[5] According to San Francisco Opera's website,[2] his father was an athletic coach and inspired his early love for sports, and he inherited a passion for music from his mother.
Gockley oversaw the founding of the Houston Grand Opera Studio in 1977, the company's young artist development program, and the opening of the Wortham Theater Center in 1987.
San Francisco Opera also presented three world premieres in 2013: Nolan Gasser and Carey Harrison’s The Secret Garden, based on the children's book by Frances Hodgson Burnett in conjunction with UC Berkeley's Cal Performances; Mark Adamo’s The Gospel of Mary Magdalene; and Tobias Picker and J.D.
[12] San Francisco Opera will present the world premieres of La Ciociara by Marco Tutino and Luca Rossi in the summer of 2015, based on novel of the same name by Alberto Moravia, and Dream of the Red Chamber by Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang in fall 2016, based on the work of the same name by 18th-century Qing dynasty writer Cao Xueqin.
[18] Earlier in 2007, Gockley announced the appointment of Italian conductor Nicola Luisotti as the company's new music director, effective September 2009.
In January 2009, Gockley announced the reappointment of Patrick Summers as principal guest conductor and named Giuseppe Finzi as the company's new assistant music director.