{"id":465795,"date":"2026-09-16T17:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T17:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/465795\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T17:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T17:16:09","slug":"san-francisco-opera-strike-cancels-performances-through-sept-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/465795\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Opera strike cancels performances through Sept. 20"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>San Francisco Opera has canceled performances through Sept. 20 as a strike by its orchestra musicians stretches into the opening days of the new season.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday and Saturday performances of &#8220;Simon Boccanegra&#8221; have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfopera.com\/updates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">canceled<\/a>, along with Sunday&#8217;s opening performance of &#8220;Mary, Queen of Scots,&#8221; the Opera announced this week.<\/p>\n<p>Musicians with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra went on strike Sept. 12, wiping out that night&#8217;s season-opening performance of &#8220;Simon Boccanegra&#8221; and the annual Opera in the Park concert the next day.<\/p>\n<p>No other performances have been canceled so far. Ticket holders can request a refund, donate the value of their tickets or use it toward another performance this season.<\/p>\n<p>The dispute centers on a new contract for orchestra musicians, whose previous agreement expired July 31.<\/p>\n<p>Musicians say management initially proposed a 26 percent pay cut, later reduced to 20 percent. The orchestra says the latest offer before the strike instead called for a five-year wage freeze, which members argue would amount to a significant cut once inflation is factored in.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There is nowhere we would rather be tonight than in the pit,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfoperaorchestra.org\/?utm_source=ig&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_content=link_in_bio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Musicians Union Local 6 said in a statement<\/a>\u00a0ahead of the opening-night strike. &#8220;We ask management to return to the table in good faith, prioritize reaching a fair contract, and provide the stability and certainty that the company needs to continue its positive trajectory.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Orchestra members say they want wages that keep pace with San Francisco&#8217;s cost of living and point to stronger ticket sales, subscriptions and donations as evidence the Opera is in a healthier financial position than management suggests.<\/p>\n<p>San Francisco Opera, meanwhile, says those gains have not erased deeper financial problems. Company officials say expenses have outpaced revenue over time, leaving a structural deficit of about $15 million a year.<\/p>\n<p>General Director Matthew Shilvock said both sides spent two days negotiating after the strike began and that he remains hopeful a deal can be reached.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is heartbreaking to have to cancel additional performances, but I remain very hopeful that we will get back to the stage soon,&#8221; Shilvock said.<\/p>\n<p>For now, performances scheduled after Sept. 20 remain on the calendar as the strike continues.<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Francisco Opera has canceled performances through Sept. 20 as a strike by its orchestra musicians stretches into&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-465795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}