Pocket Opera is a professional
chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's '' Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas such as Pergol ...
company based in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
that presents staged chamber productions of operas sung in English. The company, founded in 1978, offers performances of both famous and lesser-known selections of operatic literature, accompanied by its chamber orchestra the Pocket Philharmonic. Since its inception, Pocket Opera has developed a repertoire that now includes over 90 operas. Pocket Opera’s season typically runs from March through July and includes four to five productions. Its current artistic director is Nicolas A. Garcia.
History
The company’s founder and Artistic Director Emeritus,
Donald Pippin began creating English performance translations of opera libretti in the 1960s, which led to the founding of Pocket Opera. These accessible, highly singable, and often witty settings now include over 70 operas, and form the backbone of Pocket Opera’s productions. They have also been used by other companies, including Washington National Opera, San Francisco Opera Center, San Diego Opera, Juilliard School of Music, Aspen Music Festival, and companies in Canada, The UK, and Australia. Performance scores of Pippin’s translations are archived at Stanford University, and are available for rent through Pocket Opera.
Venues
Pocket Opera’s San Francisco venue is the historic Gunn Theater at the
Legion of Honor museum
The Legion of Honor, formally known as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, is an art museum in San Francisco, California. Located in Lincoln Park, the Legion of Honor is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which ...
. The company also regularly performs at the
Hillside Club
The Hillside Club is a neighborhood social club established in 1898 by residents of Berkeley, California's newly formed Northside neighborhood to protect the hills from unsightly grading and unsuitable buildings. It took its cue from the Arts a ...
in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
, and at various venues on the Peninsula and the North Bay.
References
External links
Official WebsiteJoshua Kosman of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' on Pocket Opera (April 22, 2002)Review of Pocket Opera's ''Rigoletto'' (July 7, 2006)Donald Pippin article at SF Classical Voice (April 13, 2010)
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California opera companies
Musical groups established in 1978
Musical groups from San Francisco
1978 establishments in California