German conductor Christian Reif joined the San Francisco Symphony as Resident Conductor and Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in the 2016-17 season. He was previously Conducting Fellow with the New World Symphony in Miami, where he was mentored by Michael Tilson Thomas. Mr. Reif completed his master of music in conducting at the Juilliard School under Alan Gilbert, where he received the Charles Schiff Conducting Award. He also studied with Dennis Russell Davies at the Mozarteum Salzburg. Mr. Reif is currently a member of Germany's Conductor's Forum where he was named one of their “Maestros of Tomorrow.” He was Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 2015 and 2016 and has also worked as assistant and cover conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and for the New York Phil Biennial. Mr. Reif won the German Operetta Prize 2015, awarded by the German Music Council. In the 2017-18 season, Mr. Reif makes his debut with the Orchestre National de Lyon and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, works with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra, and makes return engagements with the Berkeley Symphony, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, and the Lakes Area Music Festival. This summer, he makes his debut with the Indianapolis Symphony and at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City. His enthusiasm in performing contemporary music has led to many world premiere performances, including Michael Gordon’s El Sol Caliente, a city symphony in honor of Miami Beach’s centennial; and concertos for DJ and orchestra, performed at the New World Symphony’s PULSE events. A dedicated and enthusiastic educator, Mr. Reif has also worked as a teaching fellow at the Juilliard School. He hosted and conducted education concerts with the New World Symphony, which were also webcast globally.

(April 2018)

In the 2017-18 season mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack appears with Opera Philadelphia in the title role of Kevin Puts’s Elizabeth Cree in its world premiere, and in Carmen. She returns to Washington National Opera as Bradamante in Handel’s Alcina, makes her debut at Seattle Opera in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict, and reprises the role of Jacqueline Kennedy in performances of David T. Little’s JFK at the Montreal Opera. A former Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera, Ms. Mack was recently seen in the company’s productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia and Partenope. Additional appearances include Rossini’s Giovanna d’Arco with the MDR Orchestra, Vivaldi’s Judith triumphans with Boston Baroque, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic, Falla’s La vida breve with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, works of Ravel with the Boston and Chicago symphonies, Il barbiere di Siviglia at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Rusalka at the Metropolitan Opera, and Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. This performance marks her San Francisco Symphony debut.

(September 2017)

Tenor David Blalock is a graduate of the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He went on to be a Virginia Opera Emerging Artist and an apprentice artist with Santa Fe Opera, a first prize winner in the North Carolina District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions on two occasions. Mr. Blalock’s 2017-18 season highlights include the roles of Ferrando in Così fan tutte with San Jose Opera and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Virginia Opera, and Handel’s Messiah with the Fairbanks Symphony. He makes his debut with the San Francisco Symphony at this performance. Last season, Mr. Blalock joined Atlanta Opera as Nikolaus Sprink in Kevin Puts’s Silent Night, and he sang Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Skylark Opera and the Second Jew in Salome with the Minnesota Orchestra. In previous seasons he has appeared with the Pacific and Richmond symphonies, Mill City Summer Opera in Minneapolis, On Site Opera in New York, and North Carolina Opera.  

(September 2017)

Baritone Edward Nelson’s 2017-18 debuts include the role of Maximilian in Candide at Washington National Opera, Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at Michigan Opera Theatre, and Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony with the Milwaukee Symphony. He recently made his debut at Norwegian National Opera in Pelléas et Mélisande and, in his final season as an Adler Fellow at San Francisco Opera, sang the roles of Malatesta in Don Pasquale and Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, in addition to appearing in the world premiere of Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber. In 2015, he created the role of Lieutenant John Buckley in the world premiere of Marco Tutino’s Two Women at San Francisco Opera. He was also heard in Hamlet with West Edge Opera and Schaunard in La Bohème at Cincinnati Opera, and with Jessica Lang Dance he performed Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin. He is a graduate of the 2014 Merola Opera Program where he sang the title role of Don Giovanni.

(September 2017)

Soprano Julie Adams is a winner of the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, 2015 George London Award, 2015 Elizabeth Connell Prize for aspiring dramatic sopranos, and recipient of a 2015 Sara Tucker Study Grant. The 2017–18 season sees Ms. Adams return to San Francisco Opera in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, singing Freia in Das Rheingold and Gerhilde in Die Walküre. Additional engagements include her house and role debut as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro at Michigan Opera Theatre and her house debut at Opera Idaho as Blanche in André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. This past season she returned to San Francisco Opera as Mimi in La Bohème, Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and Kristina in The Makropulos Case, and with Opera San Jose she appeared as both Mimi in La Bohème and Anna Sørensen in Kevin Puts’s Silent Night. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut in July 2015. A native of Burbank, CA, Ms. Adams holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She was previously an Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera and a member of Merola Opera Program.

(September 2017)