Crying 'We Want Great Art!!' ... 'We Want Tosca!!' ... An Estimated 27,000 Show Up For Free Simulcast Of Puccini's Tosca At San Francisco Ball Park

"The San Francisco Opera set an attendance record Friday for its continuing simulcasts of live performances from the War Memorial Opera House to AT&T Park.

An audience estimated by the Opera at 27,000 showed up for the free simulcast of Puccini's "Tosca," shown on the scoreboard screen, starring soprano Adrianne Pieczonka as the doomed heroine.

Opera General Director David Gockley threw out the first pitch, so to speak, in a precurtain speech from the Opera House. After introducing conductor Marco Armiliato, who led the ballpark and sold-out Opera House audiences in the national anthem, Gockley poked his head out from behind the curtain to call out, "Play opera!"

This was the company's third simulcast at the ballpark. The company inaugurated the ballpark simulcasts with a production of Camille Saint-Saëns' "Samson et Delilah" in 2007, drawing a crowd estimated at 15,000, and followed last year with a simulcast of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," which pulled in an estimated 23,000 people.

The next simulcast is scheduled for Sept. 19, when incoming Music Director Nicola Luisotti will conduct Verdi's "Il Trovatore."" ...

David Wiegand "S.F. Opera simulcast sets ballpark record" San Francisco Chronicle June 9, 2009

Photo credit: Theatre of Dionysus. Glen Larson for Wikipedia Commons. With thanks.

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Notable winners of the City Dionysia

Tragedy
484 BC - Aeschylus
472 BC - Aeschylus (The Persians)
471 BC - Polyphrasmon
468 BC - Sophocles (Triptolemus)
467 BC - Aeschylus (Seven Against Thebes)
463 BC - Aeschylus (The Suppliants)
458 BC - Aeschylus (The Oresteia)
449 BC - Herakleides
441 BC - Euripides
441 BC - Sophocles (Antigone)
431 BC - Euphorion, son of Aeschylus, Sophocles took 2nd place, Euripides took 3rd with Medea
428 BC - Euripides (Hippolytus)
427 BC - Philocles, nephew of Aeshyclus, Sophocles took 2nd place
415 BC - Xenocles
409 BC - Sophocles (Philoctetes)
406 BC - Euripides (The Bacchae)
372 BC - Astydamas

Comedy
486 BC - Chionides
472 BC - Magnes
458 BC - Euphonius
450 BC - Crates
446 BC - Callias
437 BC - Pherecrates
435 BC - Hermippus
422 BC - Cantharus
421 BC - Aristophanes (Peace (2nd prize))
414 BC - Ameipsias (The Revellers)
402 BC - Cephisodoros
290 BC - Poseidippus
278 BC - Philemon
185 BC - Laines
183 BC - Philemon
154 BC - Chairion

(Wikipedia)