Carrie-Ann Matheson.

It's summer at SFCM, which means the Conservatory is humming with the voices of the San Francisco Opera (SFO)'s Merola Opera Program, this week prepping two performances of Peter Brook’s La Tragédie de Carmen in SFCM's largest performance space, the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall.

Because of SFCM's close relationship with SFO, there are naturally longtime ties between the Conservatory and Merola, named for Gaetano Merola, SFO's founder. Considered one of the best young opera singer programs in the country, Merola typically arrives at SFCM each summer for its expansive educational offerings and several performances.

Merola Artistic Director Carrie-Ann Matheson, also Master Coach of SFCM's two-year Opera Studies Artist Diploma program, has forged a program that tackles everything a young vocalist needs to learn to prepare for their career, from marketing, branding and financial planning to yoga, hair and makeup, nutrition, and performance mindset. (The program provides training at SFCM from June through August and covers the artists' travel, housing, weekly stipends, and all other training expenses.)

"Merola is very unique, because it challenges you to not only grow musically and artistically, but as a human as well," 2022 Voice graduate Lindsay Martin (now in the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program), continues. "Merola Artistic Director Carrie-Ann Matheson and Merola General Manager Markus Beam, their big motto is humans first, career second. They really take a holistic approach to thinking about this program and how they want us to feel coming out of it. That's a really rare thing with this level of instruction, especially in classical music and especially in opera."

Several of SFCM's Voice faculty have graduated from Merola or the Adler program, including Voice professor Rhoslyn Jones, who remembers the moment she found out she was accepted into the program: "I did a happy dance in the middle of a snow-covered Manhattan street in my flip-flops. It's an unforgettable feeling to know that your effort and voice as an artist was heard, recognized, and you're being given a chance. It's all that young artists dream of and it doesn't happen all the time, but when it does it's a magical moment." Jones' fellow Voice faculty member Catherine Cook and Vocal Studies pianist Yang Lin are both Merola graduates, while Voice Executive Chair Richard Cox also teaches in Merola.

Aside from Martin, recent SFCM singers who have gone on to study in the Merola program include Chea Kang, ('25), Nathan Bryon, and 2018 graduates Edward Laurenson and Esther Tonea. (2013 graduate Nikola Printz, another Merolini, was awarded the prestigious Richard Tucker Career Grant for Outstanding Vocal Talent in 2025.)

Merola's performances of La Tragédie de Carmen will take place on July 9 at 2 p.m. and July 11 at 7:00 p.m.

Learn more about studying Voice at SFCM.