SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Now in its 40th year, the Schwabacher Recital Series, presented by Merola Opera Program and San Francisco Opera Center, comes to a close this season with an intimate concert featuring mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey and pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson on Wednesday, April 3 at the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater. The program includes songs by Claudie Debussy, Manuel de Falla, Alexander Zemlinsky, Cole Porter and Kurt Weill.

APRIL 3

SAMANTHA HANKEY AND CARRIE-ANN MATHESON

With “much elegance and youthful tone” (Financial Times), mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey (Merola 2017) is increasingly lauded for her powerful stage presence. Hankey’s current season marks her debuts at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, where she appears as Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Semperoper Dresden as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Detroit Opera as the Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen and at Lyric Opera of Kansas City in her role debut as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. Following critically acclaimed performances as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Hankey returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette. As a recitalist, she has sung at London’s Wigmore Hall and New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Alice Tully Hall.

San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program Artistic Director Carrie-Ann Matheson has a multi-faceted international career as a pianist, conductor and educator. Matheson began her career at the Metropolitan Opera, working as an assistant conductor, prompter, pianist and vocal coach. She has also served on the conducting and coaching staff at Opernhaus Zurich and has worked at numerous festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiele and the Seiji Ozawa Masumoto Festival. Especially in demand as a recital pianist, she has performed with many of the world’s most renowned opera singers, including Piotr Becza?a, Benjamin Bernheim, Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, Jonas Kaufmann and Roland Villazón, among many others. Passionate about nurturing the next generation of musical artists, Matheson regularly serves as master class clinician and guest coach in other leading young artist programs and educational institutions around the world. The 2023–24 season finds her on stages such as Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Vienna State Opera, Tonhalle St. Gallen and Theater Münster.

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Tickets (general seating) are $30. 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.

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.

Patrons may donate tickets for a tax deduction until curtain time.

FOR CONCERT CALENDAR EDITORS:

2024 SCHWABACHER RECITAL SERIES

Presented by San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program

Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater

Veterans Building, fourth floor, 401 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102

Artists and programs subject to change.

Wednesday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m.

Samantha Hankey, mezzo-soprano

Carrie-Ann Matheson, piano

PROGRAM includes:

Les trois chansons de Bilitis (Claude Debussy)

Selections from Siete Canciones (Manuel de Falla)

Sechs Lieder auf Gedichte von Maurice Maeterlinck, Op. 13 (Alexander Zemlinsky)

“So in Love” from Kiss Me, Kate (Cole Porter)

“Youkali” (Kurt Weill)

“Speak Low” from One Touch of Venus (Kurt Weill)