San Francisco Opera celebrates its first century after its foundation in 1923 and welcomes everyone to join its staff and creative artists for many events already underway. San Francisco Opera’s centennial commemorates the glorious past as well as its Italian origins and welcomes the community into an exciting new era. 

It was 1922 when Gaetano Merola, a charismatic Neapolitan conductor who had visited San Francisco while traveling, first produced Pagliacci, Carmen, and Faust at Stanford Stadium. Merola believed that San Francisco was ready to have its own opera company and began lining up supporters.