Martha

To access the full production program, click the PDF link above.

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 Performance opened the 1926 season.

9/21/1926: Full performance broadcast.  "Martha: Tito Schipa (Lionel), Florence Macbeth (Lady Harriet), Elinor Marlo (Nancy), Marcel Journet (Plunkett); Gaetano Merola. KPO broadcasts the opening performance of San Francisco Opera’s fourth season beginning with a “word picture” of the production at 8 pm followed by the performance at 8:15. Five microphones were placed on the stage and the signal was broadcast “through the West.” Hearers in Los Angeles compared the results unfavorably to Merola’s Los Angeles Grand Opera Company broadcast of La Traviata from the Shrine Auditorium a few weeks later, but the Petaluma Argus-Courier hailed the perfect signal from San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium and called it “an event that will never be forgotten.” Otto Kahn was a special guest and spoke to the audience after Act II. Both “The Last Rose of Summer” and “M’Appari” were encored. This was a first in American broadcast history and a first for all of the involved artists. KPO’s regular Tuesday night studio entertainments such as dance programs by the Mandarin and Palace orchestras and the KPO Trio were on break for the three hours of the opera’s duration. KPO received letters from cities from San Diego all the way to British Columbia."