Matthew Shilvock, San Francisco Opera

Matthew Shilvock is the Tad and Dianne Taube General Director of San Francisco Opera. Now in his fifth season as general director, Shilvock is responsible for all artistic and business aspects of the organization, overseeing a repertory season of mainstage opera productions and concerts, education and community programming, new digital initiatives, and young artist training programs. Passionate about telling profound stories of humanity through the total art form of opera, he is committed to pioneering new approaches to producing large-scale opera in the 21st century and creating impactful, reciprocal connections with the community.

In recent seasons, Shilvock has presented the world premieres of two major new operas, John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West and Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber; established the company’s first Department of Diversity, Equity and Community; and, in 2019, appointed conductor Eun Sun Kim as San Francisco Opera’s next music director to lead the company through its 2022–23 centennial and into the future.

Shilvock began with San Francisco Opera in 2005 working closely with then-General Director David Gockley with whom he also worked at Houston Grand Opera. Under Gockley’s mentorship, Shilvock worked in a number of roles before being appointed Associate General Director in 2010. Matthew Shilvock was born in 1976 in Kidderminster, England. He read music at Christ Church, Oxford University, writing his thesis on Jean Baptiste Lully. He also holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with a specialization in nonprofit administration. Shilvock is on the board of OPERA America and is a co-chair of the San Francisco Arts Alliance.