San Francisco Opera orchestra ends strike after tentative four-year agreement

The agreement ends a nearly week-long strike that forced the cancellation of five events and delayed the opening of San Francisco Opera’s 104th season. Performances will begin on September 22 with Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra.

San Francisco Opera and the musicians of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract, ending a strike that disrupted the opening of the company’s 2026–27 season.

The agreement, announced jointly on Thursday, September 17, covers the period from August 1, 2026 through July 31, 2030 and remains subject to ratification by the musicians, who are represented by the American Federation of Musicians Local 6. The detailed financial and structural terms of the agreement have not yet been made public.

The orchestra went on strike on September 12, shortly before the scheduled opening-night performance of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. The walkout ultimately resulted in the cancellation of the season opener, the annual free Opera in the Park concert and three additional performances: Simon Boccanegra on September 16 and 19 and the scheduled September 20 opening of Thea Musgrave’s Mary, Queen of Scots.

The company’s 104th season will now officially begin on Tuesday, September 22, with Simon Boccanegra, conducted by Music Director Eun Sun Kim. The production stars Amartuvshin Enkhbat in the title role, with Christian Van Horn as Jacopo Fiesco, Eleonora Buratto as Amelia Grimaldi and Joshua Guerrero as Gabriele Adorno.

Although the strike has ended, this weekend’s cancelled performances will not be reinstated. The company said that mounting its productions requires significant rehearsal and preparation following the interruption caused by the strike. Mary, Queen of Scots will now open on Thursday, September 24.

General Director Matthew Shilvock described the tentative contract as an agreement that addresses structural changes while providing fair terms for the musicians.

“I am deeply grateful that we have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract,” Shilvock said, thanking the two negotiating committees, mediators and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and his administration for their involvement in the negotiations.

Gabe Young, associate principal oboist and chair of the Orchestra Negotiating Committee, said the musicians were “heartened” by an agreement that provides what he described as “a fair contract and stability for the members of the orchestra.”

“We cannot wait to return to the pit to begin this new season and perform once again for the company we love,” Young said.

Mayor intervened in negotiations

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s administration became directly involved in the dispute on September 13, the day after the strike began. Matthew Goudeau, the city’s Executive Director of Arts and Culture, helped facilitate negotiations, spending several evenings working with the parties at City Hall and the War Memorial Opera House. Both sides credited the mayor and his team with helping bring about the agreement.

Lurie welcomed the settlement, noting the broader impact of Opera performances on artists, staff and businesses in the surrounding Hayes Valley neighbourhood.

“Finally, we are getting those performances started again,” the mayor said.

A dispute over pay and the Opera’s future

The strike exposed a deeper disagreement over the financial model of one of the United States’ leading opera companies.

The musicians had said that management initially proposed a 26 per cent pay reduction, subsequently lowered to 20 per cent, before proposing a five-year wage freeze. They argued that inflation would have produced a substantial reduction in their real earnings.

Management disputed that description. San Francisco Opera said its proposal involved increasing wage rates while gradually reducing the amount of guaranteed work, with the aim of maintaining musicians’ seasonal compensation while adapting the orchestra’s contract to a shorter opera season.

The Opera says it is confronting a structural annual deficit of approximately $15 million, arguing that expenses have risen faster than revenues and that the orchestra’s employment structure no longer reflects the company’s reduced number of performances.

Whether and how the new agreement resolves those competing concerns will become clearer when its terms are disclosed following ratification.

For now, the settlement brings the strike to an end and allows a season originally scheduled to begin on September 12 to open ten days later.