Fall arts 2022: 2 bold new opera productions highlight Bay Area classical season

From San Francisco to the South Bay, the classical music scene gets off to a thrilling start this month.

Two operas — San Francisco Opera’s world premiere of “Antony and Cleopatra,” and Opera San Jose’s new take on “The Marriage of Figaro” — launch the season with must-see performances. Also on the calendar are Innovative programs by New Century Chamber Orchestra, Symphony San Jose, and the San Francisco Symphony’s fall appearance in Berkeley.

Here are five highlights of the fall season.

A world-class couple: San Francisco Opera launches its centennial season with the world premiere of “Antony and Cleopatra.” This hotly anticipated new opera by Bay Area composer John Adams is based on Shakespeare’s play and other classical sources. Elkhanah Pulitzer directs the production, setting the ancient world’s epic power struggles amid the glamour of 1930s Hollywood. Company music director Eun Sun Kim conducts, and the cast features bass-baritone Gerald Finley and soprano Amina Edris in the title roles of the iconic lovers.

Details: Sept. 10-Oct. 5; War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $26-$422; $25 tickets for live-streamed matinee Sept. 18; www.sfopera.com.

A happy “Marriage”: Opera San Jose starts its season with “The Marriage of Figaro,” in a new production of Mozart’s opera set in colonial India and featuring a terrific cast that includes Maya Kherani as Susanna, Efraín Solís as Figaro, Eugene Brancoveanu as Count Almaviva, and dancers from Silicon Valley-based Mosaic America, who promise to lend director Brad Dalton’s staging a colorfully kinetic Indian feel. Viswa Subbaraman conducts.

Details: Sept. 10-25; California Theatre, San Jose; $55-$195; www.operasj.org.

Berlin Broadcasts: New Century Chamber Orchestra opens its 30th season with a musical radio drama featuring works by songwriters in the years leading up to World War II. “Berlin 1938: Broadcasts from a Vanishing Society” features music director and concertmaster Daniel Hope leading the ensemble and three special guests — vocalists Thomas Hampson and Horst Maria Merz, and pianist Peter Grunberg — interweaving music and news of the era.

Details: Sept. 16-18; Presidio Theatre, San Francisco; $30-$87.50; ncco.org.

“Let the Trumpet Sound”: With a new name and a new season, Symphony San Jose (formerly Symphony Silicon Valley) launches its 20th anniversary season with a concert featuring Norwegian trumpet soloist Tine Thing Helseth, who joins conductor Andrés Cárdenas and the orchestra in Henri Tomasi’s Trumpet Concerto. Also on the program: Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Russian Easter Overture,” Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” and Robert Schumann’s “Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish.”

Details: 8 p.m. Oct. 1, 2:30 p.m. Oct. 2; California Theatre, San Jose; $55-$115; symphonysanjose.org.

Chills and thrills: Catch the Halloween spirit when the San Francisco Symphony crosses the Bay for a one-night-only appearance in Berkeley, presented by Cal Performances. The program features three eerie masterworks conducted by Symphony music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, beginning with Mussorgsky’s hair-raising “Night on Bald Mountain.” Pianist Bertrand Chamayou joins the orchestra in Liszt’s “Totentanz” (Dance of Death), and Berlioz’s thrilling “Symphonie fantastique” completes the lineup.

Details: 8 p.m. Oct. 21; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; $35-$125;  calperformances.org.