SF Opera Ends Strike With Free Simon Boccanegra Today

San Francisco Opera's orchestra ends its first strike since the 1980s with a tentative four-year deal, and the company offers a free Simon Boccanegra performance Sept. 19.

The San Francisco Opera's orchestra musicians are heading back to the pit after reaching a tentative four-year contract agreement with management, ending a strike that began Sept. 12 and forced the cancellation of opening night of Verdi's *Simon Boccanegra*, a free Opera in the Park concert, and performances through Sept. 20. According to CBS News Bay Area (KPIX), the agreement announced Thursday covers Aug. 1, 2026, through July 31, 2030, and still must be ratified by the orchestra. The company said the deal addresses "important structural changes" while providing a fair agreement, and the orchestra's negotiating committee said it provides fairness and stability for its members.

What makes this standoff remarkable is its rarity: CBS News reports the strike was the orchestra's first since it became an independent ensemble in the early 1980s, and the last major labor disruption at the Opera was a management lockout in 1990. For a company of this stature, musicians walking out just before opening night was an extraordinary rupture. Principal clarinetist José Granero, a 15-year veteran who grew up in a small farming village in southern Spain and began playing at age 4, practiced his clarinet on the sidewalk outside the War Memorial Opera House during the walkout because he could not use his usual practice space. "We're going to be back this weekend for the rest of the season," he told CBS News after the deal was announced.

CBS News reports the core dispute centered on how much work the Opera should guarantee its musicians. Under the expired contract, tenured players were guaranteed 24 weeks of work. Management argued the structure no longer reflected actual use — the company said it was unable to use about 25% of guaranteed orchestra hours last season and expected that figure to reach roughly 33% this season — while also citing a structural deficit of about $15 million a year. Its proposal sought fewer guaranteed weeks at higher weekly pay. The musicians, represented by American Federation of Musicians Local 6, countered that cutting weeks and freezing wages would cut real income after inflation, and argued the Opera should grow by expanding successful productions instead.

OperaWire reports that the company is marking the resolution and the opening of its 104th season with a complimentary performance of *Simon Boccanegra* on Sept. 19, 2026, at 2 p.m., after opening night was canceled. According to OperaWire, reservations are required on a first-come, first-served basis, with doors at the Opera House — main entrance at 301 Van Ness Avenue — opening at 1 p.m. and concessions available. The cast includes Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Eleonora Buratto, Christian Van Horn, and Joshua Guerrero, with Eun Sun Kim conducting. It is a swift turnaround for a production whose scheduled premiere had been scrapped by the strike.

The financial terms have not been publicly released, but both sides frame the deal as existential. CBS News reports the Opera says the four-year agreement puts the company on a path toward long-term fiscal stability, while the musicians say it provides stability for orchestra members. The underlying tension — a $15 million structural deficit, per CBS News, versus musicians' fear of eroded guarantees — is one many orchestras face, and the ratification vote will show whether the compromise holds. Picket-line patrons who chanted "Listen to musicians. Listen to the community," according to CBS News, signaled the audience's stake in the outcome.

Per CBS News, the 104th season is scheduled to resume Tuesday, Sept. 22, with *Simon Boccanegra* at the War Memorial Opera House, with the orchestra's ratification vote still ahead. KPIX's Maddie White reported on the tentative agreement, and her report was carried by KION Central Coast and Yahoo News, underscoring how widely the resolution traveled. For Granero and his colleagues, the immediate change is simple: after a week of practicing wherever they could, the musicians return inside to the pit — and, for the first time since the early 1980s, they will have done so having flexed real collective power. For fans of the voice and the orchestra that supports it, the season is back on.