I recently had the honor of accompanying my good friend Gail Stark (Happy Birthday Gail!) – to opening night of the 2007-2008 Opera Season. David Gockley, the new general director of the second largest opera company in North America, is widely considered a breath of fresh air for a San Francisco institution that is actively going after a new generation of Opera Goers.

For Immediate Release January 11, 2006 “SAN FRANCISCO OPERA GENERAL DIRECTOR DAVID GOCKLEY UNVEILS NEW VISUAL IDENTITY FOR THE COMPANY SAN FRANCISCO— The San Francisco Opera today unveiled a new visual identity for the Company, heralding the beginning of a new era under the leadership of David Gockley, who became the Company’s sixth general director on January 1, 2006. Elements of San Francisco Opera’s new image include a new logo, a glamorous and sophisticated new look for the print materials, and a major redesign of the Company’s Web site..”

Having been an occasional patron myself, I am thrilled with the new look and feel for the Opera, designed by our very own ‘internationally acclaimed’ San Francisco based Pentagram Design who has long been a staple owner of the Tehama Lofts at 5th and Tehama. By all accounts there are one or two new lofts coming to market there soon, which is rare for a building that does not see much turnover and is a short walk to the recently opened Barneys in Union Square (scared to cross that threshold, I get in enough trouble with Nieman’s).

Back to my point – this coming Friday you have the opportunity to check out the new look and feel of the Opera for yourself in a slightly less traditional venue, South Beach’s AT&T park. Mr. Gockley, in an ongoing bid to promote Opera awareness, is simulcasting Friday’s Samson and Delilah’s performance onto our very own $3,000,000 High Definition screen – which lets face it has to be better than what’s been showing this season based on the Giants record. I don’t even have the heart to link to those stats.

Back to something more heartening….AT&T park for those who haven’t been, is a beautiful venue, with stellar views of the city. And one of the very few reasons this baseball season was bearable (that and watching history be made on the 7th of August – thanks Matt and Jay).

Tickets are FREE – did I mention FREE? My favorite kind, and as of today are still available. No idea on the seating set up…I’m assuming it’s general admission. The weather Friday night is supposed to be fine.

For tickets and more information go to http://www.sfopera.com/

PS: Gail I’m putting in writing my formal request for your front row Grant Tier Seats if you ever leave the bay area – Shotgun on your Seats!!!

This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 9:29 am and is filed under ATT ballpark, free, opera. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.