Coinciding with San Francisco’s annual Pride Weekend, San Francisco Opera will celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community with a special Pride Concert featuring immersive projections and a post-show dance party on Friday, June 27, 2025, at the War Memorial Opera House. San Francisco Opera’s Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim and Robert Mollicone will lead the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and soloists Jamie Barton, Brian Mulligan, and Nikola Printz. Tal Rosner’s video designs will fill the hall, and Justin A. Partier will be the night’s lighting designer. Concluding San Francisco’s Pride Weekend, on Sunday, June 29, the Company will join other local arts institutions to march in the 55th Annual San Francisco Pride Parade.
Sapphira Cristál will host the event. A powerhouse performer and finalist from RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, and a classicaly trained opera singer, Cristál will bring her signature grace, glamour, and unapologetic authenticity to the Opera House stage. She shares, “Pride, for me, is about … standing in the full glory of who I am—past, present, and future. It’s about celebrating not just my individuality, but also my connection to a powerful, beautiful community that has made space for my authenticity, art, and joy.”
The musical programming for the Pride Concert will feature works by opera composers, including Leonard Bernstein, Jake Heggie, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Camille Saint-Saëns; songs from screen and stage, such as A Star Is Born (1954), Mame, and La Cage aux Folles; and folk, pop, jazz, and disco tunes by the Indigo Girls, Freddie Mercury, and Melissa Etheridge, among others.
Music Director Eun Sun Kim, who also leads this summer’s production of Mozart’s Idomeneo (June 14–25), will kick off the concert with the Overture to Leonard Bernstein’s Candide before handing the baton to Maestro Robert Mollicone to conduct the remainder of the program.
Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton will return to the opera house where she has performed in productions of Norma, Wagner’s Ring cycle, Roberto Devereux, and Rusalka. When Barton headlined the Last Night of the BBC Proms in 2019 and waved a Pride flag, conductor Sakari Oramo shared with BBC Music that “there was a wave of love and acceptance and appreciation.” Barton shares stories about this moment and her queer identity as part of San Francisco Opera’s Webby Award-winning digital portrait series in the episode titled “In Song: Jamie Barton.” The Grammy-nominated and Richard Tucker Award-winning artist’s social media presence serves as a hub for conversations about body positivity, social justice issues, and LGBTQ+ rights. This fall, Jamie Barton will return to San Francisco Opera as Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s Dead Man Walking.
In demand at top opera houses and concert stages around the world, baritone Brian Mulligan’s engagements with the Company have ranged from works by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss to 20th-century classics, such as Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and John Adams’ Nixon in China. Of his most recent San Francisco appearance as Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin (a production that is the subject of the NorCal Emmy award-nominated film Eun Sun Kim: A Journey Into Lohengrin) San Francisco Classical Voice exclaimed, “You will not hear this role better sung, from Mulligan’s tonal beauty to his scrupulous legato and exemplary diction.” Mulligan will return to the Bay Area this fall as Amfortas for San Francisco Opera’s new production of Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal.
When they were in the Merola Opera Program in 2022, Oakland artist Nikola Printz curated an “extraordinary” (San Francisco Chronicle) vocal recital for the Schwabacher Recital Series that was a love letter to all forms of gender expression. For three years the aerialist and singer has been a part of San Francisco Symphony’s Holiday Gaiety variety show. On the opera stage, Printz recently portrayed the title role of Bizet’s Carmen in San Francisco Opera’s immersive opera-meets-party Encounter series, as well as with Festival Opera and Opera San José. They created the role of Billie Jean King in the world premiere of Laura Karpman’s Balls for Opera Parallèle and were the alto soloist in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with San Francisco Ballet and Vallejo Symphony.
Pride Concert Event Highlights:
From 6:30–7:30 pm, visit the Altar of Remembrance at the top of the Van Ness Avenue steps and community displays by the GLBT Historical Society and National AIDS Memorial on the Grand Tier level. Concessions will offer a pre-show happy hour with discounted food and drink options. At 6:35 pm, ticketholders are invited to a pre-concert talk by SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford. The 80-minute concert, hosted by Monét X Change, will begin at 7:30 pm and will feature soloists Jamie Barton, Brian Mulligan, and Nikola Printz, with Eun Sun Kim and Robert Mollicone conducting the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. The show will be followed by a dance party with DJ Juanita MORE! Community partners for the event include SF Pride, The Tenderloin Museum, National AIDS Memorial, Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, Marigold Project, GLBT Historical Society, and Twin Peaks Tavern. For more information, visit: sfopera.com/pride.
The Pride Concert will conclude the mainstage events of San Francisco Opera’s 2025 Summer Season. The season opened June 3 with Puccini’s La Bohème (now through June 21) and includes Music Director Eun Sun Kim conducting Mozart’s Idomeneo (June 14–25). For more information, visit sfopera.com.
San Francisco Pride Parade, Sunday, June 29 @10:30 am
On Sunday, June 29, cheer on members of San Francisco Opera and other arts organizations at the 55th annual San Francisco Pride Parade, one of the oldest celebrations of LGBTQIA+ identity in the world. For more information about the 55th San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration, visit sfpride.org
Tickets and Information
Tickets for the Pride Concert range from $30–$225 and are available at the San Francisco Opera Box Office (301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco), by calling (415) 864-3330 and online at sfopera.com. San Francisco Opera Box Office hours are Monday 10 am–5 pm; Tuesday through Friday 10 am–6 pm; Saturday 10 am–6 pm (Saturdays phone only). A $2 per-ticket facility fee is included in Balcony 1, 2 and 3 zone prices; all other zones include a $3 per-ticket facility fee.
Standing-room tickets are $10 and will be available for purchase the day of the concert beginning at 10 am at the Box Office window. Standing-room tickets are sold for cash only and are limited to two per person.
The War Memorial Opera House is located at 301 Van Ness Avenue. Patrons are encouraged to use public transportation to attend San Francisco Opera performances. The War Memorial Opera House is within walking distance of the Civic Center BART/Muni Station and near numerous bus lines, including 5, 21, 49 and F Market Street. For further public transportation information, visit bart.gov and sfmta.com.
Gifts of all sizes help create San Francisco Opera’s programs and are appreciated. To donate visit sfopera.com/donate.
A pre-concert talk with SF Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford will take place 55 minutes prior to the performance.
All casting, programming, schedule and ticket prices are subject to change. For further information, visit sfopera.com.
Published on June 13, 2025
Recent Comments