Is Pan Cogito’s Beloved San Francisco Opera Company Following MET Opera And Washington National Opera To Near Abandonment Of American Classical Opera?

San Francisco Opera's 2009-10 Season:

Il Trovatore
Il Trittico
The Abduction from the Seraglio
The Daughter of the Regiment
Salome
Otello
Faust
The Girl of the Golden West
Die Walküre

Whatever happened to SFO General Director David Gockley’s Animating American Opera Initiative?

Does the economic recession cause America's distinguished museums -- including the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C. -- to close their American art wings?

Is there a need for temporary nationalization of American opera houses, such as the San Francisco Opera, until they regain their solid footing in American culture?

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San Francisco National Opera's 2008-9 Season:

Simon Boccanegra
The Bonesetter's Daughter
Die Tote Stadt
Idomeneo
Boris Godunov
The Elixir of Love
La Bohème
Three Decembers
The Verdi Requiem
Tosca
Porgy and Bess
La Traviata

That is, 25% home-grown American classical opera

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Header photos: Emperor Montezuma's plumed "penacho" or ceremonial headress, presently in the collection of, and on display at, the Austrian National Museum of Ethnology; and an item from the nationalized Library of Congress's American Memory Exhibition.

Moctezuma's headdress was originally a helmet of gold topped with 400 feathers. Cortés has the gold melted and the head piece sent to Charles V of Spain.

de Young Museum of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California.