Carrie-Ann Matheson

San Francisco Opera Center Artistic Director

Carrie-Ann Matheson has a multi-faceted international career as a pianist, conductor and educator.  She is currently the Artistic Director of the world-renowned San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program. A native of Canada, Matheson began her career at the Metropolitan Opera, working as assistant conductor, prompter, pianist and vocal coach.  Following a long tenure at the Met, she joined the conducting and coaching staff at Opernhaus Zurich, and also worked at festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiele and the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival.  

Especially in demand as a recital pianist, her collaborations have brought her to the great stages of the world with many of the world’s leading opera singers, including Piotr Beczała, Benjamin Bernheim, Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, Jonas Kaufmann and Rolando Villazón.  In August 2024, her debut CD “Douce France” with tenor Benjamin Bernheim will be released on the prestigious Deutsche Grammophone label.

Ms. Matheson is passionate about nurturing the next generation of opera singers and pianists, and in addition to her work in San Francisco, she is a masterclass clinician and guest coach at leading institutions worldwide.  Her collaborations have included the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio,  International Opera Studio (Opernhaus Zürich), Atkins Young Artist Program (The Mariinsky Theatre), Lindemann Young Artist Development Program (The Metropolitan Opera), Ryan Opera Center (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Music Academy of the West, Aspen Music Festival and the International Vocal Arts Institute.   She is currently also a member of the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. 

Ms. Matheson assisted such conductors as James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, and Gianandrea Noseda, before making her conducting debut in 2015 at Opernhaus Zürich, where she has conducted works such as La Finta Giardiniera, Don Pasquale and Iphigénie en Tauride, among others.  In addition to her work with opera singers, she has performed in chamber music concerts with members of the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and Philharmonia Zürich. 

Ms. Matheson holds degrees from the University of Prince Edward Island (B.Mus.Ed), the Cleveland Institute of Music (M.Mus in Collaborative Piano),  the Manhattan School of Music (Professional Studies Diploma in Vocal Accompanying) and is an alumna of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

She has served as juror for competitions including the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition, The Butler International Vocal Competition, the Schmidt Vocal Arts Competition and the Richard Tucker Foundation Auditions.

Recent and upcoming engagements for Ms. Matheson include recitals at prestigious venues across the world, including Teatro alla Scala (Milan Italy),  the Munich Opera Summer Festival (Munich, Germany), the Verbier Festival (Verbier, Switzerland), the Vienna State Opera  (Vienna, Austria), Opéra de Paris (Paris, France) and Opera de Monte-Carlo (Monaco), among others.

In addition to her work onstage and in the opera rehearsal room, Ms. Matheson is an International Coaching Federation certified personal and leadership coach, specializing in working with artists who are striving to achieve their full potential.