San Francisco Opera Announces Five-Year Contract Extension Through 2031 with Music Director Eun Sun Kim
San Francisco, CA (October 17, 2024) — San Francisco Opera Tad and Dianne Taube General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced the contract extension of Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim. With this five-year extension through the 2030–31 Season, Kim will continue to shape the musical vision of San Francisco Opera into its second century. This will include her initiative to conduct major operas by two of the art form’s most important composers—Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner—each season, continuing next fall with a brand-new production of Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal, leading to Wagner’s monumental Ring cycle in a future season.
The fourth music director in San Francisco Opera’s 102-year history, Seoul-born Eun Sun Kim began her music directorship in the fall of 2021, leading the Company’s reemergence from the global pandemic and into its historic 2022–23 Centennial Season.
“This is a joyous day for San Francisco Opera as we look out to a thrilling future of music-making with Eun Sun Kim,” said Matthew Shilvock. “Eun Sun is shaping our artistry in such compelling ways, breathing exuberance, sensitivity and humanity into every score she takes on and allowing us to hear each work as though for the first time. It is a privilege to partner with Eun Sun on carrying forward the extraordinary legacy of San Francisco Opera and shaping it anew as we take the Company into its second century. Under her leadership, we feel with such awe these vast arcs of human creation. It’s exciting to envision what lies ahead, particularly in her exploration of the works of Wagner.”
“We work in an art form that has been told, every day for hundreds of years, that it is on the precipice of an existential crisis. And yet, opera endures,” said Eun Sun Kim. “Thanks to the unwavering dedication of orchestras and choruses, artists and makers, administrators and audiences, we are able to create and share moments of collective transformation. In honor of those who believe, as I do, that the work we do matters deeply, I have accepted the offer to renew my commitment to San Francisco Opera. I am honored each day that we strive together for the highest artistic quality, and I look forward to undertaking my first Ring cycle here in the coming years. Every performance on the War Memorial stage builds on the storied legacy of this historic company, reaffirming our purpose and bolstering our art form for the future.”
As Music Director, Kim works closely with General Director Matthew Shilvock and Managing Director: Artistic Gregory Henkel on repertoire and casting. She is a key member of the Company’s creative leadership, helping to shape the artistic direction of the Company’s second century. In her time as Music Director, in addition to programming the Wagner and Verdi initiative, Kim launched the Centennial Season with a star-studded gala concert and the world premiere of John Adams’ newest opera, Antony and Cleopatra. She has overseen a number of important orchestra and music staff appointments and has brought donors and audience members closer to the musical inner workings of the Company.
Following “a company debut of astonishing vibrancy and assurance” (San Francisco Chronicle) leading Dvořák’s Rusalka in June 2019, Eun Sun Kim was appointed Music Director Designate in December 2019 in a move the New York Times called “pathbreaking.” This month in San Francisco, Kim leads Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde (October 19–November 5) for the first time and conducts a sold-out performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, honoring the work’s 200th anniversary, on October 26.
In connection with Tristan and Isolde, the Company recently released a new film by San Francisco Opera and Lumahai Productions, Eun Sun Kim: A Journey Into Lohengrin. The “absorbing and insightful” (San Francisco Chronicle) film takes viewers behind the scenes during the weeks of rehearsal leading up to the opening of Wagner’s Lohengrin last October. It follows Kim, the artists and production team as they meet the formidable challenges of this musical Mount Everest to deliver “radiant” (San Francisco Chronicle) performances. The film will be broadcast on KQED 9 on Friday, November 1 at 8 p.m. and is available now for free streaming at sfopera.com/digital and YouTube.
PREMIERE TRISTAN aND ISOLDE OCTOBER 19, 2024
further performances on October 23/27 and November 1/5 , 2024
Anja Kampe as Isolde
Simon O´Neill as Tristan
Wolfgang Koch as Kurwenal
Kwangchul Youn König Marke