This is the first of many trips this summer. Currently I am in San Francisco. I arrived yesterday along with our Production Manager, Rachel Henneberry. We are here to see two productions, the Maid of Orleans, aka Joan of Arc, and Madame Butterfly.

Each summer the artistic and production staff fans out across the US and sometimes Europe to look at productions and artists that are involved in productions at summer opera companies and summer festivals. Its a good time of year, but a very busy time. The 2005-2006 season hasn't even been closed a month and with the final curtain of Cosi we started planning. We are planning not only for next season, but also for the 2007 - 2008 and 2008-2009 seasons. We look at productions, we listen to mainstage artists, we hear young artists. We spend lots of time talking to colleagues in the industry and we compare notes.

These two productions at the San Francisco Opera are two good examples of what we are looking at when we go on the road. Maid of Orleans is a specialy piece that works for an artist who is a star, in this Dolora Zajick. Madame Butterfly by contrast is a staple of the repertory with Patricia Racette as Butterfly.

For the next three months I will be moving back and forth across the US. I'll be posting Blogs on each of my trips, hopefully while I'm still on site. These blogs will give a glimpse of how a typical summer is spent planning and preparing for ths future.

Time for dinner and then early to bed. With a three hour time difference, I have no idea what time zone I'm in.