Golden Gate Opera

Celebrating our 21st Anniversary!
Transforming Opera and the Community Background:
In 1996, with little more than a vision, a handful of passionate, dedicated professional Bay Area opera singers and directors founded Golden Gate Opera (GGO) as a not-for-profit opera company. Its purpose was to put Marin County on the “Opera map” at the same high level as Opera America. We wanted to transform lives by making opera accessible – enriching the community through the beauty and majesty of full-scale operatic performances.
We perform at the Marin Civic Center's theatres, in schools and acclaimed Aria Parties in private homes, and our opera night concerts are a joy to all who attend. Since 1996, Golden Gate Opera has thrilled audiences with its theater performances of Madama Butterfly, Carmen, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, Hansel & Gretel, The Medium, The Telephone, Der Apotheker, Die Walküre, Un ballo in Maschera, Il Trovatore, “Opera’s Greatest Hits”, Opera Café and more. It has wowed patrons with Galas and delighted them with intimate Aria Parties, where Golden Gate Opera singers perform up close and personal in the comfortable setting of private homes. And it has gone into the community to share the joys of opera in one-of-a-kind performances designed especially for children.

Since 1997, Golden Gate Opera has reached over 100,000 children in Marin County and Bay Area schools with its in-school, in-theater, and in-classroom programs of unique one-act interactive operas.

Winner of the 2016 NEA ARTWORKS award, Golden Gate Opera premiered LINCOLN-The African American Connection by Mill Valley’s Cepelak and Rose. Winner of 2016 California Arts Council Local Impact Award, we also launched The Boy Who Grew Too Fast, written by two-time Pulitzer-prize winner Gian Carlo Menotti, as an interactive anti-bullying opera program for children. The one-act opera for young people had its West Coast Premiere in full on April 30, 2017 at Marin Showcase Theatre. Our passion is to educate and enrich people of all ages, cultures and economic backgrounds with the Joys of the many arts found in opera, from classics to new and cutting edge works. We appreciate our sponsors, and as do all opera companies, we depend on tax-deductible donations to plan and present opera in schools and in the theatres. GGO creates and provides in advance to schools our Teachers' Guide.