San Francisco Opera has announced that The Monkey King, a new opera by playwright David Henry Hwang and composer Huang Ruo, will have its world premiere November 14-30, as part of the company’s 2025-26 season. The opera, based on the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, will incorporate puppetry, dance, Peking opera, and Buddhist sutras. Get a first listen to the opera here.
Tenor Kang Wang will star as the Monkey King, alongside tenor Konu Kim as the Jade Emperor, soprano Mei Gui Zhang as Guanyin, baritone Jusung Gabriel Park as Subhuti/Buddha, bass Peixin Chen as Supreme Lord Laozi, baritone Joo Won Kang as Lord Erlang/Ao Guang, and mezzo-soprano Hongni Wu as Crab General/Venus Star. Tony-winning director Diane Paulus (Waitress, Pippin) will direct the production, which will feature puppets and scenic design by Basil Twist, choreography by Ann Yee, costumes by Anita Yavich, lighting by Ayumu “Poe” Saegusa, and projections by Hana S. Kim. Carolyn Kuan will conduct, making her San Francisco Opera debut.
The Monkey King is the third collaboration of Hwang and Ruo, following their 2014 opera An American Soldier, which had its New York premiere last year, and a 2022 opera based on Hwang’s Tony and Pulitzer-winning play M. Butterfly.
The announcement came along with that of San Francisco Opera’s 2025-26 season, which will open September 5 with Verdi’s Rigoletto, starring baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat, tenor Giovanni Sala, soprano Adela Zaharia, and bass Peixin Chen. The season will also include a new production of Wagner's Parsifal, directed by Matthew Ozawa. Tenor Brandon Jovanovich will star as the titular "perfect fool" who is sent on a mission to recover a holy relic. Jovanovich will be joined by bass Kwangchul Youn as Gurnemanz, baritone Brian Mulligan as Amfortas, mezzo-soprano Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as Kundry, and bass-baritone Falk Struckman as Klingsor. Eun Sun Kim will conduct Wagner's five-hour epic, which has not been performed at San Francisco Opera in 25 years.
Also celebrating a return after 25 years is Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's Dead Man Walking, which had its world premiere at San Francisco Opera in 2000, and has since become one of the most frequently-produced operas of the 21st century. Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton takes on the role of Sister Helen Prejean, while Susan Graham, who originated the role of Sister Helen in the opera's premiere, returns to play Mrs. Patrick de Rocher.
Rounding out the season are revivals of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, and Richard Strauss' Elektra. The season will also feature an assortment of concerts and special events. For more information, visit SFOpera.com.
