In the mood for dinner and an opera? A Richmond restaurant has you covered on first Fridays.

On certain Friday nights, patrons entering Biancoverde restaurant at Point Richmond’s Hotel Mac are serenaded with arias from an operatic voice in a cozy alcove lounge. A vibrato breaks through the low din of the packed bar and dining room. Patrons, some opera aficionados, some neophytes, sit with rapt attention while a real opera diva performs, returning to their drinks, meals, and conversations between the solo numbers she alternates with the evening’s divo.  

Such a scene plays out the first Friday of every month at “Festival Opera at the Mac,” where Zachary Gordin — Festival’s general manager, artistic director and pianist — accompanies local opera artists through a program ranging from well-known arias to pop-musical covers.  

The free event, which Festival’s website describes as “an opera jam session,” has taken place on the first Friday of each month since July. The next one is on Jan. 2. 

December’s show featured mezzo-soprano Leandra Ramm and tenor Adam Chase performing solos from Bizet’s “Carmen,” Massenet’s “Manon,” Donizetti’s “Elixir of Love,” and Rossini’s “Barber of Seville.” They concluded the evening with powerful renditions of “Winter Wonderland” and “Over the Rainbow.” The trio entertained a full bar and lounge audience of about 30 for two hours, injecting warmth, cheer, and light into an otherwise dark and chilly night in the Point Richmond village.

Gordin describes Festival Opera at the Mac as the beginning of his company’s contribution to making Richmond an arts and entertainment hub. 

“The arts are positioning for a growth phase in Richmond,” he said. “We’re thrilled to be part of it.”

As are Gordin’s rotating roster of performers. Ramm, a Pittsburg resident, has been performing opera for 20 years. She currently freelances with opera companies around the Bay Area. This was her second performance at the Mac.

She said the event “brings opera to the people. It takes it out of this elite art form and makes it real, grounds it, so that people know it’s real people singing.”

Chase, a Pleasanton native, performed at the Mac for the first time on Dec. 5. Patrons were no more than a few yards away. Being so close to the audience has advantages for performers, he said, and also helps people to break through their preconceived ideas about opera.  

“They hear it all the time in the background of movies or TV shows, but they don’t know that’s what they’re hearing,” he said. “I think hearing it isolated like this, where they don’t have to pay, one, money, and, two, attention, it’s nice.”

Ramm said that the general noise and hubbub of a busy bar and restaurant helps her performance. “It actually calms the nerves.” 

Watching them up close and un-costumed, the physicality of opera singing becomes clear.

“It’s a really great access point for people who don’t even know what opera is,” Gordin said, “to sort of get a teaser about it and maybe have a good experience feeling the music, listening either subliminally or actively.”  

Opera in the park?

Under Gordin’s leadership, Festival Opera is planning additional events in Richmond in 2026. The company is discussing free “Opera in the Park” performances, similar to its outdoor performances elsewhere in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. Gordin said these will likely begin in the summer.

He is also discussing how to integrate opera and classical music into Richmond’s public arts offerings with Richmond Vice Mayor Cesar Zepeda. Gordin praised Zepeda for “focusing light on the arts in Richmond.”

Zepeda said in an email that he’d like to see Richmond host something similar to the Stern Grove Festival, which is an annual live performing arts and music event each summer in San Francisco’s Sigmund Stern Grove.

 “Richmond is an arts hub and we want to bring in as many artists as possible in different medias,” he said. 

(Top photo: Opera singer Leandra Ramm performs with pianist Zachary Gordin.)

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