Clifford Cranna is Dramaturg Emeritus at the San Francisco Opera. Since 1979, he has worked as the dramaturg and chief music administrator for the Company, planning each season’s rehearsals and performances, managing the commissions of new operas and repertoire, supervising the music staff, and liaising among the general director, composers and librettists, conductors, company musicians and lead performers. He holds a PhD from Stanford University in musicology, and has deployed his skills as a scholar to ensure that the appropriate versions of music repertoire are used, and that the audience is exposed to a wealth of educational materials in the form of pre-performance talks, performance programs, and surtitles, and for the general public in the delivery of formal lectures and research papers at several educational institutions. He is the recipient of several awards, including the San Francisco Opera Medal in 2008.