Opera San Jose is the opera company of Silicon Valley and one looking toward the future as General Director Shawna Lucey will tell you. So even as it embarks on its 42nd season — hardly a Sand Hill Road-funded startup — it’s not afraid to be a little disruptive.
Just look at the production of Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte” opening this weekend at the California Theatre, directed by Alek Shrader and with Music Director Joseph Marcheso leading the orchestra. Instead of a gala Saturday night debut, the first performance is a matinee on Sunday. That’s going to be the norm for all the shows this season — a Sunday matinee opening followed by two weekends of Friday and Sunday performances.
The point isn’t to free up Saturday nights for opera fans but to make sure those arias sound as good as they can at every performance.
San Jose District 6 Councilmember Michael Mulcahy, left, artist in residence Nicole Koh, and Opera San Jose General Director Shawna Lucey take part in the company’s ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of its 42nd season at the California Theater in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
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San Jose District 6 Councilmember Michael Mulcahy, left, artist in residence Nicole Koh, and Opera San Jose General Director Shawna Lucey take part in the company’s ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the opening of its 42nd season at the California Theater in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“What people might not realize is when you’re singing these really big roles – the Duke in “Rigoletto” or Violeta in “La Traviata” — even if you’re a super-established singer, you should not be singing these roles two days in a row. It’s not good for your instrument to do that.”
As a company known for its rising stars, Opera San Jose doesn’t always have super-established singers in the big roles. Lucey said Opera San Jose founder Irene Dalis’ solution was to have two casts for each show, but today’s budgets just don’t allow for that. Sometimes Lucey would bring in another singer to fill in last-minute — a relief tenor, if you will — which might rankle audience members expecting someone else.
She thinks the change would get a nod of approval from Dalis, who died in 2014. “She was not only a great artist — an unbelievable mezzosoprano — but she was a savvy businesswoman,” Lucey said. “I think a lot about what we’re doing is in service of her vision.”
Opera San Jose isn’t just experimenting with the calendar this season but is trying out some audience participation with “Così Fan Tutte.” No, they won’t be picking someone out of the fifth row to sing alongside baritone Ricardo José Rivera during the second act. What the audience will get to do is decide the ending of the opera — a comedy about mistaken identity, suspicious lovers and infidelity.
Opera San Jose has partnered with Cloud4Wi, an enterprise wi-fi platform, to let audience members vote during intermission through their phones or at the lobby on what combination of lovers will end up together. The cast will be informed of the results before the start of the second act, and it should be interesting to see which audiences put which characters together.
Lucey says it’s the perfect show to spark a lot of romantic intrigue — as though Mozart had gone into the reality TV biz and made “Temptation Island” — but with great music. “I think it’s been really fun for the singers, and I think it’ll be very satisfying for the audience, too,” she said.
To get the season off to a festive start, the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, which Opera San Jose joined this year, hosted a ribbon-cutting Friday afternoon at the California Theatre. It was highlighted by a breathtaking performance of a Mozart aria by artist-in-residence Nicole Koh, but there were also speeches about Opera San Jose’s value to the city: it creates $7 million in economic impact annually and employs 750 people throughout the season.
“When we’re talking about recovery for downtown and vibrancy,” Lucey said, “we’re right in the heart of that.”
ALL ABOARD IN LOS ALTOS: The Los Altos History Museum has added a few cars to its annual Train Day celebration, which is taking place Sept. 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The celebration is a little bit longer and a lot more loaded with activities for train lovers and history buffs. There’s a concert of train-oriented songs at 1 p.m. by singer-songwriter Michael McNevin, old train films showing in the museum’s upper gallery and even a robotics demonstration by high school teams with hands-on activities. Admission is $10, but free for museum members and kids 12 and under. Check it out at losaltoshistory.org/TrainDay2025.
By the way, you missed the train if you don’t have tickets for “Sarah and Isabel: Two Sisters and their ‘Dream Houses,’ ” the Sept. 17 program about sisters Sarah Winchester and Isabel Merriman and their respective — and quite different — houses that made an impact in San Jose and Los Altos. The talk, given by Winchester Mystery House historian Janan Boehme, is sold out but you can register to watch it on Zoom by going to www.losaltoshistory.org.
BUFFET OF BENEFITS: So many choices, so little time. Lots of people will likely be having that reaction at two upcoming nonprofit events that will feature a selection of mouthwatering dishes prepped by some of the valley’s top chefs.
First, there’s Star Chefs and the Wines & Spirits They Love, a benefit for Momentum for Health on Sept. 21 at the GlassHouse in downtown San Jose. There are 17 restaurants taking part including Goodtime Bar, The Bywater, Orchard City Kitchen, Eos & Nyx, CordeValle, Odeum and Forbes Mill Steakhouse. You can get all the details at momentumforhealth.org/starchefs-2025.
And then Hunger at Home is bringing its Bridge the Gap gala to the Corinthian Grand Ballroom in downtown San Jose on Sept. 26. The nonprofit, which works to end hunger and food waste in the region, will have a dozen chef-curated tasting stations, along with a late-night culinary experience called Streets and Sweets. The chefs for this one include Rodney Baca from The Shop by Chef Baca, Sushi Confidential’s Randy Musterer and Jamie Whitmire from Holy Cannoli. If you’re already hungry, you can get tickets at hungerathome.org.
SAINT FOR SILICON VALLEY?: Perhaps you heard that Pope Leo XIV announced the canonization of the first millennial saint, Carlo Acutis, a teenage web designer and programmer who died of leukemia in 2006. He was popularly known as “God’s influencer” and the “Patron Saint of the Internet,” though that title already belongs to St. Isidore of Seville, a 7th century bishop. Maybe St. Carlo can be the patron saint of Silicon Valley instead. Anyway, I know who I’ll be praying to the next time my laptop freezes up.
Pope Leo made another recent announcement that’s a little closer to home. The Rev. Andres “Andy” C. Ligot has been appointed as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of San Jose. Rev. Ligot, who was born in the Philippines, is currently pastor of St. Elizabeth of Portugal Parish in Milpitas.
