STERN GROVE FESTIVAL’S 71ST SEASON FINALE FEATURES SAN FRANCISCO OPERA WITH SOPRANO SYLVIA MCNAIR

SAN FRANCISCO, July 10, 2008 — Stern Grove Festival closes the 71st Season with the renowned San Francisco Opera, featuring acclaimed American soprano Sylvia McNair, in a concert celebrating American opera and music theater and commemorating the 90th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth (August 25, 1918 - October 14, 1990). Conductor John DeMain leads the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in a program focusing on Bernstein’s classic works and the composers and songwriters who influenced him, including George Gershwin, Marc Blitzstein, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, and Aaron Copland. McNair, an alumna of the prestigious Merola Opera Program, is joined by other Merola alumni as well as current or former San Francisco Opera Center Adler Fellows: Karen Slack and Tamara Wapinsky, sopranos; Catherine Cook, mezzo-soprano; Thomas Glenn, tenor; Eugene Brancoveanu, baritone; and Kenneth Kellogg, bass. The admission-free performance will take place on Sunday, August 17th at 2:00 p.m in Sigmund Stern Grove, located at 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard in San Francisco. A pre-concert Troc Talk will take place before the concert in Stern Grove’s Trocadero Clubhouse.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Soprano Sylvia McNair made her San Francisco Opera debut as Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) in 1992 and returned to the Company five years later as Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro). She has recently garnered acclaim as an interpreter of jazz, cabaret, and musical theater repertoire, appearing at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel and the Hotel Carlyle in New York City. Last year she sang Rosabella in The Most Happy Fella at the Ravinia Music Festival in Chicago. A resilient survivor of breast cancer, the soprano has earned two Grammy Awards and made more than seventy recordings ranging from L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Decca Classics), in which she sings the title role, to a collaboration with André Previn on music by Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen (Philips). Among her other diverse opera credits are Tytania and Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) at the Met; Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress) at the Glyndebourne Festival; and Ilia (Idomeneo) at Royal Opera, Covent Garden. The Mansfield, Ohio native has also performed with major U.S. and international companies and orchestras such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Salzburg Festival, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the philharmonic orchestras of Vienna and Berlin. McNair has received honorary doctorates from Westminster College and Indiana University; the Ohio Governor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Entertainment; and the 2007 Gaudium Award from the Breukelein Institute. McNair joined the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in 2006

John DeMain made his San Francisco Opera debut as music director and chorus master for Porgy and Bess in 1977 and returned to work on that same opera during in 1987 and 1995; he will conduct the opera again during the 2008–09 San Francisco Opera season. Formerly music director and principal conductor at Houston Grand Opera, he currently serves as artistic director of Opera Pacific and Madison Opera, and music director of the Madison Symphony. Earlier this year DeMain conducted The Tender Land at Madison Opera and Die Zauberflöte at Opera Pacific. He is a regular guest conductor at Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, and New York City Opera and has also conducted productions for the State Opera of South Australia, Opera Queensland, Aspen Music Festival, Baltimore Opera, the Bregenz Festival, Cleveland Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Florentine Opera Company of Milwaukee, Glimmerglass Opera, Edmonton Opera, Juilliard Opera Center, Lake George Opera, Manitoba Opera, the Teatro Belles Artes of Mexico City, Nice Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera de Puerto Rico, Opera Theater of St. Louis, San Diego Opera, Seattle Opera, and the Wexford Festival. Notable recent credits include Porgy and Bess, A Little Night Music, and The Merry Widow at Los Angeles Opera; Dead Man Walking at State Opera of South Australia; Porgy and Bess, Dead Man Walking, and Tosca at New York City Opera; Candide at the Festival Euro Mediterraneo in Rome; and A View from the Bridge at Portland Opera and Washington National Opera. Later this year he will conduct Porgy and Bess at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

ABOUT STERN GROVE FESTIVAL

Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis and the concert meadow may be closed when capacity is reached. There is no public parking at Stern Grove and Festival patrons are encouraged to use public transportation to Stern Grove. MUNI metro lines K and M and MUNI bus lines 23 and 28 provide service to Stern Grove. A free bike valet service is provided at the 19th and Sloat entrance to the park. Free shuttle service from the entrance at 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard into the Grove is provided to seniors and disabled patrons.

Stern Grove Festival’s 71st Season is made possible with support from Season Sponsor Parkmerced. Additional support provided by Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and media sponsor KPIX - CBS 5, KBCW - The CW 44 Cable 12, and SF Weekly. Concert Sponsor is The Bernard Osher Foundation. Radio Sponsor is 102.1 KDFC.

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