
The Los Angeles Opera is an American
opera company in
Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the
Los Angeles Music Center
The Music Center (officially named the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown Los Angeles, The Music Center is composed of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion ...
.
Leadership
Spanish tenor and conductor
Plácido Domingo was general director of Los Angeles Opera from 2003 to 2019. Domingo sang 27 different roles with the company. He has also conducted 16 different operas and numerous concerts with the company. Domingo resigned in October 2019 following numerous accusations of sexual misconduct.
Los Angeles Opera subsequently hired the law firm of
Gibson Dunn, under the leadership of former United States Attorney and Superior Court Judge
Debra Wong Yang
Debra Wong Yang (; pinyin: Yáng Huáng Jīnyù) is the former United States Attorney for the Central District of California. She was appointed in May 2002 by President George W. Bush, who made her the first Asian American woman to serve as a Un ...
, to conduct an independent investigation of the accusations. After interviewing 44 individuals, Gibson Dunn found that Domingo neither engaged in sexual
quid pro quo
Quid pro quo ('what for what' in Latin) is a Latin phrase used in English to mean an exchange of goods or services, in which one transfer is contingent upon the other; "a favor for a favor". Phrases with similar meanings include: "give and take", ...
nor any professional retaliation against women who rebuffed his advances. They also concluded that Los Angeles Opera policies and procedures against sexual harassment were “sufficient on their face,” but suggested a number of improvements. Los Angeles Opera accepted the findings and committed to implementing Gibson Dunn’s recommendations.
American conductor
James Conlon has been music director since 2006, succeeding
Kent Nagano, who held the official title of "principal conductor" from 2001 until 2003 and then became music director.
Christopher Koelsch has been the president and chief executive officer of Los Angeles Opera since 2012. He previously held the position of senior vice president and chief operating officer since 2010, after serving as vice president for artistic planning. He is the first year-round resident of Los Angeles to lead Los Angeles Opera since 2007.
Grant Gershon became resident conductor as of the 2012–13 season, after previously serving as associate conductor/chorus master since 2007. Previous conductors-in-residence included William Vendice, head of music staff/chorus master, from 1995 to 2007; and Randall Behr, resident conductor, chorus master, and head of music staff from 1988 to 1995.
History
Los Angeles Opera, which was inaugurated in 1986 with a production of
Verdi's ''
Otello
''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.
Th ...
'' starring
Plácido Domingo, traces its roots back to the Los Angeles Civic Grand Opera which was formed in 1948.
[Diane Haithman]
Holding onto a high note
'' Los Angeles Times'', October 8, 2006 It presented staged productions in a church located in
Beverly Hills through the 1950s, funded by furniture maker
Francesco Pace
Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include:
People with the given name Francesco
* Francesco I (disambiguation), sever ...
.
Carol F. Henry
Carol F. Henry is an American philanthropist from California. She is one of the founders of the Los Angeles Opera, and has served as its president since 2005.
Early life
Carol F. Henry was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up in Sacramento, C ...
, who later served as the Los Angeles Opera president of the board, started volunteering for the Los Angeles Opera League in 1981.
Shortly after its third production at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the company abandoned its own production projects and recreated itself as the Music Center Opera Association by bringing opera from other cities to the Music Center, notably
San Francisco Opera and the
New York City Opera. San Francisco Opera began presenting productions in Los Angeles in 1937 and continued to do so every fall until 1969. The NYCO brought productions to Los Angeles every fall from 1966 to 1982.
In 1984, the Music Center Opera Association hired
Peter Hemmings Peter Hemmings OBE (10 April 19344 January 2002) was an English opera administrator, impresario and singer.
As a singer, he was an accomplished chorister in his youth and had a fine bass voice. He was educated at Mill Hill School and began his adm ...
and gave him the task of creating a local opera company which would once again present its own productions. This led to the forming of Los Angeles Opera. Hemmings stepped down as General Director in 2000, with Plácido Domingo, who had been artistic advisor since 1984, assuming leadership of the company the following season. In November 2001,
Edgar Baitzel
Edgar Baitzel (17 May 1955 – 11 March 2007) was a German opera director and artistic administrator.
Born in Koblenz, Baitzel spent the first part of his career in Europe working on the staffs of several notable opera companies, including the Bad ...
was appointed director of artistic operations. Baitzel was appointed the company's Artistic Director in May 2003 and then its chief operating officer in February 2006. Baitzel died in March 2007.
[ ] In September 2012, Christopher Koelsch was appointed president and chief executive officer. He previously held the position of senior vice president and chief operating officer since 2010, after serving as vice president for artistic planning.
Productions of non-standard repertory
The company offers productions in the
standard operatic repertory as well as new and rarely staged operas. In 2015, Los Angeles Opera presented a new production of ''
The Ghosts of Versailles'' by
John Corigliano
John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, an ...
, the first major U.S. staging of that opera in 20 years. In 2014,
Renée Fleming starred in a production of
André Previn
André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...
's ''
A Streetcar Named Desire''.
In 2003, it presented the world premiere of the opera ''Nicholas and Alexandra'', with music composed by
Deborah Drattell
Deborah Drattell (born 1954) is an American composer. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and started her career in music as a violinist. Her compositions have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Tanglewood a ...
and text by
Nicholas von Hoffman. The 2010–2011 season opened with the world première of
Daniel Catán's opera ''
Il Postino'', based on the 1994 drama film ''
Il Postino: The Postman'', with Domingo as the poet
Pablo Neruda
Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...
,
Charles Castronovo in the title role and
Grant Gershon conducting. In 2020 it presented the world premiere of
''Eurydice'', composed by
Matthew Aucoin with a
libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
by
Sarah Ruhl.
The company has also frequently turned to the cinema world for directors of its productions. During the 2001–2002 season, it mounted a production of
Wagner's ''
Lohengrin'', directed by Austrian actor
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was an Austrian-born Swiss actor, who also wrote, directed and produced some of his own films. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1961 American film ''Judgment at Nuremberg'', h ...
and a double bill of
Bartók's ''
Bluebeard's Castle'' and
Puccini's ''
Gianni Schicchi'', directed by filmmaker
William Friedkin.
Garry Marshall directed his own adaptation of
Jacques Offenbach's ''
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein'' in 2005. Friedkin returned to direct
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
's ''
Ariadne auf Naxos'' in 2004 and, in 2008, the first two parts of
Puccini's ''
Il trittico,'' ''
Il tabarro'' and ''
Suor Angelica,'' a production that also featured
Woody Allen making his operatic debut staging ''
Gianni Schicchi.''
Highlights of the last decade have included
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...
's ''
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' starring
Anthony Dean Griffey
Anthony Dean Griffey (born February 12 in High Point, North Carolina) is an American opera tenor. He is a regular presence on the stages of opera houses and concert halls around the world. Griffey has also been noted for his acting talent in additi ...
,
Audra McDonald and
Patti LuPone,
Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...
's ''
Il turco in Italia'' starring
Nino Machaidze
Nino Machaidze ( ka, ნინო მაჩაიძე; born 8 March 1983) is a Georgian operatic soprano. She performs in 19th-century Romantic repertoire, primarily in operas by Rossini and Verdi as well as French operas. Beginning her career ...
Simone Alberghini,
Paolo Gavanelli and
Thomas Allen Thomas Allen may refer to:
Clergy
*Thomas Allen (nonconformist) (1608–1673), Anglican/nonconformist priest in England and New England
*Thomas Allen (dean of Chester) (died 1732)
*Thomas Allen (scholar) (1681–1755), Anglican priest in England
* ...
, and three major works by
Benjamin Britten: ''
The Turn of the Screw'' starring
Patricia Racette, ''
Albert Herring'' starring Alek Shrader in the title role, with
Janis Kelly and
Christine Brewer
Christine Brewer (born October 26, 1955) is an American soprano opera singer.
Biography
Brewer grew up in the Mississippi River town of Grand Tower, Illinois. She attended McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois and concentrated on music educ ...
sharing the role of Lady Billows, and ''
Billy Budd
''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'' is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed version was finally published in 1924, it quick ...
'' starring
Liam Bonner
Liam Bonner (born March 18, 1981) is a retired professional opera singer (baritone) from Pittsburgh, PA.
In his former career as an artist, Bonner was praised by Opera News for his "rich, versatile voice" and "beautiful instrument". Highlights ...
,
Richard Croft and
Greer Grimsley.
Notable guest performers
Other frequent and notable guests with the company have included
Samuel Ramey,
Violeta Urmana,
Hildegard Behrens,
Denyce Graves,
Frederica von Stade,
Sumi Jo,
Deborah Voigt,
James Morris,
Rod Gilfry
Rodney Gilfry is a leading American operatic baritone. After launching his career at Frankfurt Opera in 1987, Gilfry quickly established a reputation for stylish singing and acting. A renowned Mozart specialist, he has given acclaimed perform ...
,
Jennifer Larmore,
Maria Ewing,
Susan Graham and
Ferruccio Furlanetto.
Company programs and features
Recovered Voices project
The company's multi-year project Recovered Voices, begun during the 2006-2007 season, is dedicated to presenting little known operas by the lost generation of composers whose lives and careers were cut short by the
Third Reich. To date, the company has presented
Alexander von Zemlinsky's ''
Eine florentinische Tragödie'' (''An Italian Tragedy'') and ''
Der Zwerg'' (''The Dwarf''), the U.S. premiere of
Viktor Ullmann's ''Der zerbrochene Krug'' (''The Broken Jug''),
Walter Braunfels' ''
Die Vögel
Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life.
Die may also refer to:
Games
* Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers
Manufacturing
* Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...
'' (''The Birds'') and the U.S. premiere of
Franz Schreker
Franz Schreker (originally ''Schrecker''; 23 March 1878 – 21 March 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, Schreker developed a style characterized by aesthetic plurality (a mixture ...
's ''
Die Gezeichneten'' (''The Stigmatized'') as part of this mission, as well as children's performances of
Hans Krása's ''
Brundibár
''Brundibár'' is a children's opera by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister, made most famous by performances by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp (Terezín) in occupied Czechoslovakia. The name ...
''.
''Der Ring des Nibelungen''
The company presented its first presentation of
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's complete ''
Der Ring des Nibelungen'' in the summer of 2010. New productions of ''
Das Rheingold'' and ''
Die Walküre'' were performed in early 2009, followed by ''
Siegfried'' (September–October 2009) and ''
Götterdämmerung'' (April 2010). Three full cycles were produced from May 29 through June 26, 2010, accompanied by the citywide ''Ring Festival LA''. The innovative production was directed and designed by German theater artist
Achim Freyer and conducted by
James Conlon. The principal artists included
Linda Watson,
Vitalij Kowaljow Vitalij Kowaljow is a Bass (voice type), bass opera singer living in Switzerland. He initially studied piano as a child, but inspired by his parents, who sang in the choir of his Baptist church in Cherkasy, Ukraine, he took advantage of an offer to ...
,
Michelle DeYoung
Michelle DeYoung (born 1968 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States) is an American classical vocalist who has an active international career performing in operas and concerts.
Early life and education
While born in Michigan, DeYoung was ra ...
,
Plácido Domingo,
John Treleaven
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
,
Graham Clark,
Richard Paul Fink
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
, Eric Halfvarson,
Alan Held
Alan may refer to:
People
*Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname
*Alan (given name), an English given name
**List of people with given name Alan
''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.''
*Al ...
and
Jennifer Wilson, among others.
The festival drew criticism from Los Angeles County Supervisor
Michael D. Antonovich
Michael Dennis Antonovich (born August 12, 1939) is an American politician who was Mayor of Los Angeles County and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He represented the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles Count ...
, who argued that Wagner's work was the "soundtrack to the
Holocaust", a reference to Wagner's anti-Semitic views. Wagner's music was played by guards at concentration camps and through loudspeakers.
Antonovich requested that the company broaden the scope of the festival to include other classical and operatic performers, while the company argued that proper attention was made to educate festival-goers on Wagner's racist views, and that broadening the scope would be inappropriate. On a 3–1 vote, the other supervisors rejected Antonovich's motion to have the
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors send a letter to the company to shift the focus away from Wagner.
Subsequently, partly as a result of the cost of producing the ''Ring'', the company requested an emergency $14 million loan from the board of supervisors due to reduced sponsorships and escalating costs. The board approved the loan 4–1, with Antonovich dissenting. In January 2012, LA Opera repaid half of the loan, with the balance repaid in December 2012.
Education and Community Engagement
For over 20 years, the company has produced a wide variety of education and outreach programs designed to bring opera to people of all backgrounds, from young children experiencing opera for the first time to experienced opera lovers of all ages. These include "In-School Operas" performed for and by elementary school students; full-scale student matinées and a summer "Opera Camp" for secondary school students; accredited teacher training programs; large-scale, free community performances for families; a popular lecture series for ticket holders before every mainstage performance; and open dress rehearsals for senior centers. In 2008, these programs were enjoyed by an all-time high of more than 159,000 students, teachers and community members.
Selected recordings
*
John Corigliano
John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, an ...
– ''
The Ghosts of Versailles''.
James Conlon,
Patricia Racette,
Christopher Maltman,
Kristinn Sigmundsson,
Joshua Guerrero
Joshua Guerrero is an American operatic tenor, focused on Italian repertoire. He appeared as Count Almaviva on a recording of Corigliano's ''The Ghosts of Versailles'', which won two Grammy Awards. His first role in Germany was Des Grieux in Puc ...
, Los Angeles Opera.
Pentatone PTC 5186538 (2016).
See also
*
List of North American opera companies
This inclusive list of North American opera companies contains American and Canadian professional opera companies and opera related organizations with entries in the Wikipedia. For opera companies in Latin America (including Mexico) see List of L ...
References
External links
*
{{Coord, 34.0566, -118.2489, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title
1986 establishments in California
Musical groups established in 1986
Opera companies in Los Angeles
Opera houses in California