Opera in Dolores Park

Opera in the (Delores) Park with five of my closest friends was one of my favorite days in San Francisco. We brought enough food to feed a small army: fancy cheeses, crackers, nuts, olives, sushi, fruit, bread, and more. We also came equipped with at least one nice bottle of wine per person.
We luckily staked out a spot early on as the lawn was packed. All of our «neighbors» at the event were super friendly and offered to share their food. We enjoyed the opera culture while feasting and sipping…
When the others left, one friend and I decided to nap on the lawn. When we woke up, Delores Park was magically back to its original park-​like state with no signs that an opera (and feast) had just occurred!

a better deal compared to the $ 30 ticket in nose bleed of the opera house. just bring a THERMAL blanket if the fog blinds the sun… better public transpo., but this park is STILL filled w. random dog methane poooohhh

BRRRRR…
As a longtime aficionado of Opera in the Park, I was excited to see they have yet another free outdoor event on Memorial Day weekend, Opera in Dolores Park… in theory, a great setting. Through no fault of the organizers, there was an unseasonable cold snap that sent shivers down our respective spines yesterday.
The traffic passing behind the stage on Dolores was not helpful either… imagine if an urbanized passer-​by was playing a lil’ 50-​Cent full-​blast in the middle of an aria from «Tannhauser». OK, I’m not a Wagner fan… so maybe not so bad.
Anyway, a nice roster of singers was assembled from the three operas playing during the SF Opera’s summer season. A surprising number of basses and baritones were featured, including a stirring turn by Oren Gradus on «Il lacerato spirito» from Verdi’s «Simon Boccanegra».
The headliner was most definitely renowned mezzo Susan Graham, whom I just saw down in LA for a powerful, all-​star staging of Monteverdi’s «L’Incoronazione di Poppea». She is scheduled for a SF Opera run of Gluck’s «Iphigenie en Tauride» next month. Obviously caught off-​guard by the cold with her flimsy coat, she sped through «Non so più cosa son» from Mozart’s «Le Nozze di Figaro» clutching herself against the blustery winds. She sounded powerful, but I was feeling sorry for her.
I actually thought the best performance came just before her — soprano Twyla Robinson’s poignant rendition of «Sombre foret» from Rossini’s «William Tell». It’s definitely worth a picnic spread, and it’s a helluva lot easier to get here than to Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park. Here’s to sunny skies next year!