One of Eun Sun Kim’s stated goals as music director of the San Francisco Opera has been to keep the music of Wagner and Verdi at the center of the repertoire — not to the exclusion of other works, but as an assertion of these composers’ key roles in the history of the art form.

This fall, Kim undertook two meaty conducting assignments back to back, leading Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” to start the season and continuing with a radiant account of Wagner’s “Lohengrin.” The latter production in particular offered a wondrous demonstration of a conductor and orchestra working together to illuminate the details of a score.

I was curious to get a progress report on the Verdi-Wagner project and on other aspects of Kim’s first two years with the company. So on a recent afternoon, just before she wound up the “Lohengrin” production and left the Bay Area for months of international guest conducting, I paid a visit to her sunlit office in the War Memorial Opera House.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: When you arrived here as music director in 2021, you had a lot of experience as a conductor. But you’d never run an opera company before, with all the behind-the-scenes work that the position entails. How has that transition been?

A: Everyone, including myself, lives today and tomorrow and next year for the first time. So I’m learning this job just by doing it, the way I learned conducting by doing it.

Q: When people think of opera, they generally think about the singing first, and then the stagecraft. But you’ve been quite outspoken about the importance of your relations with the orchestra. Can you talk about why that matters so much?

A: Of course the drama in an opera comes from everything — the stage set, the singers, and the rest. But what’s so important in this art form is the musical language that comes from the orchestra.

And remember, the orchestra members never actually get to see what’s happening on the stage! They’re facing the audience. So for them to reflect the drama that the audience can see, that takes a lot of work.

Q: When you arrived in San Francisco, you said you were planning to do an opera by Wagner and one by Verdi each season. You began last year with Verdi’s “La Traviata,” and continued this year with “Il Trovatore” and “Lohengrin.” Did you focus particular attention on those works?

A: We did a lot more orchestral rehearsals for “Lohengrin” than the company usually does for Wagner, and I think it’s paying off. It’s been a long time since they last played Wagner, and the last “Lohengrin” was 11 years ago.

Q: How does that affect the orchestra?

A: We have a new generation of players who have joined the orchestra since then, or even since the “Ring” Cycle in 2018. And we have an older generation who can tell them, “We used to play it this, or that way.”

In terms of stamina, “Lohengrin” is such a long piece. I had to explain from the very beginning, especially for the younger ones, if you play all the 16th notes and 32nd notes as hard as you can, you’ll be dead after three hours. But it’s 4½ hours until the end.

Q: I understand the concentration on Wagner. On the Italian side, why did you choose to emphasize Verdi, rather than, say, Puccini or Rossini?

A: Puccini, for me, is like a fashion designer whose clothes are so perfect that anyone can wear them. It fits one person, and you can give it to another person and it also fits them perfectly.

Q: Wait, who’s the wearer in this analogy? The singer? The orchestra?

A: Both. Everyone.

Q: OK. And what about Verdi?

A: With Verdi, there’s a lot more work to do to make sure the clothes fit. You have to make a lot of decisions. Do we play this phrase “BA-bum” or “ba-BUM”? And there are a lot of traditions that have to be dealt with.

When a singer comes to me and says, “Maestro, there’s a tradition, let’s hold this long note,” I always say, “That tradition began as somebody’s interpretation.” So our work, or our duty, is to decide whether we going to follow that tradition because it’s the tradition, or if it really makes sense logically to me when I study the score?

Q: The company has demonstrated a commitment to new and recent work, but so far it’s been hard to tell about your relationship with contemporary music. You conducted the world premiere of John Adams’ “Antony and Cleopatra,” but other contemporary works, including “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego” and “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,” have been led by guest conductors. Do you plan to become more involved with new music?

A: I do. When (General Director) Matthew (Shilvock) found “Frida y Diego,” I already had my productions scheduled. But there’s a limit to how many productions I can do physically.

This fall I did “Trovatore” and “Lohengrin” almost simultaneously. And in the summer, when we do three productions in one month, it’s just not possible for me to do two of them.

Q: You’re about to embark on a busy season of orchestral guest conducting, with appearances in Montreal, New York, London, Berlin and elsewhere. Do you have a new perspective on guest conducting now that you have a position in San Francisco?

A: My approach to guest conducting has not changed too much, because I’m not trying to create an orchestra’s sound. And of course a guest conductor’s rehearsal time is limited. Whereas here I have years and years, so when I work with the orchestra and something is not really perfect for today, I think, “Well, we can touch on that in next year’s Wagner.”

Q: So you’re taking the long view.

A: There are things I’m making my priorities. Some things make me think, “That was perfect, let’s keep it,” versus, “That was not perfect, but let’s move on for now and we’ll work on it again next year.” That’s the advantage, I think, of being music director.

Reach Joshua Kosman: jkosman@sfchronicle.com