Opera on the Couch Provides Unique Post-Performance Analysis of “Boris Godunov”
San Francisco, CA – October 2, 2008 – To delve deeper into the searing score of “Boris Godunov,” San Francisco Opera audience members are invited to attend Opera on the Couch, a free and exciting dialogue with a panel of local psychoanalysts immediately following the Sunday, November 2nd matinee. Produced by San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis (SFCP), this free post-performance event at Books, Inc. provides an analysis of Modest Mussorgsky’s masterpiece by local psychoanalysts Steven Goldberg, M.D., and Milton Schaefer, Ph.D., and audience members are encouraged to express their opinions.
“In opera, the musical exploration of character and of interpersonal relationships adds a powerful dimension to our understanding of the inner lives of the characters," write event co-chairs Steven Goldberg and Milton Schaefer.
The story of “Boris Godunov” chronicles the ultimate demise of an inwardly tormented Russian Czar who is haunted by a horrible act he committed years earlier. San Francisco Opera is collaborating with SFCP to provide this opportunity of extending the operatic experience beyond the War Memorial Opera House. Opera on the Couch offers a public forum to discuss the opera with fellow audience members. The analysts’ in-depth scrutiny of the storyline and characters will help spark a dynamic discussion, adding to the excitement of the art form.
“Boris Godunov” will be performed at 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 2 nd and Opera on the Couch will begin at approximately 5 p.m. at Books, Inc., just steps away from the War Memorial Opera House (601 Van Ness Street in San Francisco). For more information, please visit http://www.sf-cp.org/Comm_Edu/opera.htm.
The San Francisco Opera presents opera performances of the highest international quality to the widest possible audiences. The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis offers extended education programs f or mental health professionals, a broad variety of arts and academic programs f or the general public, access to the largest collection of psychoanalytic publications in the Western United States, and selected service eff orts such as an acclaimed Child Development Program. Psychoanalysts are experienced mental health professionals, already possessing advanced degrees (MD’s, PhD’s or MSW’s), who have undergone at least eight years of psychoanalytic training.
