“I’m looking forward to seeing inclusivity in an institution not known for it,” Thomason-Redus noted. Artists from the Prison Arts Project who are no longer incarcerated will also come to the opera. That’s not necessary - look at any of these images, and you immediately get what this is about.”Ī group of around 250 people attending an upcoming performance will include participants in programs that serve imprisoned people and their families as well as arts programs for students. “Some notion was discussed about putting barbed wire on the opera wall. “It’s so thoughtful and powerful and creative and expressive,” he exclaimed. Seeing the artwork of incarcerated people exhibited in the opera house lobby exceeded Thomason-Redus’s hopes. Omid Mokri, “Cruel and Unjust Punishment” (photo by Peter Merts)

Beethoven struggled with his compositions (as opposed to, say, the child prodigy Mozart), and had an alcoholic father who beat him, which may have caused the composer’s deafness later in life. (“To Break Free, She Had to Break In” is the San Francisco Opera’s cinematic tagline.) Thomason-Redus felt that incarcerated people might relate to the opera, not only because of its story, but also because Beethoven, unlike many composers of his day, rejected the monarchy and aristocracy. Fidelio tells the story of a man wrongfully imprisoned and the woman who disguises herself in order to enter the prison and save him.

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