SF Opera Kicks Off Season This Weekend

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Opera embarks upon its summer season this weekend, beginning with a production of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" that opens Saturday night at War Memorial.

But far less well-traversed ground follows on Sunday afternoon with the rarely performed Richard Strauss vehicle "Die Frau ohne Schatten," perhaps the most massively cast of his operas, requiring orchestral forces of more than 100 musicians and a list of singers longer than your arm. That German translates to "The Woman Without a Shadow," and it's a whacked-out doozy of a fairy tale story. It revolves around an Empress, the shadowless one of the title and the daughter of the master of the spirit world, who must beg, borrow, steal or otherwise acquire said shadow from a mortal woman (which will allow her to get pregnant, go figure) in order to prevent her father from turning her husband, the Emperor, into stone.

Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund leads an international cast in the title role, with British tenor David Butt Philip singing as the Emperor, and the incomparable Swedish soprano Nina Stemme as the Nurse, a co-conspirator of the Empress in the shadow-grabbing enterprise. Former San Francisco Opera music director Sir Donald Runnicles takes the podium to lead the first "Die Frau" of his career, and the eye-popping sets were designed by the celebrated artist David Hockney.

Performance time is 2 p.m. Sunday, with repeats June 10, June 20, June 23 and June 28, and a livestream available for the June 20 performance for $27.50. Find in-person tickets, $26-$464, and more information at sfopera.com or call 415-864-3330.

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