MEROLA OPERA PROGRAM - Deadline August 26

The Merola Opera Program, under the artistic direction of the San Francisco Opera Center: Carrie-Ann Matheson, Artistic Director and Markus Beam, General Manager announce the 2023 application opportunity for singers.  Merola Opera Program offers performance opportunities, holistic training, and career development for young professional singers.

In addition to numerous performance opportunities, each participant receives daily individual coaching in their discipline, classes in diction, acting and stage deportment, movement, financial planning/fiscal responsibility, mental health/well-being, physical health/wellness, and public relations/branding from leading professionals in the opera field. In addition to Merola’s guest faculty, internationally renowned artists conduct a series of public master classes throughout the summer.

The Merola Opera Program provides a weekly allowance, round-trip transportation from place of residence to San Francisco, and shared-accommodation housing. Please note: the Merola Opera Program only provides housing to participants and does not provide housing to spouse/partner, children, other relatives, or pets.

For five years after leaving Merola, alumni may be eligible, with Merola's approval, to receive up to a total of $12,000 in career grants, with a maximum of $6,000 in any single year.

Adler Fellowship

(Resident Artists of San Francisco Opera)

Each year singers and pianists are chosen from the Merola Opera Program to join the prestigious Adler Fellowship Program. The Adler program gives 10-12 young artists a year of performance-oriented experience, providing individualized and advanced training. Adler Fellows are engaged for roles in San Francisco Opera’s season, as well as performing in Opera Center programs and activities. The Adler Fellowship is a renewable yearlong residency and is a salaried position.

Schwabacher Recital Debuts

San Francisco Opera Center may engage Merola singers and pianists for a debut recital to take place in the spring of 2023 at a San Francisco venue. These recitals have been endowed in perpetuity by the generosity of celebrated Bay Area singer, scholar, and teacher James Schwabacher.