The San Francisco Opera Orchestra is prepared to strike on opening night amid an unresolved contract dispute ahead of the company’s 2026-27 season.
The musicians announced their intentions just a little more than two weeks ahead of the San Francisco Opera’s 104th season, which is scheduled to open with Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” at the War Memorial Opera House. The orchestra’s previous contract expired July 31.
“We are writing to let you know that the musicians of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra will not be able to perform on Opening Night, September 12, unless management has reached a fair contract with us before then,” the musicians, represented by the American Federation of Musicians Local 6, said in a statement Thursday, Aug. 27. “We are letting you know this weeks in advance rather than having you be surprised at the door.”
The two parties have been at the bargaining table since May. Orchestra rehearsals for the new season began Wednesday, Aug. 26, with negotiations resuming that evening.
The Opera told the Chronicle a mediator joined the process and that the two sides are actively working toward an agreement.
The standoff echoes the Opera’s 2024 season opening, when the performance began late after the orchestra and management reached a last-minute agreement that averted a strike.
The orchestra said management initially proposed a 26% pay cut, which the musicians said would return their wages to 2015 levels. The proposal has since been reduced to a 20% cut, which would roll back pay to what musicians earned in 2018.
“We cannot begin a season under proposals like these,” the musicians said.
The Opera characterized its latest proposal differently, saying it has offered a five-year framework that would gradually change the structure of the orchestra’s compensation while keeping musicians’ annual earnings at current levels over the next five years.
Eun Sun Kim conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in music by Manuel de Falla and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in 2025. The orchestra says it will not perform on opening night of the 2026-27 season unless management reaches a new contract with musicians. (Matthew Washburn/San Francisco Opera)
The dispute comes as the Opera continues to present a smaller schedule than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic. The upcoming season includes six mainstage operas: “Simon Boccanegra,” “Manon,” “Mary, Queen of Scots,” “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Tosca” and “Das Rheingold.”
The Opera said the reduction in its seasons reflects a longer-term financial problem, with expenses outpacing revenue growth for decades. The company also acknowledged it needs to resolve a structural deficit of $15 million each year.
The musicians argue that repeated cuts to the number of productions have not solved the company’s financial problems. They claim fewer performances reduce ticket revenue and production sponsorships while leaving many costs unchanged.
The Opera, however, said the orchestra’s current agreement was designed for a volume of work that “has not been economically feasible for many years.”
“As we have already been doing with all of our employees, artists and labor organizations, we must find a way through this with the Orchestra to find a contract that respects their extraordinary talents and better aligns with the economic realities of the Company,” the Opera said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Shilvock told the Chronicle that the 2024-25 season sold at 82% of capacity and that the 2025-26 season was expected to match that figure. He also said the company gained about 1,200 new subscribers last season and noted that six productions had sold out over the previous three years. The company has also reported increased donations and growth in the number of donors giving more than $100,000 annually.
Despite those gains, the Opera said ticket sales cover only 15% of its budget and that income from its endowment now exceeds ticket revenue. The company said drawing on the endowment to balance its budget has become unsustainable.
Last year, after the premiere of the acclaimed new opera “The Monkey King,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and his wife, Lori Huang, announced a multiyear commitment to donate $5 million annually to the company.
The Opera’s most recent audited financial statements show that the company recorded $13.8 million in ticket sales and $82.6 million in operating expenses during the fiscal year that ended July 31, 2025. The Opera reported $42.5 million in net contributed income after fundraising expenses.
The statements also show that the Opera had $329.8 million in total net assets at the end of the fiscal year, although much of that money was subject to donor restrictions or held in endowment funds.
Meanwhile, the company recently renewed General Director Matthew Shilvock’s contract. Music Director Eun Sun Kim’s contract was extended in October 2024 through the 2030-31 season.
Shilvock’s compensation was listed at approximately $729,000 in the company’s more recent filing. Kim’s compensation was listed at approximately $579,000, plus additional compensation, in the Opera’s most recent available Form 990, covering the fiscal year that ended in July 2023.
As negotiations continue, the musicians are seeking a contract that provides “stability and pay that keeps pace with the cost of living in this city,” along with a plan to expand the company’s schedule, lengthen runs of popular productions and develop its audience.
“We are not walking away from the table,” the musicians said. “There is nowhere we would rather be on September 12 than in the pit.”
The Opera’s opening weekend also includes its annual Opera in the Park concert, scheduled for Sept. 13 in Golden Gate Park.
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This article originally published at San Francisco Opera Orchestra threatens to strike on opening night.
