Opera in the Park

Awesome show, come early to watch rehearsal and find parking early on. I saw many cars bump trying to squeeze parking. Public transportation highly recommend, and wear layered clothes. It’s San Francisco!

Love it! What a great gift to the people of SF. This is an experience for everybody to share.

Spending a warm late-​summer afternoon in Sharon Meadow listening to operatic stars singing beautiful music under a clear blue sky is about as good as it gets. We arrived about 15 minutes before show time and had no trouble finding good seats for two but larger groups will want to arrive earlier to secure prime seating and a good view. It was very warm and sunny so I’m glad we had some strong sun block. We ended up parking at the UCSF Parnassus Campus’s Millberry Union Public Garage, 500 Parnassus Avenue, located across from the Medical Sciences Building. You can take an elevator from your parking level all the way down to Irving Street. I think you can enter on Irving Street as well. See you next year!
This year’s announcement:
This year’s program:

While I’m on the opera theme, Opera in the Park is a wonderful way to spend a day, sprawled out on a blanket, enjoying wine and snacks, while listening to operatic wonders.
I think I’ll go again next year.

Oh my, this was so much fun! I did not get stampeded over and practically got a free opera ticket!

There are 3 things that have been consistent on my mental calendar.
Mothers’ Day, always the 2^nd Sunday in May. Fathers’ Day, always the third Sunday in June and Opera in the Park, always the second Sunday in September. Throughout the last 15 years or so, my friends, wherever they have scattered to come home for our annual outing of Opera in the Park. Golden Gate Park is beautiful in itself, but combined with the Opera makes the perfect Sunday. So pack up a picnic, bring lots of wine, sunblock and get there «early» for lawn access. To sum it up — Opera in the Park is fun, fantastic and free!!!
And the new italian maestro is «wonderful» and very visual.. .

Bring your picnic, your vino, your blanket, your jacket, your sunglasses. Anything is possible at Opera in the Park. Be sure to send an advance party to set up camp, and bring a balloon or signpost so the others can find you.
You will be rewarded with one of the best San Francisco experiences of all time.

love the smell and feel of professional ballpark grass. and it was so cool being able to walk on the field and spread out for a picnic. (you have to get there early to get on the field though. i don’t know if the experience would be the same if i was sitting in the seats)
opera in the park is free and fantastic! even if you are not a fan of opera or can’t understand what is going on (i had to wikipedia it to follow the plot. lol), the experience is something everyone in the bay area should try.
i like the hot chocolate servers walking around in their huge packs and armed with whipped cream. it gets nippy toward the end of the night and the hot chocolate really hits the spot!

Hands down!, the best thing I’ve ever been to in the Park!
Forget the boats on Stowe Lake, the Tea Garden, etc., this was the quintessence of a San Francisco day. Weird warm and sprinkling weather on a summer day, coupled with free amazing aria opera in the park, wonderful mix of people and lots of bud in the air.
I just doesn’t get any better!
~ Ms. Ali

It doesn’t get better than live Opera outside in the park in San Francisco on a summer day. Bring a bottle of champagne and a blanket, lay out on the grass, close your eyes and enjoy. Even non-​fans of opera will enjoy these special, free, outside concerts.

I’m not one to seek out opera as a form of entertainment normally, but I must say, once given the opportunity to enjoy opera for free on a gorgeous sunny, Sunday afternoon in the Park, I was glad that friends coordinated this day out. I was thoroughly impressed with the operatic performances that literally sent goosebumps up my arms as the singers hit notes and tunes that were altogether surprising and moving. Bravo!

As one of those people that attends each opera in the opera house, I so enjoy getting out of that place and enjoying opera in the park and at the ball park. It’s not a stodgy event but rather an excuse for a picnic. You can walk around and people watch while you listen to the wonderful music.
I saw Opera in the Park at Dolores Park, so there are multiple locations for opera in the park at various times of the year.

What a fabulous way to spend an afternoon! This was my first time attending the event and had the luck of linking up with my alumni group for a potluck… and the benefit of having someone else staking out space on the lawn.
Happily lounging in our camping chairs, my sister and I munched on food (mmmmm…lemon pound cake… red velvet cupcakes… raspberry brownies) and read the paper between the rehearsal and the actual show.
It was great having the MC provide a little bit of info for those of us new to opera. There were some amazing performances and I’m glad I had stopped by the SF Opera tent to pick up the schedule for the season.
The weather was classic SF and just about perfect for sitting around in Sharon Meadow listening to beautiful arias (or whatever the proper plural is) waft through the park.
The meadow was packed and we were very glad that we had taken the bus. Parking must have been a bitch for those who drove. Can’t wait for Opera at the Ballpark and seeing a couple performances this season.

Call it the «SF Opera Preview/​Sampler». Although the performances jump around a bit, from Appomattox to The Magic Flute, the announcer did a great job of giving a bit of context to each piece. And when the pigeons resting on the Sharon Art Center all took flight and circled around the stage in tune to the music … well, outdoor performances just don’t get much cooler.
Casual grassy-​hillside seating. (Beware of … well, where dogs or homeless may have marked their territory.) Great people-​watching. A few food vendors if you forgot to pack a picnic.
Minus one star for the … ahem … previously mentioned territory-​marking, and for the helicopters circling overhead. I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and presume that they were medical choppers heading to UCSF, not obnoxious TV reporters trying to get a good shot (and disrupting the event).
Oh, and it’s FREE.

It was overcast this morning, and normally that kind of thing would tempt me to flake on going to an event like this (sitting on the grass and shivering = not my idea of a good time). But I went, and I’m so happy I did, because it was lovely (and really not that cold). Arriving at 12:30, we got a spot up on the hill, far from the stage but with a nice vantage point. The crowd was mellow and well behaved and the music was beautiful — and now I’m inspired enough to look into going to see an opera for real.
As one would expect, there was a moment of silence for Pavarotti — it was quite moving.

To me, Opera in the Park is more than just hanging in the park with friends, some wine and a picnic on a gorgeous day.
The word that pops into my head?
«Sing-​a-​Long».
I know, it’s just wrong…
I guess that could be considered a warning to the unfortunate few who dare to include me in their gathering at this event.
Fortunately for the people I was meeting there, I only caught the tail end of this. I really wish I had arrived earlier. :sigh: next year…

Kati K. nails this one.
Opera in the park is so quintessentially San Francisco. Gather your friends, spread out the blanket, pour the wine, and listen gleefully.

Opera in the Park is perhaps my favorite local event. Each year I look forward to packing a picnic (meatloaf sandwiches were this year’s hit) and gathering outside with my friends to enjoy the music.
Unlike Stern Grove, you can actually get a seat here (with enough room to stretch your legs or *gasp* lay down!) even if you only arrive an hour or so early.
Opera in the Park is one of the myriad reasons I am completely, madly in love with San Francisco.

Beautiful music enjoyed al fresco, there is nothing better. Think Glyndebourne, Tanglewood, Ravinia… wherever your travels may have led you in the quest for a picnic/​concert combo.
There are a few things that separate Opera in the Park from these other organizations, and the biggest one is ACCESSIBILITY. It is so incredibly easy and painless to attend this event, and it is well worth it.
Sharon Meadow is a vast expanse of flat grassy goodness, with plenty of room behind the main lawn and to the sides to accommodate late-​comers. Parking is a cinch near GG Park, and if you can’t be bothered to look for a spot, the Kezar lot is available for $ 8 and is very close by. Dogs are allowed, which gives it a slight edge over Stern Grove. And on sunny days, it’s warm. The acoustics are very good, so that even when the guy behind you has a full-​length cell-​phone conversation with his mother about taking her car into the shop, you can still hear the performance with no problem.
I love how the program is a preview to the upcoming season, so not only does it serve a purpose in selling opera tickets, you get a mix-​tape equivalent of the best of the new shows. There’s no one story to follow, so you can just lie back and take in the beautiful sound of each singer’s voice and appreciate the music itself.
At the end, you get to try out your vocal cords and sing along. Interactive opera, for the frustrated soloist in all of us — how wonderful is that?
This is my second year attending Opera in the Park, and I will gladly go again. It’s a nice way to bid farewell to summer and welcome the fall with a bit of laid-​back culture.
Final note: When I arrived, I noticed that there were a fair amount of homeless people around the perimeter of the lawn — upon leaving, there was a couple hovering over a garbage can polishing off what looked like a Mollie Stone’s roasted chicken with nearly full containers of side dishes. EVERYONE gets something out of Opera in the Park, even a gourmet meal. And the ecosystem continues…

If Tony Randall was still alive, I’m sure he would set up a table here with a white tablecloth, a bottle of aged Pinot and a crusty baguette. And I would be the one three rows behind him on the ragged blanket about to throw the remains of my Big Mac at him to get him to sit on the ground like the rest of us.
Opera in the Park is a great 33-​year old tradition, a free celebration of the San Francisco Opera’s new productions for the coming season. The masses start gathering at 10AM with their picnic baskets and blankets just as the performers start to rehearse. The actual performance doesn’t start until 1:30 at which point Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein comes out to tell us how attractive we are and lucky to have this event. Well, one out of two isn’t bad. When I see him, I always think of the toe-​eating incident with the komodo dragon and whether he has ever gotten over Sharon Stone. If he bothered seeing «Basic Instinct 2», he would be… such a botoxic piece of crap.
Having loved last year’s performance which had stellar headliners like countertenor David Daniels (he’s in one of the pics in my profile) and baritone Gerald Finley, I thought this year’s was a bit lackluster in the star department. The only name I recognized was zaftig soprano Christine Brewer, who got to sing Dona Ana’s famous aria, «Non mi dir» from Mozart’s «Don Giovanni» and a sauntering cover of «Come Rain or Come Shine» (for what reason, I haven’t a clue).
The rest were fine but honestly, hardly anyone sticks to my memory. Soprano Melody Moore did a nice job on an aria from Puccini’s «Manon Lescaut», while bass-​baritone Kristinn Signmundsson was a big ol’ piece of Swedish ham tackling Don Basilio’s comic «La calunnia» from Rossini’s «The Barber of Seville».
As is tradition every year, it all ends with a rousing version of the toast song, «Libiamo» from Verdi’s «La Traviata» where we all held onto our placards with the lyrics in order to sing along. However, tenor Vale Rideout (cool name) was using such tricked-​out phrasing that no one could keep up. The audience was polite but hardly the raucous crowd from days of yore. It’s too bad since the weather actually behaved well today with the sun coming out just a half-​hour before the official performance.
The big deal this year is that Pamela Rosenberg has left her long-​time post as director of the SF Opera, so David Gockley, the new director, made his first public appearance He sounded like he was reading cue cards even though it was apparent he was not. As for me, I just got bloated on the cheap brie I brought. If you missed it today, you should go next year. It’s free and the talent is top-​notch. Parking was not bad as I found an empty space on the street no more than two blocks away from the park.