellow soprano Elisa Sunshine is the Page.
San Francisco Opera has performed Rigoletto in 34 of its previous 102 seasons, beginning with the inaugural season in 1923 when Company founder Gaetano Merola conducted a cast featuring baritone Giuseppe De Luca as Rigoletto, tenor Beniamino Gigli as the Duke and soprano Queena Mario as Gilda. For more information about the history of Rigoletto at San Francisco Opera, visit sfopera.com/archives.
Performed in Italian with English supertitles, the eight performances of Rigoletto are scheduled for September 5 (8 p.m.), 10 (7:30 p.m.), 13 (2 p.m.), 16 (7:30 p.m.), 19 (7:30 p.m.), 21 (2 p.m.), 24 (7:30 p.m.), 27 (7:30 p.m.), 2025.
LIVESTREAM: RIGOLETTO, Saturday, September 13
The Saturday, September 13 matinee performance of Rigoletto will be livestreamed at 2 p.m. PT. The opera will also be available to watch on demand for 48 hours beginning on Sunday, September 14 at 10 a.m. PT. Tickets for the livestream and limited on-demand viewing are $25 or $125 for all six operas of the 2025–26 Season. For tickets and more information about livestreams, visit sfopera.com/digital.
VIVA VERDI! THE COMPOSER WHO SHAPED ITALY’S SOUL—A SYMPOSIUM
Saturday, September 20, 10:30 a.m.—3:30 p.m.
Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture in San Francisco, 2 Marina Boulevard, Building C
Museo Italo Americano, in collaboration with The Leonardo Da Vinci Society, hosts a daylong symposium of lectures, conversations and live music celebrating the powerful art of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. Presentation topics include the young Verdi; La Traviata between myth and modernity; Rigoletto at San Francisco Opera and a conversation about costumes. The symposium will include performances of arias from Verdi’s operas by soprano Eileen Meredith, tenor Chester Pidduck and pianist Ron Borelli. Tickets are $40 for Museo members and $75 general admission (ticket includes lunch). Visit sfmuseo.org/event/verdi.
POST-PERFORMANCE TALKBACK WITH EUN SUN KIM: Sunday, September 21
Following the Sunday, September 21 matinee of Verdi’s Rigoletto, Music Director Eun Sun Kim, who conducts the performance, will host a post-performance talkback in the theater. Ticketholders are invited to gather after the performance for a discussion about the work that goes into producing Verdi’s classic, both on the stage and behind the scenes.
PRE-OPERA TALKS
Conductor and music historian Jessica Bejarano presents a 20-minute overview of Rigoletto beginning 55 minutes prior to each performance for ticketholders. An audio recording of the talk will be made available at sfopera.com/rigoletto.
*For the complete press release, including full cast and calendar, open the PDF version above.