San Francisco Opera Blog | SF Opera

It all started in 2013 in Minneapolis, where Lucas was running late for rehearsals at Mill City Summer Opera — about a week late, in fact. He had been on a fishing trip that delayed his arrival.

Irina was already there, contracted as a rehearsal pianist for Mill City’s upcoming production of The Barber of Seville. It was hard work, and she was tired. She barely paid any attention to the fisherman who’d just waltzed into the rehearsal space.

When Lucas walked to the center of the rehearsal space, it clicked: This man was the opera’s star, its Figaro. And she instantly had a million questions….