SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Now in its 41st year, the Schwabacher Recital Series, presented by Merola Opera Program and San Francisco Opera Center, returns this spring with a series of three recitals at San Francisco Opera’s Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater (February 13 and April 10) and San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Barbro Osher Recital Hall at the Bowes Center (March 19). The series presents emerging and esteemed artists from around the globe, all alumni or faculty of Merola Opera Program, performing an eclectic selection of song literature in the intimacy of a recital setting.

FEBRUARY 13, TAUBE ATRIUM THEATER

GEORGIANA ADAMS, CAROLINE CORRALES, THOMAS KINCH, SAMUEL KIDD, JULIAN GRABAREK

Curated by Nicholas Phan

The series opens on February 13 with five Merola alumni and second-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows: sopranos Georgiana Adams and Caroline Corrales, tenor Thomas Kinch, baritone Samuel Kidd and pianist Julian Grabarek. The evening’s program, curated by tenor Nicholas Phan, includes works by Amy Beach, Vít?zslava Kaprálová, Rebecca Clarke, Richard Strauss, George Butterworth, Alma Mahler, Claude Debussy and Kurt Weill.

American soprano Georgiana Adams’ San Francisco Opera assignments have included Musetta in Bohème Out of the Box, which traveled to various locations in the Bay Area. She also recently debuted as a featured vocal soloist with San Francisco Ballet in the world premiere of Mere Mortals and joined the Modesto Symphony for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. As a 2023 participant in the Merola Opera Program, Adams performed Anna in scenes from Kevin Puts’ Silent Night in the Schwabacher Summer Concert and scenes by Wagner and Mozart at the Merola Grand Finale concert. She earned her master’s degree in music at The Juilliard School in the spring of 2023 and was awarded the Stephen Novick Grant for Career Advancement. During the 2022–23 Season, she made her Alice Tully Hall debut singing songs by Respighi and her role debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Chautauqua Opera Conservatory.

Praised for her "stunningly sung” (Bay City News) portrayal of Moira in Poul Ruders and Paul Bentley’s The Handmaid’s Tale, American soprano Caroline Corrales also recently performed Musetta in Bohème Out of the Box with San Francisco Opera. Upcoming engagements include Mimì in La Bohème with Opera Naples. As a 2023 participant in the Merola Opera Program, she performed the role of Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia and scenes from Simon Boccanegra (Amelia) and Peter Grimes (Ellen Orford), and later that year she was a featured singer in the Holiday Pops Concert Series with The Boston Pops. Corrales is a former apprentice singer of The Santa Fe Opera and young artist of the Boston University Opera Institute. She holds a Master of Music degree from Boston University and a Bachelor of Music degree from Webster University.

Thomas Kinch is a Welsh tenor whose assignments with San Francisco Opera have included Don José in Carmen, Melot in Tristan und Isolde and First Armored Man in The Magic Flute. As a 2023 Merola Opera Program participant, Kinch sang the title role of Otello in the opera’s second act in the Schwabacher Summer Concert. He recently performed Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth with Paisley Opera/Scottish Opera, returning after performing Turiddu in a 2022 adaptation of Cavalleria Rusticana (A Paisley Kiss), and made his American professional debut as Licinio in Spontini’s La Vestale with Teatro Grattacielo in New York. Kinch was a 2022 Associate Artist for Welsh National Opera and a participant in Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. He was a 2021 new generation artist with Iford Arts, performing Turiddu and Canio in the double bill of Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci. 

Baritone Samuel Kidd’s San Francisco Opera assignments have included Moralès in Carmen, Christiano in Un Ballo in Maschera, a Steersman in Tristan und Isolde, and covering Papageno in The Magic Flute and Ormonte in Partenope. This year he will sing the roles of Papageno and Schaunard (La Bohème) with Opera Naples. A graduate of The Yale School of Music, his recent highlights include Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia as a participant in the 2023 Merola Opera Program; Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore and Tarquinius with Yale Opera; and the title role of Eugene Onegin at Music Academy of the West. He has participated in several prestigious young artist programs and festivals, including Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy, Wolf Trap Opera Studio, Music Academy of the West and Merola Opera Program.

Pianist Julian Grabarek is a recent graduate of the Collaborative Piano program at the University of Michigan. His San Francisco Opera assignments last year included joining the music staff for The Magic Flute, Carmen and Bohème Out of the Box. He was an apprentice vocal coach and pianist in the 2023 Merola Opera Program where he worked on The Rape of Lucretia and Act II from Otello in the Schwabacher Summer Concert and appeared in the recital titled Metamorphosis. In 2023 he was a guest coach and chorus master at the University of Houston for a double bill of Offenbach’s Monsieur Choufleuri and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. As a recitalist, Grabarek performs a wide range of music, from Schubert lieder to Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Grabarek achieved a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Oberlin College and Conservatory.

American tenor Nicholas Phan is an artist with a diverse repertoire that spans nearly 500 years of music and who performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies. An avid recitalist and a passionate advocate for art song and vocal chamber music, in 2010 Phan co-founded Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, an organization devoted to promoting this underserved repertoire. He has created programs for broadcast on WFMT and WQXR and has also served as guest curator with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, San Francisco Opera Center and San Francisco Performances. Phan’s programs often examine themes of identity, highlight unfairly underrepresented voices from history and strive to underline the relevance of music from all periods to the currents of the present day.

MARCH 19, OSHER RECITAL HALL

MICHAEL JOHN BUTLER, OLIVIER ZEROUALI, JULIAN GARVUE, JI YOUN LEE

The second recital, on March 19, features 2024 Merola Opera Program graduates: tenor Michael John Butler, baritone Olivier Zerouali, and pianists Julian Garvue and Ji Youn Lee. The artists will perform in a program comprising songs by Francis Poulenc, Lee Hoiby, Hakjun Yoon, Young-shim Noh, Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss.

American tenor Michael John Butler is poised to emerge as a major contender on the international opera scene, with a voice described as having a "bright, ringing quality throughout his range" and a "plush, resonant middle voice with vibrant high notes" (OperaWire). Butler debuted with Washington National Opera as the Mission Coordinator in Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded and reprised the role in workshop with The Metropolitan Opera. In 2024, he made his international debut as Martin in Copland’s The Tender Land with Teatro Regio di Torino and recently performed Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Merola Opera Program. An alumnus of Des Moines Metro Opera and a Renée Fleming Artist at Aspen Music Festival, Butler has performed Falstaff with Sir Bryn Terfel and the title role of Gounod’s Faust and Rodolfo in La Bohème. A Washington, D.C. native, he is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies at The Juilliard School.

Baritone Olivier Zerouali, a first-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow, was a participant in the 2024 Merola Opera Program where he performed Silvio in a scene from Pagliacci and Malatesta in a scene from Don Pasquale. In 2023 he was Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with the Glimmerglass Festival. His other roles include Robert in Iolanta, Slook in Rossini’s Il Cambiale di Matrimonio, Betto in Gianni Schicchi and Brother in Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Pandolfe in Cendrillon, the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro and Zaretsky/Captain in Eugene Onegin. Zerouali completed his undergraduate studies at SUNY Purchase’s Conservatory of Music, is currently completing his master’s degree at Yale University and has received training with the Merola Opera Program, Glimmerglass Festival, Young Artists Vocal Academy of Houston Grand Opera, Highlands Opera Studio and Berlin Opera Academy.

Pianist/vocal coach Julian Garvue is passionate about music in all its forms. As a first-year Domingo Colburn Stein Young Artist at LA Opera, Garvue will help prepare Così fan tutte and Ainadamar in the spring of 2025. He will also attend Wolf Trap as a Coaching Fellow this summer. In the summer of 2024, Garvue participated in the Merola Opera Program, where he worked with many luminaries of the vocal/piano world such as Carrie-Ann Matheson, Martin Katz, Warren Jones, Kevin Murphy and Mario Marra. While at Merola, he performed harpsichord continuo for Don Giovanni. In 2023, he attended Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara as a fellow of the Lehrer Vocal Institute where he worked as a pianist/coach on MAW’s production of La Bohème. Garvue graduated with both his Master of Music degree and Performer’s Certificate in Collaborative Piano from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

First-year San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Ji Youn Lee is an accomplished pianist who recently completed her Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano at The Juilliard School. She earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the New England Conservatory (NEC). While at NEC, she was awarded first place in the Concerto Competition and performed with the New England Conservatory Symphony. Lee has collaborated with renowned orchestras, including the Brockton Symphony, the Broad Street Orchestra and the Hawaii Symphony. Other notable achievements include prizes from the Duo Competition at the Music Academy of the West, the Ke’alohi International Piano Competition and the Jacob Flier International Piano Competition. A participant in the 2024 Merola Opera Program, Lee played and coached Don Giovanni and the third act of La Bohème for the Schwabacher Summer Concert. Her rich experiences with Merola deepened her understanding of vocal collaboration and enhanced her appreciation of the opera art form.

APRIL 10, TAUBE ATRIUM THEATER

LEAH CROCETTO AND CARRIE-ANN MATHESON

On April 10, the final concert of this year’s Schwabacher series will showcase the artistic collaboration between soprano and 2008 Merola alumnus Leah Crocetto and pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson. Their program will feature songs by Clara Schumann, Sergei Rachmaninov and Gustav Mahler, among others.

Described by The New York Times as possessing an “agile coloratura technique and a feeling for the Italianate style … with warmth, full penetrating sound and tenderness,” American soprano Leah Crocetto’s recent career highlights include the title roles of Aida and Luisa Miller, Liù in Turandot and Mimì in La Bohème with San Francisco Opera; Aida and Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites with Washington National Opera; Odabella in Attila at Teatro Petruzelli; Aida with the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Australia and Seattle Opera; Alice Ford in Falstaff and Leonora in Il Trovatore with Oper Frankfurt; Mimì and the title role of Tosca with Pittsburgh Opera; Eleonora in the first US performances of Donizetti’s L’Assedio di Calais with the Glimmerglass Festival; Desdemona in Otello and the titular character in Rossini’s Semiramide with Opera National de Bordeaux; Anna in Maometto II with the Canadian Opera Company; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Santa Fe Opera; Desdemona with English National Opera; and Elisabetta di Valois in Don Carlo with Opera Philadelphia. A graduate of the Merola Opera Program (2008) and Adler Fellowship Program (2009–11), Crocetto is a Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition.

Carrie-Ann Matheson has a multi-faceted international career as a pianist, conductor and educator. She is currently the Artistic Director of the world-renowned San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program. A native of Canada, Matheson began her career at the Metropolitan Opera, as assistant conductor, prompter, pianist and vocal coach. Following her time at the Met, she joined the conducting and coaching staff at Opernhaus Zürich and also worked at Salzburger Festspiele and the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. As a recital pianist, her collaborations with many of the world’s leading opera singers include Piotr Becza?a, Benjamin Bernheim, Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, Jonas Kaufmann and Rolando Villazón. Matheson made her conducting debut in 2015 at Opernhaus Zürich, where she led works such as La Finta Giardiniera, Don Pasquale and Iphigénie en Tauride. Passionate about nurturing the next generation of artists, Matheson has been master class clinician and guest coach at Canadian Opera Company, Opernhaus Zürich, Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Music Academy of the West, Yale University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is also an International Coaching Federation certified personal and leadership coach, specializing in working with artists who are striving to achieve their full potential.

2025 SCHWABACHER RECITAL SERIES

Presented by Merola Opera Program and San Francisco Opera Center

Artists and programs subject to change.

Thursday, February 13, at 7:30 p.m.

Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater (Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Ave, fourth floor, San Francisco, CA 94102)

Georgiana Adams, soprano

Caroline Corrales, soprano

Thomas Kinch, tenor

Samuel Kidd, baritone

Julian Grabarek, piano

Nicholas Phan, curator

PROGRAM includes:

- Three Browning Songs, Op. 44 (Amy Beach)

- Navždy, Op. 12 (Vít?zslava Kaprálová)

- “The Seal Man” (Rebecca Clarke)

- “Ständchen” (Richard Strauss)

- “Die Georgine” (R. Strauss)

- “Frühlingsfeier” (R. Strass)

- Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (George Butterworth)

- “Hymne” (Alma Mahler)

- Trois Ballades de François Villon (Claude Debussy)

- “Youkali” (Kurt Weill)

Wednesday, March 6, at 7:30 p.m.

Barbro Osher Recital Hall (Bowes Center, 200 Van Ness Ave, 11th floor, San Francisco, CA 94102)

Michael John Butler, tenor

Olivier Zerouali, baritone

Julian Garvue, piano

Ji Youn Lee, piano

Program includes works by Francis Poulenc, Lee Hoiby, Hakjun Yoon, Young-shim Noh, Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss.

Thursday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m.

Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater (Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Ave, fourth floor, San Francisco, CA 94102)

Leah Crocetto, soprano

Carrie-Ann Matheson, piano

Program includes works by Clara Schumann, Sergei Rachmaninov and Gustav Mahler, among others.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Tickets (general seating) are $30; a series package for all three recitals is $75. Tickets can be purchased at the San Francisco Opera Box Office (301 Van Ness Avenue) in person, by phone at (415) 864-3330 and online at sfopera.com/srs.

Please note: The three-recital package is available only in-person or by phone. Student rush tickets, subject to availability, are available for $15 at each venue 30 minutes prior to each recital. (Limit of two tickets per person; valid ID is required.) Artists, programs, schedules and ticket prices are subject to change.

The Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater is a state-of-the-art performance venue utilizing the Constellation® acoustic system from Berkeley-based Meyer Sound. The Taube Atrium Theater is part of San Francisco Opera’s Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, located on the fourth floor of the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

The Barbro Osher Recital Hall is located on the 11th floor of San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Bowes Center at 200 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

To ensure flexibility for patrons, no-fee exchanges will be accepted up to two hours before performances. Patrons may donate tickets for a tax deduction until curtain time.