Opera artists to perform in San Francisco Golden Gate Park

A happy crowd likely will gather in Golden Gate Park on Sept. 8 for San Francisco Operas annual free Opera in the Park concert. (Courtesy Cory Weaver)

This is the weekend for grand opera you don't have to drain your wallet to enjoy. 

San Francisco Opera, which opens its 106th season Friday night at War Memorial with a production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" closes out the weekend Sunday afternoon with its free Opera in the Park, an annual extravaganza that brings the orchestra, conductor Eun Sun Kim and many of the new season's singing stars to a sunny stage in Golden Gate Park's Robin Williams Meadow. The concert begins at 1:30 p.m., and there will be plenty of room to set up lawn chairs or spread picnic baskets. 

The program consists of selections from the works of Bizet, Gounod, Meyerbeer, Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and musical theater composers. Performers include American tenor Michael Fabiano, who plays Gustav III in "Un Ballo," Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian and Mongolian baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat, who star as Amelia and Renato respectively, along with a host of other singers appearing in San Francisco Opera productions this season. 

Find out more about the company's new season at www.sfopera.com.    

This story was first published on LocalNewsMatters.org, an affiliated nonprofit site supported by Bay City News Foundation.