Gockley2

During the Adler era, San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House was where Los Angeles opera-lovers always flocked when they wanted to hear international artists perform Mimi and Rodolfo or Violetta and Alfredo. But now Los Angeles has a vital company of its own. “I think that L.A. is a great city,” said Gockley. “It’s a much bigger population center than San Francisco and should have a bigger and more substantial company. I think that over recent years, San Francisco has had its difficulties, and simultaneously through Plácido [Domingo] and Edgar Baitzel [Los Angeles Opera’s chief operating officer] and because of the availability of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion now that the Philharmonic has moved to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, L.A. Opera has finally had the opportunity to achieve the status that it rightfully should have in the second largest market in the country. I think they’re doing a great job and I take my hat off to them.”

MEETING THE CHALLENGE:
Although he doesn’t worry himself about the competition, he is somewhat envious of L.A. Opera in at least one respect. Maintaining favorable union relations doesn’t have to be as high on L.A. Opera’s priority list. “San Francisco has a longer tradition of union relations than the younger company in Los Angeles does,” Gockley explained. “The contracts [in San Francisco] are quite extensive and rich, and they provide for guaranteed employment for approximately half the year for the chorus, orchestra and to a lesser extent, the stagehands, so we’re dealing with a considerably higher overhead right now than I understand exists in L.A.”
After 33 years in Houston, when the job offer from San Francisco came along, Gockley welcomed the opportunity to make a change. “I adore San Francisco. It’s a beautiful, bracing, thrilling, aesthetically pleasing place to live. It’s a great international city, and the roach count compared to Houston is very low.”
What?
“No! No!” quipped Gockley a second later. “I was obviously joking.”