Prompters: Ever wonder what was going on behind that wooden hood at the edge of the stage? That little box is the domain of the prompter, a musician who does much more than help performers remember their lines. Conductor and pianist Robert Mollicone demystifies the art of opera prompting and describes the responsibilities that go with sitting in the best seat in the house (producer: Jody Gage).

Opera on the Road: San Francisco Opera has a distinguished history of touring outside of the Bay Area, moving personnel and productions from city to city by plane, train, bus and even dog sled. Mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick, a tour veteran from her days as a young artist with the San Francisco Opera Center, adds her perspective to this chronicle about taking the show on the road (producers: Jeffery McMillan and Barbara Rominski).

Supernumeraries: The dictionary defines the word ‘supernumerary’ as a person or thing in excess of the normal or requisite number. In opera, though, supernumeraries are entirely necessary. Former San Francisco Opera Rehearsal and Facilities Manager Trey Costerisan relates how the Company casts supers and where he found stilt-walking jugglers when a production required them. Testimonials on the lure of the stage are offered by San Francisco Opera supers Helen Lew and Karsten Guthridge (producer: Katherine Baltrush).

My First Opera: What was your first opera? That is the question that San Francisco Opera Music Librarian Michael Bragg asks his North Stage Door and Company colleagues. Whether it was La Bohème, Das Rheingold or The Rake’s Progress, the responses reveal how first encounters with opera inspired awe, curiosity, love and, eventually, careers in the field (producer: Michael Bragg).

With its new production of Fidelio scheduled to open October 14, San Francisco Opera released a new episode of its podcast, North Stage Door, featuring stories centered around Ludwig van Beethoven’s masterpiece. Fidelio director Matthew Ozawa, former US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, San Francisco Opera Chorus Director Ian Robertson, participants in the Prison Arts Project at San Quentin State Prison and other guests discuss Beethoven’s music and the themes of love and liberation in the composer’s only opera.

(3:04) The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Cosí fan tutte and Don Giovanni are three of opera’s most well-known works. San Francisco Opera’s new production of The Marriage of Figaro premiered in 2019, and despite his familiarity with this opera, the production left a profound impact on Company Music Librarian and North Stage Door producer Michael Bragg, who shares his story along with production cast members Nicole Heaston (Countess Almaviva), Michael Sumuel (Figaro) and San Francisco Opera’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Community Charles Mc Neal.

(14:34) Mozart and Da Ponte never intended for these three operas to become a trilogy. So what the… General Director Matthew Shilvock and Michael Cavanagh, director of the Company’s new Mozart-Da Ponte Trilogy—set in an American house across a 300-year timespan, and continuing this season with the premieres of his new productions of Cosi fan tutte (Nov/Dec 2021) and Don Giovanni (June/July 2022)—explain.

(24:34) San Francisco Opera Assistant Stage Manager and North Stage Door producer Rachel Garoon has a confession….and gets through it with the help of Dr. Kristi Brown-Montesano, chair of Music History at the Colburn Conservatory of Music and author of “Understanding the Women of Mozart’s Operas,” stage director Shawna Lucey, and marriage and family therapist Kathleen Shiltz.

(37:02) Did you know that Mozart was one of many composers who borrowed music from other operas for his own shows? San Francisco Opera Public Relations Director (and jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan biographer) Jeffery McMillan take us on a musical quotation treasure hunt.

(49:02) How would you have written the end of Don Giovanni? North Stage Door executive producer Molly McBride talks to Bay Area-native Daniel Handler—author of seven novels, including Why We Broke Up, We Are Pirates, All The Dirty Parts and, most recently, Bottle Grove; and who, under the pen name Lemony Snicket, is also responsible for the thirteen-volume A Series of Unfortunate Events—about writing, music, opera, and his relationship with all three.