Venue: San Francisco Conservatory of Music

While updated from the 18th century, the Merola Opera Program’s version of Così maintained a gaiety and sly wit that depended on the singers’ beautiful and virtuosic voices for its success.

Witty, edgy and full of Freudian insight, Anne Sexton’s libretto updates the dark and bizarre world of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Conrad Susa’s music is equally droll and contemporary.