Performing Arts
San Francisco is a vibrant city for the Performing Arts. There are many opportunities to enjoy theater, comedy and music of all types with the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet Company, San Francisco Symphony, American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the region's extensive small performance spaces.
Among the Most Notable Performing Arts Venues in San Francisco
- The San Francisco Opera, with 3,146 seats, is the second largest opera company in North America and is located inside the War Memorial Opera House.
- The San Francisco Ballet is not only the first professional ballet company, but also the largest in the United States.
- The San Francisco Symphony sets the level of excellence in musical performance at home and around the world. To fill the gap left by cuts in school music programs, the Symphony provides the most extensive education and community programs offered by any American orchestra today.
- The San Francisco Conservatory of Music offers a unique musical education through program performance and study.
- The Fillmore Auditorium is the legendary auditorium where acts like Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead played their greatest concerts. It was a musical center for the counterculture movement in the 1960s and continues to host many concerts.
- The American Conservatory Theater is a local theater troupe known for its outreach programs and both its classical and contemporary productions. Notable alumni of the group include: Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, and Nicholas Cage.
- The San Francisco Jazz Organization is one of the world's leading presenters of jazz and related forms of music, with over 100 performances each year. Founded in 1983 as a concert presenter under the name of Jazz in the City, SFJAZZ is now one of only two major year-round organizations in the country dedicated to cultivating jazz as a living art form with rich past. The SF Jazz Organization hosts the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival.