In 1988, Lotfi Mansouri was named general director of San Francisco Opera-the fourth in a rich legacy begun by Gaetano Merola in 1923 and carried forward by Kurt Herbert Adler and Terence A. McEwen. But Mansouri's professional association with the Company dates back many years before this appointment, to 1963, when he directed six productions for the Fall Season. He has already directed over 60 productions for the Company.