Bio

Joan Arhelger has created the lighting for more than twenty-five productions at San Francisco Opera, most recently for Beethoven’s Fidelio and Mozart’s Entfuhrung aus dem Serail. She has designed lighting for numerous opera companies across the U.S., including Washington National Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, Wolf Trap Opera Company, and, for their repertory seasons, Central City Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Arhelger made her Seattle Opera debut in 1985 with Mozart’s Così fan tutte and returned the following year for Verdi’s Otello. Among her extensive theater and dance credits are Bill Irwin’s Regard of Flight (the San Francisco premiere and subsequent productions), Fräulein Else (the world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and subsequent productions at La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the McCarter Theatre), and two plays directed by Stephen Wadsworth: Misalliance and Don Juan at the Old Globe in San Diego. Arhelger is a tenured professor at San Francisco State University.