San Francisco Opera Ball being held at City Hall next week

All right, well, the San Francisco Opera Ball is coming to San Francisco City Hall. It is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the opera. And for more to talk about this, let's welcome Matthew Sheldrake, the general director of the San Francisco Opera, and Sydney Leung with the Opera Ball. Thanks for coming in today. Thank you for having us. Of course. Tell us about the Opera Ball. I hear there's some really unique attractions like it. Typewriter, poet? That's right. Well, the opera is our biggest fundraiser, supporting the opera and the Opera Guild, which focuses on education. And it's one of the funnest parties. After the ball, we're going to be at the City Hall in the Rotunda with red carpet, cocktail tastings, but also, like you said, the poet on the spot. We're going to have some poet trying to write a poetry for you with your prom. We have some temporary tattoo. Also, you can find your opera alter ego, of course, with cocktail tastings. It's going to be a fun, fun night. Yeah, so a lot of fun, but it also serves a very important purpose. Matthew, tell us what the Opera Ball means for the opera. it's wonderful coming together of the community to celebrate these great cultural institutions and the opera the opera guild and the creativity that these institutions make possible across the city it's a wonderful celebration of the importance of arts in the bay area and as Sydney said it's going to be a wonderful and fun and festive evening but again at the core of it is celebrating creativity supporting the artists supporting the education projects that really bring people together around these amazing stories that we tell on the opera stage. You mentioned it's also a fundraiser for the Opera Guild, the education arm. A lot of people may not be familiar with that. Tell us about it. So the Opera Guild is a longtime partner with us for many decades, and they serve about 60,000 students all across the Bay Area, across Northern California with incredible programs that bring children into the actual making of opera and inspire these lifelong passions for the arts, for opera. They are wonderful partners with us. Let's talk about the 2026-2027 season. 2027 season that is underway. Marriage of Figaro. There's still eight performances left up to Thanksgiving. Why is this classic Mozart comedy still so resonant today? This is one of the most amazing operas ever written and it's sustained so much because it's just about us. It's about human beings trying to find their way through the world, through life, through love, through the challenges of being in a relationship and through what it means to Find your way through that and ultimately forgive and move forward. And that music is just sublime. The arias, the duets allow us to find ourselves in this piece. We have an exquisite cast, a great conductor, and this production which translates the piece into early America in the 1780s. So it's perfect for this. So a different setting. Yes. It makes it even more relatable. Exactly. Plus a lot of the songs and the music are... have been incorporated into popular culture, so they're familiar for people. Right. One of the great classics is the, there's a duet between the two sopranos in the opera, which is the piece that's used in the Shawshank Redemption when he puts the LP on the turntable and fills the prison with music. That's the beautiful duet from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. Along with that, there's also a Strauss concert happening tonight. Tell us about that. Tonight, exactly. This very evening, the orchestra takes to the stage with our music director, to Anson Kim and a program of Strauss, Richard Strauss, one of the great opera and symphonic composers, beautiful, lush music, just music that you can just luxuriate in, and including his Four Last Songs, which is one of the most... Perfect pieces of music ever written with a wonderful new up-and-coming soprano, Kathleen O'Mara. So, yes, if you don't have plans tonight, come and celebrate some glorious Strauss with us at the Opera House. I know the San Francisco Opera has a lot of long-time dedicated members and patrons. But for people who may be on the fence or maybe have never been to the opera before, what would you say to them to get them to the Opera Ball and then to get them to a performance? I think for me, the Opera Ball is just a fun celebration of the city. And, you know, with friends and fellows. But also for me the opera is really the ultimate comprehensive art form you. Finding ourselves in art and understanding who we are in the world, coming together with other people, being in this beautiful building that San Francisco boasts, the War Memorial Opera House, and coming and seeing one of the great opera companies in the world. San Francisco is home to so many amazing arts companies, and just the more people can come and be a part of these cultural events, I hope people will come out and celebrate all the arts in San Francisco. So much arts and culture here. It's important to keep it going. Matthew and Sydney, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much, San Francisco Opera, for coming and talking to us about the Opera Ball, which is happening next Thursday, November 12th. Still tickets available. That's right. Good to know. Thank you. Thank you, Ali. All right. We will send it there. Actually, here's a live picture of San Francisco City Hall, which is where the Opera Ball will be taking place on November 12th, as you heard Sydney say here. So tickets available if you want to enjoy that fun party and support. One of San Francisco's oldest cultural and artistic institutions. We'll be right back.