Jason Victor Serinus

This 2-disc DVD gives the lie to the notion that opera can remain relevant only if the setting is updated to contemporary times. Pier Luigi Pizzi’s historically based, thoroughly modern sets, costumes, and direction for this 2009 production of Claudio Monteverdi ’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria at Teatro Real, Madrid, are so compelling, and the authentic instrument performance by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants is so alive and colorful, that an opera first performed 369 years ago resounds with life and feeling.

In 2008, baritone Mark Delavan sang the first Wotan of his career in San Francisco Opera’s production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Now, at age 51, the Merola graduate returns to our fair city for his second Wotan, that of Die Walküre. Here, he talks about preparing for the life-changing role, coaching, and his most emotionally taxing performances.

How could I not lose myself completely in the wondrous beauty of baritone Eugene Brancoveanu’s voice during the first set of his Sunday afternoon, San Francisco Performances-sponsored recital?

Pamela Z's Baggage Allowance is a sonically and visually layered work that explores baggage in all its literal and metaphorical permutations. With the world premiere on Friday, the composer once again promises to bend genres and defy categorization.

Baritone Matthias Goerne, one of the few truly great lieder singers of our age, has now released four volumes of Harmonia Mundi’s ongoing Matthias Goerne Schubert Edition.