Performances Magazine | LA Opera, October 2023

OCTOBER 2023

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CONTENTS WELCOME FROM PRESIDENT 8 AAND CEO CHRISTOPHER KOELSCH

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DON GIOVANNI, THE UNKNOWABLE Music Director James Conlon explores the transformation of an age-old legend into something that reflects each subsequent era’s own world view.

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A CONVERSATION WITH ROB ASHFORD The award-winning director of The Barber of Seville makes a timeless classic as fresh and funny as ever.

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RISING STARS Introducing the members of this season’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.

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MEET LUCAS MEACHEM The star baritone, a longtime LAO favorite, returns in one of his signature roles: Don Giovanni.

LA OPERA, STUDENTS ARE 32 AT HONORED GUESTS

A number of Connects program brings students into the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to experience the magic of opera for the first time.

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Clockwise from top: The season opens with Kasper Holten’s spectacular production of Don Giovanni; Lucas Meachem, shown as the Count in The Marriage of Figaro last season, returns in another Mozart leading role; Rob Ashford directs a new-to-Los Angeles staging of The Barber of Seville.

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A NOTE FROM CHRISTOPHER KOELSCH

Welcome to LA Opera Dear friends: Welcome back! I hope you’ve had a wonderful summer and are ready to dive into the thrilling operatic adventures ahead. And what better way to celebrate the opening of our 2023/24 season than with one of opera’s greatest masterpieces.

Mozart’s Don Giovanni embodies everything that audiences love most about opera: music that goes straight to our hearts, extraordinary vocalism, thrilling drama, fascinating characters and enthralling visual spectacle.

James Conlon, our brilliant music director, will conduct a dazzling production created by director Kasper Holten. Lucas Meachem returns to us as Don Giovanni, a role for which he has won international acclaim. Guanqun Yu returns as Donna Anna and another company favorite, Craig Colclough, is our Leporello. Isabel Leonard makes her mainstage debut as Donna Elvira after a thrilling recital debut with us last season. Meigui Zhang makes her company debut as Zerlina and Peixin Chen returns as the Commendatore. Two members of the DomingoColburn-Stein Young Artist Program are singing major roles in this production—Anthony León as Don Ottavio and Alan Williams as Masetto—and I’m excited to see them take on their biggest challenges to date on our stage.

I am proud to extend my gratitude to the generous underwriters who have made it possible for us to present this magnificent production of Don Giovanni: Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg; The Blue Ribbon; the Carol and Warner Henry Production Fund for Mozart Operas; and the Alfred and Claude Mann Fund; with special appreciation to Régina and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten.

Next up is one of the most beloved of all operatic comedies, The Barber of Seville. Conductor Louis Lohraseb, a distinguished alumnus of our Young Artist Program who made such an impression conducting last season’s Tosca, returns to lead our performances, which come to us in a delightful staging by Rob Ashford. Joshua Hopkins, our wonderful Orpheus in our 2020 world premiere of Eurydice, is Figaro. Fresh from her appearances as Donna Elvira, the incandescent Isabel Leonard tackles a second role with us this fall, Rosina. We welcome several debuting artists as well: Edgardo Rocha as Count Almaviva; Paolo Bordogna and Patrick Carfizzi sharing the role of Doctor Bartolo; Luca Pisaroni as Don Basilio; and Kathleen O’Mara, a new member of our Young Artist Program, as Berta.

I am deeply grateful for the generous support of Andrea and Janie Pessino and the Tarasenka Pankiv Fund (Tara Colburn), who have made this production of The Barber of Seville possible. I would also like to extend my thanks to Laura and Carlton Seaver for their special support of this production.

Isabel Leonard’s appearance in both Don Giovanni and The Barber of Seville is made possible by generous support from the Eva and Marc Stern Principal Artists Fund, and the LA Opera Orchestra is generously underwritten by Terri and Jerry Kohl.

Most important of all, my deepest thanks go to you, our loyal audience members, to our generous supporters and patrons, and to our wonderful board of directors under the dedicated leadership of Chairman Keith R. Leonard, Jr. I hope that you have a wonderful time.

Sincerely,

Christopher Koelsch

SEBASTIAN PAUL AND MARYBELLE MUSCO PRESIDENT AND CEO

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LA OPERA

LA OPERA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Marc Stern*

HONORARY CHAIRMAN

Keith R. Leonard, Jr.* CHAIRMAN

Carol F. Henry*

CHAIRMAN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Leslie Dorman*

Robert Ronus*

Eugene P. Stein*

VICE CHAIRMEN

Régina Weingarten*

Marilyn Ziering*

Penelope D. Foley* TREASURER

Paul D. Tosetti* SECRETARY

Bernard A. Greenberg*

VICE CHAIRMAN EMERITUS AND FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER

Thomas Gottschalk Ahsan Aijaz Diane Gray Patricia Artigas Monica Gutierrez-Roper James R. Asperger Cornelia Haag-Molkenteller, Haig S. Bagerdjian M.D. Paul Bloch Nicolas Hamatake Lisa Bratkovich Mary Hayley* Iman H. Brivanlou, Ph.D. Catherine H. Helm Brian P. Brooks Barbara Burtin William Chase Marlene Schall Chávez, Ph.D. Hodge-Brokenburr Tim C. Johnson* Janet J. Ciriello, Ed.D. Janet Jones James Conlon† Richard Jones Robert Cook Lawrence A. Kern Alexis Deutsch-Adler Kathleen Kane Eberhardt Christopher Koelsch†* Chaz Hammel-Smith Ebert Thomas F. Kranz Scott R. Lord Geoff Emery Dr. Annette Ermshar Hon. Nora M. Manella Michael A. Friedman, M.D. Claude Mann Patricia McKenna* Gordon P. Getty**

Bryan Moeller James Mulally Gary W. Murphy Gregory Nava Leslie A. Pam, Ph.D. Linda Pascotto* Andrea Pessino Linda Pierce Ceil Pulitzer** Harold B. Ray* Courtney Reum Barry A. Sanders* Lionel M. Sauvage* Heinrich Schelbert, M.D., Ph.D. R. Carlton Seaver* Lisa See Tina L. Segel Joan Seidel Linda Shaheen

Marilyn Shapiro Susan Shapiro* Eric L. Small Dr. Vina Spiehler Janet Stanford Shirley Starke-Wallace Deanie Stein Dr. Ellen G. Strauss Mimi Won Techentin Barbara Augusta Teichert Sandra W. Terner Brigitta B. Troy Gillian Wagner Christopher V. Walker Geoffrey P. Wharton Andrew Xu Zev Yaroslavsky Ellen Zetcher Ann Ziff

LIFE TRUSTEES Ambassador Frank E. Baxter Alicia Garcia Clark Alice Steere Coulombe

Don Franzen Alexander Furlotti Joan Hotchkis Sherry Lansing

Mrs. Joseph A. Saunders Marvin S. Shapiro Mrs. Dennis Stanfill Richard E. Troop

Alyce Williamson Dr. A.M. Zarem‡

PRESIDENTS / CHAIRMEN OF LA OPERA SINCE ITS INCEPTION Stephen D. Gavin John A. McCone Lawrence Deutsch Bernard I. Forester

* Executive Committee member

Kyhl Smeby Edward W. Carter Thomas Wachtell Roy L. Ash

** Honorary

† Ex Officio

Bernard A. Greenberg Richard Seaver Leonard I. Green Marc Stern

Frank E. Baxter Carol F. Henry Keith R. Leonard, Jr.

‡ in memoriam

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LA Opera’s productions from the Italian repertoire are made possible in part by an extraordinary leadership gift in memory of

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and in honor of his remarkable contributions to the world of opera.

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A NOTE FROM MUSIC DIRECTOR JAMES CONLON

DON GIOVANNI, THE UNKNOWABLE: A CLASSICAL ANTIHERO Donna folle! indarno gridi, Chi son io tu non saprai! [Crazed woman! In vain you scream!

Who I am, you will not know!] (Don Giovanni, Act One, scene one) To me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. (Deuteronomy 32:35) universality that has ensured its permanence in our culture. This article purports to do very little but to bear witness to that phenomenon. Like The Marriage of Figaro, its predecessor in the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy, its plot is located at the nexus of sexual and class politics. It portrays several burning social issues which our contemporary society is grappling with: the victimization through sexual abuse of women and the suppression of the rights of the unprivileged at the hands of a more powerful social class.

PHOTO BY BILL COOPER

The story of Don Juan has been around at least since the early 17th century, and his legend has grown to the point that each century has had its say on the subject.

Our own, not yet barely past two decades, is still busy with it. Like the chameleon its eponymous antagonist is, it has been wrapped in many different philosophical and literary garments.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte conferred on the subject a seriousness and

Es Devlin's revolving set and immersive projections by Luke Halls evoke the psychology of the serial womanizer.

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But of the many implications of this extremely complex narrative, there is an overwhelming presence that, at the beginning and the end, orients the listener. And it is accomplished without a word of text, nor preamble nor explanation. The terrifying power of the key of D minor, in the hands of the transcendent genius of Mozart, tells us that this is a cautionary tale, of the fate of one who transgresses without repentance. The composer—so generous in his own clemency, pardoning almost all of his characters in all of his operas—has made a stunning and powerful exception. In an era when portrayal of death on the stage was relatively rare and unfashionable, Mozart presents the protagonist’s demise in full view, consigning him—in our presence—to eternal damnation.

Mozart dared the unthinkable: to render the rigorous application of religious law in the theater. He depicts the terror of eternal punishment in such an arresting manner that the association of death with the key of D minor reigned well into the 20th century. Few composers have scaled those heights. Mozart’s model seems unsurpassable.

Mozart’s moral position concerning the protagonist is clear and, despite much of the literary musing of subsequent centuries, remains unmistakable. The moral decay, the cruelty and the malignant antisocial narcissism of the man we know as Don Giovanni merited a powerful and definitive punishment. The music alone is unmistakable in delivering that castigation. The final scene is awe-inspiring, such that neither believer nor non-believer can remain indifferent to its terrors.

Writing on this subject is both difficult and easy, given that the subject has provoked a vast and unending commentary since its creation. It can also seem unnecessary and/or superfluous. Primarily, the music speaks for itself. Secondarily, so much has been written and said about it that it is virtually impossible to say something of importance fundamentally new. Thirdly, almost any position the writer might take on the subject, including all the thoughts set forth in this article, can immediately be challenged and dismissed by an infinite number of equally valid viewpoints.

The story seems to have originated with a play attributed to the Spanish monk Tirso de Molina. It was entitled El Burlador de Sevilla y Convidado de Piedra [The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest]. Don Juan, as it came to be known, would have many new settings—by certain counts over 1,700 in the centuries following its creation—mostly in France in the 17th century and most notably by Moliére. The subject of Don Juan seemed to have exhausted itself by the end of the 18th century, when Mozart and Da Ponte alighted on it. Had it not been for them, the story might have disappeared

PHOTO BY BILL COOPER

A NOTE FROM MUSIC DIRECTOR JAMES CONLON

Don Giovanni, who has always gotten away with his sexual misdeeds, finally crosses a line when he becomes a murderer.

altogether. But they produced a work of transcendent genius, transformed the story of Don Juan and, whether intentionally or not, gave birth to a modern myth.

The “new” Don Giovanni captured the imagination of some of the greatest writers of the next two centuries.

The list is long, but its most prominent exponents were Lord Byron, Alexander Pushkin, E.T.A. Hoffmann and Søren Kierkegaard at first, to be followed later by Charles Baudelaire, George Bernard Shaw and Albert Camus. And when they wrote about Don Giovanni, they wrote not about Don Juan Burlador, but as the world had come to know him through Mozart and Da Ponte.

This cautionary tale of evil punished and the infinite complexity, richness and ambiguity of the human soul inspired each age to see it through its particular lens. As the 19th century gradually lost interest in sin and salvation and reshaped itself, it saw Don Giovanni as a reflection of its own yearnings and search for knowledge. Goethe’s Faust had his quest and Don Giovanni his conquest. He was for some an antihero who drove himself to self-destruction, through his insatiable drives, and dragged others along with him. Another point of view was that the Don was a melancholy protagonist of a self-defined drama, in search of some illusionary antisocial grail of his own making. In each case, the 19th century found a use for this story to say something about its own preoccupations. It saw a mirrored image of itself.

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A NOTE FROM MUSIC DIRECTOR JAMES CONLON In the 20th century, Don Giovanni underwent a radically different evaluation under the microscope of psychoanalysis. The earlier portrait of a flawed, but defiant hero of Romanticism gave way to a psychopathic criminal. His malignant narcissism exhibits every form of neurosis and pathology imaginable.

And so on. Each age, including our own, sees in him and his story a reflection of its own world view. Rightfully, he no longer represents anything good; he is a criminal predator, serial seducer and rapist. He is an abuser of women and all society, a paradigm of patriarchal privilege.

Although Mozart’s framework for this drama resides in the supernatural and in the rendering of divine justice, the abundant freedom with which he and Da Ponte create this theatrical drama has less to do with religious dogma than the infinite variety of the human experience. Don Giovanni and the Commendatore provide the pillars that hold up the edifice that houses all of the other characters. They have a human life but are simultaneously symbols, manifestations of powerful forces, polar antagonists. The Commendatore is, if not the arbiter, at least the messenger of a divine judge.

But who is the real Don Giovanni? Taken literally, his story seems improbable, if not ludicrous. The sheer number of names in Leporello’s catalog removes it from the world of the real to the realm of fantasy and hyperbole. His raison d’être is one dimensional: to subvert society through the abuse of women and the profligate exercise of his assumed aristocratic birthrights. To try to explain why he does so is fruitless: he simply does so.

“Motiveless malignity,” Coleridge’s famous description of Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello, leaves the “why” unanswered, and is a potent challenge to the possible futility of questioning what drives the Don. We meet him and the Commendatore on their last day. The personal history of the Commendatore is unknown. He does not have a name, just a title. He is there to deliver a divine message and, when it is rejected, to inform the Don that his time has come. All we know about Don Giovanni is the depth and breadth of his misdeeds, but nothing at all about his person, who he is, nor how he came to be what he is. The Commendatore and the Don fulfill their dramatic functions in a fundamentally otherworldly drama of defiance and retribution. Divine justice is meted out.

It has often been pointed out that Don Giovanni has no core to his personality. Mozart purposely deprives him of a self-revelatory or confessional aria. His three solo numbers are one-dimensional snapshots of what propels him: wine (the drinking song), seduction (the serenade) and violence (as he prepares to beat Masetto).

All the other characters are fully human. Tomes are written, rightly, discussing the three women. These fascinatingly diverse characters—Anna (the aristocrat), Elvira (the emerging middle class) and Zerlina (the peasant)—are bound together. Theirs is a shared misfortune: they cross paths with an inhumane monster and have their erotic impulses challenged, violated, awakened, magnified and/or (irrevocably?) changed by their encounter with a malevolent narcissist. One assumes that the lives of all 2,065 women inscribed in Leporello’s catalog have been similarly impacted.

Each of these three women develops in the course of events, and each is allotted arias in both acts to chart that growth. None is left unscarred by having been in the orbit, however briefly, of this destructive roving planet. At the end of the opera, Leporello, the servant, will seek another employer. Masetto, the peasant, will attempt to eke out a living off the land. Don Ottavio, of the landed aristocracy, will try to go forward with Donna Anna although Don Giovanni has struck closer to home for both of them; Mozart does not prognosticate their future. Donna Elvira, who for me is the most evolved human being of the entire story, will retire, at least for the moment, into a convent. Whether everyone’s lives are temporarily or irrevocably changed is a question that is left unanswered.

Together they all try and fail to retaliate against the Don. Retribution is the province of the divine.

“Vengeance is mine saith the Lord,” we are told in the scriptures, and so it is for our antihero. Greeks of antiquity were punished by the gods for hubris and defiance.

The sin of Adam is essentially that of disobedience. On the day portrayed in the opera, the Don, who has seemingly gotten away with riding herd on society through his legion sexual misdeeds, has become a murderer, and there, it seems, a line has been crossed.

Mozart’s Don Giovanni has been, is, and will be seen as all things to all people: monstrous sexual predator, amoral iconoclast, devil, intellectual pioneer, free agent of atheism, anarchy and nihilism, impiety and sacrilege, self-styled defender of Rationalism, mentally deranged psychopath. Who he is is unknowable, and what he represents, a matter of perpetual disagreement. He has always given us the slip, and always will. He himself tells us so while escaping from Donna Anna in his opening line of the opera, uttering words as prophetic as they are emblematic: chi son io to non saprai (who I am, you will not know).

James Conlon has been LA Opera’s Richard Seaver Music Director since 2006.

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F F F

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Tickets from $ CHRISTOPHER KOELSCH SEBASTIAN PAUL AND MARYBELLE MUSCO PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

JAMES CONLON

RICHARD SEAVER MUSIC DIRECTOR

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PHOTO BY STEVE COHN

UNDERWRITER RECOGNITION

LA Opera is thrilled to launch its 2023/24 season with this production of Don Giovanni, thanks to the underwriting support of GRoW @ Annenberg. A steadfast partner of LA Opera over many years, GRoW @ Annenberg has provided foundational support to the company, underwriting numerous productions, championing its education programming and joining the Angels initiative. LA Opera also extends its deep appreciation to board member Régina Weingarten and her husband Gregory Annenberg Weingarten for their personal commitment to exceptional artistry, cultural enrichment and providing access to the arts and arts education.

A philanthropic initiative led by Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, vice president and director of the Annenberg Foundation, GRoW @ Annenberg is world renowned for its extraordinary support of organizations that address social and cultural issues and meet urgent community needs. At LA Opera, GRoW @ Annenberg’s support has brought many productions to the stage, including Salome (2017); Orpheus and Eurydice, Hansel and Gretel and Rigoletto (2018); The Clemency of Titus (2019); La Cenerentola (2021); and St. Matthew Passion (2022). The company was honored to recognize GRoW @ Annenberg (“GRoW”) as its 2022/23 Season Underwriter in gratitude for their underwriting support of four productions in that season: Lucia di Lammermoor, The Marriage of Figaro, Pelléas et Mélisande and Otello.

Régina Weingarten and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten with the cast of The Clemency of Titus in 2019.

Through the years, GRoW has supported the company’s education programming and special funding initiatives as a member of the Angels and The Campaign for LA Opera. Thanks to GRoW’s generosity, LA Opera has been recognized for its artistic excellence and its arts education programming, helping to make Los Angeles one of the world’s premier cultural centers. GRoW has also engaged students in the arts through a sponsored poster art contest focused on LA Opera productions, inspiring hundreds of young people to discover opera.

In 2015, Gregory and Régina moved their family to Los Angeles from Paris, where they made significant contributions to the arts, as well as other prominent organizations. In recognition of their dedication to the arts, they both received the prestigious distinction of Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur, France’s Legion of Honor Award. LA Opera also salutes Régina and Gregory Weingarten and is honored to be a recipient of GRoW’s support.

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UNDERWRITER RECOGNITION

LA Opera expresses gratitude to all the members of The Blue Ribbon for their generous support of Don Giovanni.

The Blue Ribbon has provided valuable support to LA Opera from its earliest days and to young people across Southern California through their championship of the company’s community and education programs. In recent years, they have provided production underwriting support for Tosca (2022), Il Trovatore (2021), La Bohème (2019), Don Carlo (2018), The Pearl Fishers (2017), Macbeth (2016), Madame Butterfly (2016), The Ghosts of Versailles (2015), Lucia di Lammermoor (2014) and Thaïs (2014), as well as special support for A Streetcar Named Desire (2014). Over the past 19 seasons, The Blue Ribbon has contributed approximately $5.1 million to LA Opera, an impressive legacy of devoted generosity.

The Blue Ribbon was founded in 1968 by Dorothy Buffum Chandler, who mobilized a dedicated group of women leaders to sustain and support The Music Center and its resident companies. The Blue Ribbon has since raised more than $81 million to promote and

PHOTO BY LUIS LUQUE

The Blue Ribbon

nurture the performing arts and arts education in Los Angeles. Its committed membership of approximately 400 members is led by Mary Ann Hunt-Jacobsen, president, and Terri Kohl, chairman.

Since 1970, the annual Blue Ribbon Children’s Festival has welcomed over 900,000 fifth graders to The Music Center, where many of the participants experience live performance for the first time. This three-day event of performances and arts activities is one of the longest ongoing free arts education programs in California.

LA Opera is grateful to The Blue Ribbon for its generous support over so many years, as a valued member of both The Music Center and LA Opera families, with special recognition for their inspiring work with children, an essential part of the company’s mission.

Carol and Warner Henry’s dedication to opera in Los Angeles extends to the time before there was a resident company in existence. Carol was a founding member of the Opera League of Los Angeles and helped to found LA Opera in 1986. Since then, she and Warner kept watch over the company through every step of its growth, as members of the Founding, Domingo’s, 20th, 25th, and 30th Anniversary Angels. They both served on the board’s executive committee, on which Carol continues to serve as chairman.

Through farsighted philanthropy, the Henrys created the Carol and Warner Henry Production Fund for Mozart Operas—their way of ensuring that Mozart’s works will have an enduring presence on the LA Opera stage. If you’ve attended productions over the past several years, you’ve seen their underwriting support acknowledged for no less than five different Mozart operas—The Marriage of Figaro (2010, 2015, 2023), Don Giovanni (2012), The Magic Flute (2009, 2013, 2016,

2019), The Abduction from the Seraglio (2017) and The Clemency of Titus (2019)—as well as The Coronation of Poppea in 2006 and Der Rosenkavalier in 1994.

Sadly, Warner Henry passed away in 2020. With this production, we remember him and the special place that Mozart held for him and Carol from the time they first began dating. “I didn’t know as much about music then,” says Carol. “My favorite piece at that time was Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Warner told me I should listen to Mozart. It’s been with me ever since. We both feel that Mozart’s music is the most beautiful of all.”

LA Opera extends its gratitude to Carol and Warner Henry for making this and every presentation of Mozart’s music possible.

PHOTO BY STEVE COHN

The Carol and Warner Henry Production Fund for Mozart Operas

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UNDERWRITER RECOGNITION

The Alfred and Claude Mann Fund LA Opera is proud to open its 2023/24 season with a thrilling production of Don Giovanni, made possible thanks to the incredible generosity of the Alfred and Claude Mann Fund. The Alfred Mann Trust created this fund with a series of gifts that now have an impact of over $10 million in support. The Manns established the fund as a way of showing their devotion to LA Opera. It underwrites two productions each season, enabling the company to raise the curtain on a host of memorable presentations, which have included La Bohème (2012, 2016), Tosca (2013, 2017, 2022), Carmen (2013), The Barber of Seville (2015), El Gato Montés (2019), The Light in the Piazza (2019), Roberto Devereux (2020), Il Trovatore (2021), Aida (2022), Lucia di Lammermoor (2022) and now Don Giovanni.

The Manns’ connection to LA Opera is a true love story. Claude’s own passion for opera brought Al to the art form. As LA Opera Honorary Board Chairman Marc Stern noted, “Al hadn’t been an opera lover, but he loved Claude and therefore loved the opera.”

A biotech entrepreneur, Al Mann founded 17 companies in his lifetime and was the CEO of MannKind Corporation, a company focused on developing new, lifesaving treatments for diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. He also served as chair of the Alfred Mann Foundation, a trustee of USC and a board member of the LA Philharmonic.

Claude Mann is a philanthropist who earned success in the restaurant business. She has been a member of LA Opera’s board since 2008. Sadly, Al passed away in 2016. With each thrilling production underwritten thanks to the Manns’ generosity, his legacy in the arts— and his love story with Claude—lives on.

COMPANY NEWS

Welcome to Our New Board Members LA Opera is proud to announce three new members recently elected to the company’s board of directors.

Gary W. Murphy is president and CEO of the Opera League of Los Angeles.

A performing arts public relations specialist for over three decades, he was LA Opera’s director of public relations for 15 years. Other clients include the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts in Northridge, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Ojai Music Festival, LA Master Chorale, California Institute for the Arts, Garry Marshall’s Falcon Theatre and the Geffen Playhouse.

At KMIR-TV in Palm Springs, Tina L. Segel wore multiple hats as reporter, anchor, news director and host. She lived for several years in London, where she helped fundraise for the Royal Opera House. She is a board member of Beirut’s Haigazian University and sits on the committee of the Armenian Missionary Association of America’s Child Care Organization. She participates in the Armenian Consortium through her family’s support of the LA Opera through the Stephen Philibosian and Conte Foundations.

Mimi Won Techentin has written and produced a dozen dramas on Netflix, ABC, NBCand CBS, with credits including Echoes, A Million Little Things and Queen Sugar. She served as a director and president of the board of a homeless center for youth, My Friend’s Place, in Hollywood. She also served as a director and president of the board overseeing the Abbot Academy Fund at Phillips Academy Andover.

Currently, she is involved with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

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s

UNDERWRITER RECOGNITION

Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard’s mainstage debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and her subsequent appearance as Rosina in The Barber of Seville have been made possible thanks to generous support from The Eva and Marc Stern Principal Artists Fund.

Through this leadership initiative, the Sterns underwrite the LA Opera performances of the opera world’s most extraordinary artists each seaIsabel Leonard son. It is with great admiration that they have chosen to underwrite Ms. Leonard’s first mainstage appearances for LA Opera audiences.

Chairman of the company’s board of directors from 2002 to 2021, and now serving as honorary chairman, Marc Stern has been the driving force in bringing many of the world’s most influential artists to Los Angeles. The Sterns have been involved in nearly every aspect of LA Opera, championing more than 15 ambitious projects, including the Ring cycle and numerous new productions. Since the establishment of The Eva and Marc Stern Principal Artists Fund, they have underwritten the performances of major stars including Plácido Domingo, Susan Graham, Audra McDonald, Renée Fleming and Angel Blue. The Sterns were also the underwriters for Mr. Domingo’s 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Metropolitan Opera. In recognition of their extraordinary commitment to LA Opera and The Music Center, the Eva and Marc Stern Grand Hall in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was named in their honor in 2010. In 2021, the Sterns established the Eva and Marc Stern Artist Award to celebrate and support extraordinarily gifted artists in opera who have a particular connection to LA Opera.

In the spring of 2022, an onstage gala was held to honor Mr. and Mrs. Stern and to celebrate Mr. Stern’s 20 years as chairman of LA Opera. The celebration was the most successful fundraising event in LA Opera history, the proceeds of which Mr. and Mrs. Stern generously matched.

Marc Stern is chairman of The TCW Group, Inc., a Los Angeles-based asset management firm. He was elected to LA Opera’s board in 1992 and is involved in numerous other philanthropic activities, including serving on the boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing

PHOTO BY JOHN SOLANO PHOTOGRAPHY

The Eva and Marc Stern Principal Artists Fund

Arts, the Metropolitan Opera, the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Committee and the California Institute of Technology. Mr. Stern was formerly vice-chair of The Salk Institute and was founding chairman of both the Mayor’s Fund Los Angeles and of The President’s Council of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

He is a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Eva Stern is a clinical social worker and philanthropist, supporting Southern California youth through the combination of education and the arts. A board member of the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, in 2006 she led the effort to establish the Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science School. Inspired by her work with the high school, she established AMP, a special mentoring program for first-year college students.

She also serves on the President’s Council at California State University, Los Angeles, on the board of The Blue Ribbon, and is a past chair of InsideOUT Writers, a creative writing program for youth in juvenile hall.

With deepest gratitude, LA Opera acknowledges Mr. and Mrs. Stern for their decades of committed leadership and extraordinary generosity.

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A Conversation with Rob Ashford Director/choreographer Rob Ashford has a long list of distinguished Broadway credits, including Daniel Radcliffe’s star turn in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Scarlett Johansson. He won a Tony Award for choreographing Thoroughly Modern Millie and he’s also got an Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award to his credit. His 2014 staging of The Barber of Seville for Lyric Opera of Chicago was his first foray into opera, and this acclaimed production now serves as his introduction to Los Angeles audiences.

The premiere of this production at Lyric Opera of Chicago marked your eagerly awaited operatic debut.

Are you a longtime opera fan or a more recent convert?

When I was in college in Pittsburgh, I danced in the corps de ballet at Pittsburgh Opera—that was my first taste of it. Then, when I moved to New York, one of my first jobs was dancing at the Metropolitan Opera for a year. My first show there was Hal Prince’s production of Faust. I feel as if my operatic education happened in the Met canteen, sitting with other dancers and seeing everyone in costume—that was where I felt I began to learn. Also, we could see anything we wanted. If I was having a rehearsal and we finished early, I’d go watch a stage rehearsal or a dress rehearsal. At that time in my life, it was less about the particular performances and much more about the scope. That’s what blew me away.

What drew you to The Barber of Seville as your first opera to direct?

Anthony Freud [general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago] had many interesting observations about why it would be a good fit. It might have been the fact of comedy being something we do a lot in musicals— understanding comic timing, the simplicity and focus of it. The focus on the stage in key moments was something Anthony felt I knew about from years of doing musicals—the idea of being able to focus on a small moment, inside a big tableau. You don’t have a camera, you’ve got a whole stage that’s alive, but you have to see the moment where the boy falls in love with the girl!

Barber is often played just for laughs. How do you bring humanity to it?

It’s a love story! Working with [scenic designer] Scott Pask and [costume designer] Catherine Zuber, the idea was that it should be romantic. The pure passion and the unabashed primary colors of Rosina and Count Almaviva’s love—or lust—for each other are what causes the comedy. People do silly things when they’re in love.

I hope to find the humanity in the comic characters or, at least, to take them through that doorway of reality to find their humor.

Do you prepare for this the same way you prepare to direct a musical? (Other than the language being different.)

It’s all about the text—that’s the way I approach everything. If I’m going to do a play or musical, I focus on the text, what’s on the page, not other productions, and not “We’re going to do it differently from what so-and-so did,” and try to get to the essence of it.

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT I’ve directed Shakespeare—in a way, that’s a different language as well. I’m thrilled, actually, that I did Shakespeare before working with an Italian text. The meanings are so particular, that kind of research. I found it liberating to do Macbeth. It’s been the same with Barber—getting to the essence of what they’re saying, what the true translation is. I enjoy it, rather than feeling like it’s in the way.

How did the original Beaumarchais play help you?

He got it right! And Rossini based his opera on it, so it makes me trust the writing and not make me want to second-guess it. Because the play is so sound and Rossini’s work on top of that is so sound, it gives you an amazing freedom because you trust the material so much that you don’t question—you just try to bring it to life.

How do you expect the humor to emerge onstage?

From the situation these characters find themselves in.

How do you use your abilities as a choreographer in this piece?

When you have an idea for a dance and you make up some steps, you must put them on the dancer. And if the steps don’t suit the dancer, you need to change the steps.

You want to make the dancer shines, so it would be crazy for me to choreograph a dance where the girl kicks only her right leg and her leg doesn’t look good kicking. When I direct, I have a basic idea of how everything should be, but I have to put it on them. And if it doesn’t suit them, I need to alter it, still getting to my point, still delivering my vision, but I’ve got to put it on them.

What’s your goal with this production?

I’d love it if people who know this piece say, “It was fresh. It wasn’t the same 20 gags that are always done”—that would be really exciting for me.

Our thanks to Lyric Opera of Chicago for this interview.

PHOTO © TODD ROSENBERG PHOTOGRAPHY

How did you and Scott Pask go about conceiving your vision of Seville? What were your priorities?

I’ve been to Seville, and I know the Moorish influence

there. I was keen to highlight the Spanish influence more. We have the beautiful tiles, the wrought iron, the grillwork, the gates—it feels traditionally Spanish.

The Barber of Seville is a perfect blend of comedy and romance, with a happy ending guaranteed for everyone.

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UNDERWRITER RECOGNITION

Andrea and Janie Pessino LA Opera is honored to thank Janie and Andrea Pessino in their debut as underwriters with this season’s production of The Barber of Seville. While fairly new to the LA Opera family, Mr. and Mrs. Pessino have already had an instrumental impact on the company. In 2022, Mr. Pessino joined the board of directors. Earlier this year, the couple became members of the 30th Anniversary Angels—LA Opera’s premier support circle—demonstrating their deep commitment to the company. Mr. Pessino also serves on several board committees and is a vice-chair of the marketing committee. ​Mr. Pessino co-founded the video game development studio Ready At Dawn® in 2003 and, until 2020, was the company’s chief technical officer, producing technology for all of Ready At Dawn’s games to date—from Daxter to The Order 1886 and Lone Echo. He now serves as head of research, pursuing special R&D projects. From 1998 to 2003, he was a senior software engineer with Blizzard Entertainment® where he authored core technologies for several blockbusters in the WarCraft® video game franchise.

A native of Italy, Mr. Pessino has lived and worked in California since 1990. He is a classically trained musician

and an accomplished pianist and composer, having studied composition, harmony and music theory. His orchestration work on the cinematics for Blizzard’s Diablo II® earned him the 2001 IGDA Game Developers Choice Award for “Excellence in Audio.” ​ LA Opera is most grateful to be among the recipients of the Pessinos’ generosity and dedication to this beautiful art form.

The Tarasenka Pankiv Fund LA Opera extends its gratitude to the Tarasenka Pankiv Fund for its support of this season’s production of The Barber of Seville. Tara Colburn established the fund through a bequest in her will, having served as an active board member of LA Opera since the company’s founding in 1986. She was one of the company’s most dedicated supporters for nearly two decades before her passing in 2003. In her farsighted devotion to the company, Ms. Colburn planned this generous endowment to ensure in perpetuity that LA Opera would continue to bring worldclass opera productions to future generations.

Ms. Colburn and, subsequently, this fund have to date underwritten 12 LA Opera productions, and most generously supported the company’s supertitles for many years. She would be pleased to know that our supertitles have continued to be funded by Dunard Fund USA in her honor since 2010. Her commitment to music extended worldwide, as she gave generously to the Metropolitan Opera, Long Beach Opera,

LA Chamber Orchestra, LA Master Chorale, Glyndebourne Festival and the Salzburg Festival, where she served on the board of the American Friends of Salzburg.

Her love of music and the arts began in early childhood. Born Tarasenka Pankiv in Zagreb, Croatia, she studied piano with her concert pianist mother. Her grandfather was director of the Zagreb Conservatory.

She once wrote, “I will be proud to have played a small part in a very important cultural contribution to the life of our community.” She instead played a starring role in the history of the company. We are grateful to Tara Colburn and the Tarasenka Pankiv Fund for more than three decades of vital contribution and a legacy of support that continues to carry LA Opera into the future.

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UNDERWRITER RECOGNITION

The Seaver family’s longstanding tradition of generous support for LA Opera productions continues this season with their production underwriting for Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Since the company’s earliest days, the Seaver name has been synonymous with its growth and continued success, and LA Opera is honored to recognize the family’s multi-generational legacy of philanthropy.

The late Richard Seaver, one of the founders of LA Opera, joined the board of directors in 1986. He subsequently served as president, chairman and chairman emeritus. Inspired by his passion for opera and for the company, he became a member of the Founding, Domingo’s and 20th Anniversary Angels. In recognition of his leadership, Richard portrayed the Cardinal in LA Opera’s productions of Tosca in 2001 and 2005.

The Seaver family’s enduring support for LA Opera continues to this day, including underwriting support for 17 productions since 1991 and joining the company’s 25th and 30th Anniversary Angels. Following in his father’s footsteps, Carlton Seaver has served on LA Opera’s

PHOTO BY KEN HOWARD

Laura and Carlton Seaver

Left: Richard Seaver as the Cardinal in Tosca (2001); Right: Carlton Seaver as the Cardinal (2017).

board of directors since 2005 and, like his father, he also appeared onstage as the Cardinal in the 2017 revival of Tosca. Carlton and his wife Laura also generously support LA Opera’s education programs, helping to ensure that young people from across Southern California are able to experience the thrill of live opera.

LA Opera thanks the Seavers with deep gratitude for their indispensable devotion to the company throughout its history.

IN THE WINGS

Franz Waxman and His Bride Composer Franz Waxman, a two-time Oscar winner (for Sunset Boulevard and A Place in the Sun), discovered new cinematic possibilities with his first Hollywood film score, The Bride of Frankenstein. You can watch the classic thriller with its incredible score performed live by the LA Opera Orchestra at the Theatre at Ace Hotel on October 27 and 28. Details at LAOpera.org/Bride.

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2023/24 SEASON LA Opera Orchestra generously underwritten by Terri and Jerry Kohl

Don Giovanni

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

La Traviata

GIUSEPPE VERDI

September 23 – October 15, 2023

April 6 – 27, 2024

Production made possible by generous support from Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg; The Blue Ribbon; The Carol and Warner Henry Production Fund for Mozart Operas; and Alfred and Claude Mann Fund. With special appreciation to Régina and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten. Isabel Leonard’s appearance made possible by generous support from The Eva and Marc Stern Principal Artists Fund.

Production made possible by generous support from the Jane and Peter Hemmings Production Fund, a gift from the Flora L. Thornton Trust; Andrea and Janie Pessino; and the Emanuel Treitel Senior Citizen Fund. Special additional support from the Armenian Consortium; the family of Ginger Conrad; and the Orden Family in memory of their beloved patriarch and matriarch, Ted and Hedy. Rachel Willis-Sørensen’s appearance made possible by generous support from The Eva and Marc Stern Principal Artists Fund.

The Barber of Seville

GIOACHINO ROSSINI

October 21 – November 12, 2023 Production made possible by generous support from Andrea and Janie Pessino and the Tarasenka Pankiv Fund (Tara Colburn). With special support from Laura and Carlton Seaver. Isabel Leonard’s appearance made possible by generous support from The Eva and Marc Stern Principal Artists Fund.

The Bride of Frankenstein with Live Orchestra

FRANZ WAXMAN

October 27-28, 2023, at the Theatre at Ace Hotel

Book of Mountains and Seas

HUANG RUO

April 10 – 14, 2024, at the The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage Off Grand productions are supported by a consortium of generous donors to LA Opera’s Contemporary Opera Initiative, chaired by Barry and Nancy Sanders.

Patti LuPone in Concert April 20, 2024

Off Grand productions are supported by a consortium of generous donors to LA Opera’s Contemporary Opera Initiative, chaired by Barry and Nancy Sanders. Piano graciously provided by Yamaha.

Piano graciously provided by Yamaha.

El último sueño de Frida y Diego

April 10 – 14, 2024, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

GABRIELA LENA FRANK / NILO CRUZ

Noah’s Flood

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

Production made possible by generous support from the Bernard and Lenore Greenberg Opera Fund and Margo Leavin.

Production made possible by a generous grant from the Dan Murphy Foundation. Special support also received from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs; Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and Mrs. Joseph A. Saunders.

Rodelinda

Turandot

November 18 – December 9, 2023

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL

GIACOMO PUCCINI

May 18 – June 8, 2024

November 21, 2023 Special support from Mr. Robert Finnerty and Mr. Richard Cullen.

Production made possible by generous support from Alfred and Claude Mann Fund and Barbara Augusta Teichert. Additional generous support from Cat Pollon Estate.

Audra McDonald in Concert December 2, 2023

Fire and Blue Sky

Piano graciously provided by Yamaha.

June 6, 2024

Highway 1, USA The Dwarf

WILLIAM GRANT STILL ALEXANDER ZEMLINSKY

February 24 – January 17, 2024

JOEL THOMPSON

Renée Fleming in Recital June 15, 2024

Production made possible by generous support from Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg. Founding and ongoing leadership support for the Recovered Voices project provided by Marilyn Ziering and the Ziering Family Foundation. Principal underwriting support provided by a generous anonymous gift. Kaneza Schaal’s direction of Highway 1, USA is generously underwritten by a gift from The Piera Barbaglia Shaheen Next Generation Artist Award. With special appreciation to Régina and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten.

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SUPPORTERS

30th Anniversary Angels

MARC STERN, CHAIR

We celebrate our 30th Anniversary Angels who build on the inspiring legacy of the company’s Founding Angels and the many generous Angels who followed them. (See pages P14 and P15.) They have provided the necessary foundational support for world-class opera in Los Angeles.

Sebastian Paul and Marybelle Musco Marc and Eva Stern Foundation GRoW @ Annenberg The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Colburn Foundation County of Los Angeles Dunard Fund USA Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation The Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg Fund Carol and Warner Henry Terri and Jerry Kohl Claude Mann and Alfred E. Mann Estate Ronus Foundation The Seaver Family Marilyn Ziering Mr. Harold Alden and Dr. Geraldine Alden The Blue Ribbon Ana and Robert Cook Mark Houston Dalzell and James Dao-Dalzell Malsi Doyle and Michael Forman The Alexander Furlotti Foundation Max H. Gluck Foundation Peter and Diane Gray The Green Foundation Margo Leavin Lauren B. Leichtman and Arthur E. Levine Family Foundation Nanette and Keith Leonard LGHG Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Dan Murphy Foundation The Okun Family, in memory of Milton Okun Linda and Alvaro Pascotto Andrea and Janie Pessino Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Suzanne Rheinstein, in honor of Fred Rheinstein Lloyd E. Rigler – Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation Kenneth D. Sanson, Jr., Trust Ariane and Lionel Sauvage David and Linda Shaheen Eugene and Marilyn Stein Barbara Augusta Teichert Emanuel Treitel Trust Christopher V. Walker Richard and Lenore Wayne Ann Ziff Selim K. Zilkha and Mary Hayley / Selim K. Zilkha Foundation P2 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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PROGRAM

CHRISTOPHER KOELSCH, SEBASTIAN PAUL AND MARYBELLE MUSCO PRESIDENT AND CEO JAMES CONLON, RICHARD SEAVER MUSIC DIRECTOR PRESENTS

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Don Giovanni Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte

CREATIVE TEAM CONDUCTOR

CAST (in order of vocal appearance)

PRODUCTION NOTES

DONNA ANNA

Guanqun Yu

The running time is approximately three hours and 15 minutes, including one intermission.

Kasper Holten*

DON GIOVANNI

Lucas Meachem

Supertitles written by David Anglin.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

THE COMMENDATORE

Peixin Chen

DON OTTAVIO

Anthony León †

Pre-performance talks by James Conlon. Pre-performance talks are generously sponsored by the Flora L. Thornton Foundation and the Opera League of Los Angeles.

James Conlon DIRECTOR

Greg Eldridge*

SCENIC DESIGNER

Es Devlin*

COSTUME DESIGNER

Anja Vang Kragh*

LEPORELLO

Craig Colclough

DONNA ELVIRA

Isabel Leonard *

ZERLINA

Meigui Zhang *

MASETTO

Alan Williams †

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Bruno Poet

ASSOCIATE LIGHTING DESIGNER

John-Paul Percox* CHORUS DIRECTOR

Jeremy Frank

CHOREOGRAPHER

Signe Fabricius*

ASSOCIATE CHOREOGRAPHER

Anna-Marie Sullivan* FIGHT DIRECTOR

Andrew Kenneth Moss INTIMACY DIRECTOR

SUPPORT Production made possible by generous support from

Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg The Blue Ribbon The Carol and Warner Henry Production Fund for Mozart Operas Alfred and Claude Mann Fund With special appreciation to

Régina and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten Isabel Leonard’s appearance made possible by generous support from

Sara E. Widzer

The Eva and Marc Stern Principal Artists Fund

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

LA Opera Orchestra generously underwritten by

Louis Lohraseb ‡

Terri and Jerry Kohl

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Stephanie Smith STAGE MANAGER

Whitney McAnally PROMPTER

Peter Walsh ‡ MUSICAL PREPARATION

Manuel Arellano † Kevin Murphy Peter Walsh ‡

Please refrain from talking during the performance, and turn off all cell phones, electronic devices and watch alarms. If you are using an assistive hearing device, or are attending with someone who is, please make sure that it is set to an appropriate level to avoid distracting audio feedback. Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the house management. Members of the audience who leave during the performance will not be shown back into the theater until the next intermission. The use of cameras and recording equipment is strictly prohibited. Your use of a ticket acknowledges your willingness to appear in photographs taken in public areas of the Music Center and releases the Center and its lessees and others from liability resulting from use of such photographs.

Any microphones onstage are used for recording or broadcast purposes only; onstage voices are not amplified.

Il Dissoluto Punito ossia il Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Edited for the Neuen Mozart-Ausgabe Edition by Lorenzo da Ponte. Used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors Company, U.S. and Canadian agent for BaerenreiterVerlag, publisher and copyright owner.

A co-production of Houston Grand Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona) and the Israeli Opera.

Additional costumes constructed by the Los Angeles Opera Costume Shop. Wigs constructed by the Los Angeles Opera Wig & Make-Up Department. * LA Opera debut † Member of the Domingo-ColburnStein Young Artist Program ‡ Alumnus of the Domingo-ColburnStein Young Artist Program ARTISTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

Scan image at left with smartphone camera (or text “LAO” to 55741) to access the complete digital program.

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SYNOPSIS ACT I Don Giovanni, a Spanish nobleman, is renowned throughout Europe as a seducer of women; Leporello, his servant, reluctantly aids him by keeping watch. Giovanni attempts to leave the house of Donna Anna, his most recent conquest; he kills Anna’s father, the Commendatore, when the Commendatore tries to stop him. Anna tells her fiancé, Don Ottavio, that she was raped by an unknown man, and they vow revenge on the murderer.

Leporello’s attempts to persuade his master to reform are interrupted by Donna Elvira, a former mistress of Giovanni’s, who is traveling to look for him.

Giovanni leaves it to Leporello to explain the extent of his master’s womanizing.

Masetto and his bride, Zerlina, are to be married in a peasant wedding, but Giovanni sets out to seduce Zerlina. Elvira interrupts and foils Giovanni’s attempt.

Ottavio and Anna appeal to Giovanni for help in their pursuit of the murderer of Anna’s father. Elvira again interrupts and warns Ottavio and Anna about Giovanni’s true nature; Anna tells Ottavio that Giovanni is the man who murdered her father.

Leporello discusses with Giovanni the plans for the masked ball his master is hosting that evening. Zerlina assures Masetto that Giovanni has not touched her.

Elvira joins forces with Ottavio and Anna; they are going to the ball and intend to exact vengeance on Giovanni.

While everyone is dancing at the ball, Giovanni attempts to ensnare Zerlina, but she rallies everyone behind her to try to entrap Giovanni. All accuse him, but he and Leporello elude them once more.

ACT II Hoping for success with Elvira’s maid, Giovanni exchanges clothes with Leporello, who is instructed to lure Elvira away. Giovanni is interrupted by Masetto, who is intent on killing him, but his disguise is successful, and he beats Masetto up and escapes.

Returning with Elvira, Leporello is mistaken for Giovanni by Anna, Ottavio, Zerlina and Masetto.

Removing his disguise, Leporello convinces them that he is not the guilty one. Ottavio swears vengeance on Giovanni, whom, in spite of everything, Elvira continues to love.

Giovanni hears the voice of the Commendatore, whom he killed, warning Giovanni of impending retribution. Giovanni orders Leporello to invite the ghost to supper. The ghost of the Commendatore accepts Don Giovanni’s invitation and arrives to send him to hell. The others rush in, and Leporello tells them what has happened. The libertine has received his just punishment.

Based on a synopsis originally produced by the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.

A scene from Kasper Holten's production of Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

In fond memory of Tara Colburn, supertitles are underwritten by Dunard Fund USA.

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BEHIND THE MASTERPIECE

Mozart the Conquering Hero Mozart scored a success with The Marriage of Figaro at its 1786 Vienna premiere, but Figaro was an outright triumph a few months later in Prague. “Here they talk about nothing but Figaro,” he wrote. “Nothing is played, sung or whistled but Figaro... Nothing, nothing but Figaro.” The theater impresario there was eager to commission a new Mozart opera, and Don Giovanni was the result, another huge success. Prague’s appreciation for the composer’s genius was so great that after his death (which went virtually unmarked in Vienna, where he lived), the citizens of Prague came together to financially support his widow and children.

Librettist Lorenzo da Ponte partnered with Mozart for three masterpieces that changed the course of opera forever: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte. “The best thing is when a good composer, who understands the stage enough to make sound suggestions, meets an able poet, that true phoenix,” Mozart wrote.

Da Ponte led a checkered life.

An ordained priest, he was banished from his native Venice for his womanizing, and ended up as the court poet in Vienna, where he met Mozart. In 1805, he relocated to America, where he struggled financially, eventually becoming the first professor of Italian at Columbia University.

Name That Tune

For the Vienna premiere of Don Giovanni in the spring of 1788, Mozart altered the Prague score to accommodate the Viennese cast. The new tenor apparently couldn’t handle the long lines and coloratura of Don Ottavio’s aria “Il mio tesoro,” so Mozart substituted the rapturous “Dalla sua pace.” Mozart composed a new aria for Donna Elvira, “Mi tradi quell’alma ingrata,” to showcase the talents of diva Caterina Cavalieri (pictured below, rehearsing with the composer).

He also added a comic duet for Zerlina and Leporello and shortened the final ensemble. In the standard version heard today, the duet is omitted, the tenor gets both arias, Elvira retains her new showpiece, and the full finale is performed.

When Don Giovanni sits down to his final dinner, the tunes his musicians play for him remind us that Mozart wasn’t the only star composer of his era. First up is a melody from Vicente Martín y Soler’s 1786 Una cosa rara [A Rare Thing], a smash hit at the time.

The musicians then play a theme from Giuseppe Sarti’s 1782 comedy Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode [While Two Dispute, the Third Enjoys]. Mozart had earlier written piano variations on the same tune.

Last is Figaro’s aria “Non più andrai” from The Marriage of Figaro, to which Leporello responds “I know that piece all too well.” It’s a double joke: not only would the first Prague audiences have recognized the famous melody, the original Leporello had played Figaro in the same theater a year earlier.

ILDEBRANDO D’ARCANGELO (2012); PHOTO BY ROBERT MILLARD

Da Ponte the Phoenix

The Vienna Variations

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MEET THE ARTISTS

James Conlon

Kasper Holten

CONDUCTOR

DIRECTOR

From: New York City, New York.

LA Opera: La Traviata (2006, debut); 67 different operas and over 450 performances to date.

He has been Richard Seaver Music Director since 2006. This season, he will also conduct Highway 1, USA, The Dwarf, La Traviata and Turandot.

About: He has led virtually every major North American and European orchestra and over 270 performances at the Metropolitan Opera. He is Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and has been Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of the RAI in Torino (2016-20), Music Director of the Ravinia Festival (2005-15), Principal Conductor of the Paris National Opera (1995-2004), General Music Director of the City of Cologne (1989-2002), Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (1983-91) and Music Director of the Cincinnati May Festival (1979-2016). He has won three Grammys and he was awarded France’s Légion d’Honneur. (JamesConlon.com)

From: Copenhagen, Denmark.

LA Opera: debut.

About: He is the director of the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen and was previously director of opera at the Royal Danish Opera (2000-11) and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (2011-17). He has directed more than 85 operas, plays, musicals and operettas and his productions have been staged at the world’s leading companies including the Vienna State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Real in Madrid and Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Notable productions include the Ring cycle (Copenhagen), Carmen (Bregenz Festival), Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Covent Garden), Boris Godunov (Milan), Idomeneo (Vienna) and Lohengrin (Berlin). His 2009 feature film Juan, an interpretation of Don Giovanni, has been shown at major film festivals around the world. He was knighted

by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who also awarded him the prestigious Ingenio et Arti medal. (Holten.com)

Greg Eldridge

Es Devlin

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

SCENIC DESIGNER

From: Melbourne, Australia.

LA Opera: debut.

About: Greg trained at the Opera Studio Melbourne before completing specialist study in opera directing in Italy, and is a graduate of the Merola Program in San Francisco and the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at London’s Royal Opera. Having worked on over 80 productions in nine countries, Greg works regularly with Sir David McVicar and revives Covent Garden productions throughout the world. Outside the rehearsal room, Greg is an IDC-accredited Level 2 Intimacy Director and works regularly as a consultant on matters of arts access, equality and decolonization of repertoire. Upcoming projects include working as revival director on Il Trittico for the Welsh National Opera and Don Giovanni for Houston Grand Opera, and as associate director on Maria Stuarda for Teatro Real in Madrid and a new Ring cycle for Teatro alla Scala in Milan. (Greg-Eldridge.com)

From: London, England.

LA Opera: debut.

About: Es Devlin creates largescale sculptural installations that combine light, music and language. She has created stage sculptures for Beyoncé, The Weeknd and U2; the 2022 Super Bowl featuring Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem; and the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremony; as well as designs for Covent Garden, La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera.

Her work has been displayed at Tate Modern, Serpentine, V&A, Barbican, Imperial War Museum, and Trafalgar Square. Recent work includes Come Home Again, a 16-meter monumental choral sculpture outside Tate Modern and the expansive mirrored Forest of Us installation for Superblue Miami. She was the subject of the Netflix documentary Abstract: the Art of Design, and has been awarded multiple Olivier, Tony and Emmy awards, as well as an Ivor Novello Award and a CBE. (EsDevlin.com)

P6 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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MEET THE ARTISTS

Anja Vang Kragh

Bruno Poet

COSTUME DESIGNER

ORIGINAL LIGHTING DESIGNER

From: Copenhagen, Denmark.

LA Opera: debut.

About: She began her career in fashion design, working for John Galliano (Christian Dior) and later Stella McCartney. Since 2006 she has worked extensively on theater productions in Denmark, designing for the Royal Danish Theatre, Helsingborg State Theatre, Aarhus Theatre, Husets Theatre and Holbaek Theatre. Opera costume designs include Der Freischütz for the Royal Danish Opera, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci for the Royal Danish Opera and the Norwegian National Opera, The Flying Dutchman for Finnish National Opera, Carmen for the Bregenz Festival, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for the Royal Opera House in London, L´Ormindo for the Globe Theatre in London, and Idomeneo for the Vienna State Opera, all directed by Kasper Holten. Other designs include La Traviata for Israeli Opera, as well as both Orpheus in the Underworld and The Makropulos Case for the Malmö Opera House.

From: Cornwall, England.

LA Opera: The Two Foscari (2012, debut); Akhnaten (2016); Il Trovatore (2021).

About: Working extensively in opera, theater, dance and live music, he has designed for many of the world’s leading opera houses, with Rusalka (Sydney Opera House) winning the Australian Green Room Award.

He has won three Knight of Illumination Awards, one for Björk’s Cornucopia (with Richard White), one for the Sigur Rós 2013 world tour and one for Frankenstein at the National Theatre, for which he also won the Olivier Award.

Recently he was nominated for an Olivier Award for Uncle Vanya in the West End and for a Drama Desk Award for Tina: The Musical on Broadway. His work in opera includes Akhnaten (Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera), Otello and Mahagonny (Covent Garden), Aida (ENO, Houston Grand Opera), Rinaldo (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Macbeth (Opéra National du Rhin, Opéra de Monte-Carlo) and Salome (Palau de les Arts, Valencia. (BrunoPoet.co.uk)

John-Paul Percox

Luke Halls

ASSOCIATE LIGHTING DESIGNER

PROJECTION DESIGNER

From: Glasgow, Scotland.

LA Opera: debut.

About: John-Paul Percox worked at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden for 25 years before becoming a freelance lighting associate in 2019. In addition to supervising lighting for over 200 productions and 1,500 performances at Covent Garden, he also has worked abroad for the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet at venues including the Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts and Tel Aviv Performing Arts Centre. He has lit productions at theaters including Sadler’s Wells Theatre and the Britten Theatre (Royal College of Music). Since going freelance, he has at worked at venues including Opéra National Bordeaux, Oslo Opera House, Teatr Wielki Warsaw, Czech National Theatre in Prague, Hungarian State Opera’s Eiffel Arts Studio, Ballet Dortmund, Latvian National Ballet in Riga, Lithuanian National Ballet in Vilnius, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and the Palais Garnier in Paris.

From: London, England.

LA Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor (2022, debut).

About: Recent credits include Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera, The Merry Widow in Copenhagen, Miss Saigon in Vienna, Madama Butterfly at the Bregenz Festival, and The Lehman Trilogy on Broadway. He made his Broadway debut in 2017 with Miss Saigon, returning for Sea Wall / A Life, My Name Is Lucy Barton and West Side Story, for which he won a Drama Desk Award. He also received a Drama Desk nomination in 2019 for The Lehman Trilogy at Park Avenue Armory.

He has collaborated on productions for London’s Royal Ballet, National Theatre, Barbican Centre, Duke of York’s Theatre, and Royal Court Theatre. He has created video designs and animation for Adele, Beyoncé, Pet Shop Boys, U2, and Rihanna, as well as for the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Closing Ceremonies.

(LukeHalls.com)

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P7

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MEET THE ARTISTS

Anna-Marie Sullivan

CHORUS DIRECTOR

ASSOCIATE CHOREOGRAPHER

PHOTO BY MARSHA FEINBERG

Jeremy Frank From: Glendive, Montana.

LA Opera: He became Chorus Director in 2022, after working on over 75 productions as associate chorus director and/or assistant conductor. He previously prepared the chorus for the Plácido Domingo 50th Anniversary Concert (2017) and The Clemency of Titus (2019). He is a coach for the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.

About: He has collaborated with major opera houses throughout the United States and has prepared operas and vocal chamber music at the LA Philharmonic. As a pianist, he has partnered with Sondra Radvanovsky, Eric Owens, Brandon Jovanovich, J’nai Bridges, Dolora Zajick, Kate Lindsey and Susan Graham. He helped prepare Seattle Opera’s Ring cycle in 2013. He has been a guest faculty member for young artist programs at Utah Opera and Seattle Opera, and he is a part-time lecturer in vocal arts and opera at the University of Southern California. (JeremyMFrank.com)

Signe Fabricius ORIGINAL CHOREOGRAPHER

From: Copenhagen, Denmark.

LA Opera: debut.

About: She has created movement for theater, opera, television and film. Her work in opera includes Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Royal Opera House in London and numerous productions for the Royal Danish Theater in Copenhagen. Her choreography has been seen at houses around the world, including the Vienna State Opera, Opera Australia, Bregenz Festival, Madrid’s Teatro Real, Turin’s Teatro Regio, Tokyo’s New National Theatre, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and Finnish National Opera. In Denmark, she has written, directed and choreographed two critically acclaimed full-evening dance shows. She has been noted for her movement work in classic dramas such as Romeo and Juliet, Oedipus and Antigone and choreography for large-scale musicals such as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Jesus Christ Superstar and Cabaret.

From: London, England. LA Opera: debut.

About: She has served as revival choreographer for Don Giovanni in London, Houston, Barcelona and Tel Aviv. She is an actress and choreographer working in theater, television and film.

Recent credits include Round Robin (Obstacle Films), House of the Dragon (HBO); Close (Netflix); Crumbs (ABC TV); Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation (Paramount Pictures); The Fairy Queen (Theater an der Wien); Don Giovanni, Il Turco in Italia, La Traviata, The Rape of Lucretia and Don Pasquale (Glyndebourne and U.K. tour); The Marriage of Figaro, Andrea Chenier, Lessons in Love and Violence, L’étoile and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (ROH). (AnnaMarieSullivan.com)

Andrew Kenneth Moss FIGHT DIRECTOR

From: Corning, New York. LA Opera: Il Trovatore (2021, debut); Aida (2022); Lucia di Lammermoor (2022); Tosca (2022); Otello (2023). About: He has worked on productions including Armida at the Metropolitan Opera, SAFE at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival, A Little Night Music at the Huntington Theatre Company, Cold Mountain at Music Academy of the West and Carmen, Don Giovanni, I Puritani and Greek at Boston Lyric Opera. New York credits include Forever Dusty for New World Stages and Pinocchio’s Ashes for Theater for a New City. He staged combat for Dead Man Walking, West Side Story, The Seven Deadly Sins and Oklahoma! as resident fight director at Central City Opera.

Sara E. Widzer INTIMACY DIRECTOR

From: Los Angeles. LA Opera: directed The Death of Orpheus (2020). About: Upcoming engagements include stage/ intimacy direction for Carla Lucero’s touch (Opera Birmingham) and intimacy direction for Richard Danielpour’s Grand Hotel Tartarus (Opera UCLA).

Previous intimacy direction: La Bohème (Washington National Opera); Semele (Opera Santa Barbara); After Glow (film by Ryan McKinny). Previous stage direction: La Bohème (CSUN), Semele (Opera Santa Barbara), Carmen (Opera Orlando), The Flying Dutchman (Hawaii Opera Theatre, Virginia Opera), JUANA (Opera UCLA).

She was the first acting and performance coach for Music Academy of the West. (SaraEWidzer.com)

P8 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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MEET THE ARTISTS

Lucas Meachem

Craig Colclough

From: Raleigh, North Carolina.

LA Opera: Figaro in The Barber of Seville (2009, debut); Figaro in The Ghosts of Versailles (2015); Wolfram in Tannhäuser (2021); Count in The Marriage of Figaro (2023).

About: This season, the Grammy winner creates the lead role of Jean-Dominique Bauby in the world premiere of Joby Talbot’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly at the Dallas Opera.

He then appears with the Hamburg State Opera as both Michele and Gianni Schicchi in Il Trittico and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Mendelssohn’s Elijah. After performing Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, he closes his season with Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at both the Metropolitan Opera and the Teatro Real in Madrid. He began the 2022/23 season as Don Giovanni at the Ravinia Festival, followed by Escamillo in Carmen in Toronto and Paris, De Siriex in Fedora at the Met, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte in Dallas and Sharpless in San Francisco. (LucasMeachem.com)

Guanqun Yu DONNA ANNA

LEPORELLO

BARITONE PHOTO BY CHRIS GLOAG

PHOTO BY SIMON PAULY

DON GIOVANNI

BASS-BARITONE

From: Claremont, California.

LA Opera: Guccio in Gianni Schicchi (2008, debut); 13 roles to date including Father in Hansel and Gretel (2018); Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro (2023).

He is a 2021 recipient of the Stern Artist Award.

About: Highlights of the 2023/24 season include his role debut as the Flying Dutchman at the Göteborg Opera in Sweden, Alberich in the Ring cycle with Tiroler Festspiele Erl and, further ahead, a leading role for his Grand Théâtre de Genève debut. In August, he performed Falstaff in Sir John in Love with the Bard Music Festival. Highlights of recent seasons include the title role of Macbeth with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, Telramund in Lohengrin with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with English National Opera, Scarpia in Tosca with Canadian Opera Company and Verdi’s Falstaff with Belgium’s Opera Vlaanderen. (CraigColclough.com)

Anthony León SOPRANO

From: Shandong, China.

LA Opera: Rosina in The Ghosts of Versailles (2015, debut); Countess in The Marriage of Figaro (2015); Vitellia in The Clemency of Titus (2019); Leonora in Il Trovatore (2021).

She will return as Liù in Turandot.

About: She is a regular guest at international opera houses in Europe and America. This season’s engagements include the title role of Aida at the Frankfurt Opera and Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Hamburg State Opera. Her engagements last season included Verdi’s Requiem at the Dutch National Opera and with the Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra, Micaëla in Carmen at the Hamburg State Opera and Elvira in Ernani at the Festspielhaus Bregenz. She has performed Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera and in Bologna; Desdemona in Otello in Valencia, Berlin and Hamburg; Mimì in La Bohème in Zurich and Munich; and Liù in Turandot at the Met and in Paris, Hamburg, Zurich, Cologne and Bregenz. (GuanqunYu.com)

DON OTTAVIO

TENOR

From: Riverside, California.

LA Opera: Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor (debut, 2022); Spoletta in Tosca (2022); Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia (2023); Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro (2023); Ramses in Moses (2023); Roderigo in Otello (2023). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program last season.

About: In addition to his LAO appearances this season, he will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Santa Fe Symphony, Nadir in The Pearl Fishers with the Cologne Opera and the world premiere of Ellen Reid’s The Shell Trial with Dutch National Opera. Engagements for the summer of 2023 included Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges with the Salzburg Festival’s Young Singers Project and performances at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. He is a 2023 grand finals winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition and a 2022 winner of Operalia (first prize and zarzuela prize).

(AnthonyLeonTenor.com)

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P9

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MEET THE ARTISTS

Isabel Leonard DONNA ELVIRA

Meigui Zhang MEZZO-SOPRANO

ZERLINA

SOPRANO

From: New York City, New York.

LA Opera: mainstage debut, after a 2022 recital. She will return as Rosina in The Barber of Seville.

About: This season, the threetime Grammy winner debuts with the Bavarian State Opera as Angelina in La Cenerentola and returns to Houston Grand Opera as Maria in The Sound of Music and to Washington National Opera in the title role of La Périchole. Concert work includes appearances with the Dallas Symphony, New World Symphony and Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, and a live recording of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Last season saw her La Scala debut as Miranda in Thomas Adès’ The Tempest and her Houston Grand Opera debut as Charlotte in Werther. A winner of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award, she regularly appears on the world’s leading opera stages including the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera and Salzburg Festival. (IsabelLeonard.com)

From: Chengdu, China.

LA Opera: debut.

About: This season’s engagements include the world premiere of Meilina Tsui’s The Big Swim with Houston Grand Opera, the U.S. premiere of Aaron Zigman’s Émigré with the New York Philharmonic, and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette at the National Center of Performing Arts in Beijing. The 2022/23 season featured her role debut as Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice with San Francisco Opera, her Atlanta Opera debut as Zerlina and her debut with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood as Despina in Così fan tutte. She also made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in John Luther Adams’ Vespers of the Blessed Earth. Other recent appearances include Thibault in Don Carlos and Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera and her San Francisco Opera debut in the leading role of Bright Sheng’s The Dream of the Red Chamber.

Alan Williams

Peixin Chen

MASETTO

BASS-BARITONE

From: San Bernardino, California.

LA Opera: Abe in Omar (2022, debut); Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia (2023); Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro (2023); Jethro in Moses (2023); Montano in Otello (2023). He joined the Domingo-ColburnStein Young Artist Program last season. His roles this season include Dr. Grenvil in La Traviata and the Mandarin in Turandot.

About: In August, he appeared with Aspen Opera Theater as Neptune in Idomeneo. Earlier this year, he performed the role of King Arkel in Impressions de Pelléas with James Conlon at The Ebell of Los Angeles.

He was a 2022 apprentice at Des Moines Metro Opera, where he performed Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He has performed John P. Parker in Adolphus Hailstork’s Rise for Freedom: The John P. Parker Story, Rev. Olin Blitch in Susannah and the title role in Don Pasquale. He has appeared in concerts with Detroit Opera and performed at the Oxford Lieder Festival.

COMMENDATORE

BASS

From: Hulunbuir, China.

LA Opera: King of Egypt in Aida (2022, debut).

About: Performances of the 2023/24 season include a debut at Madrid’s Teatro Real as Sparafucile in Rigoletto and a debut with the LA Philharmonic in Das Rheingold. Additional highlights of the season include a debut at the Salzburg Festival in Prokofiev’s The Gambler and Timur in Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera and at Washington National Opera. Last season, he sang Sarastro in The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, Fasolt in Das Rheingold at Seattle Opera and the Dallas Opera, and Colline in La Bohème with Washington National Opera.

He also performed Bartolo in The Barber of Seville at Cincinnati Opera and made a Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as the Monk in Don Carlos. Highlights of recent seasons include a European debut at the Festival d’Aixen-Provence in Mahagonny and Met performances in Don Giovanni and Boris Godunov. (PeixinChen.com)

P10 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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ARTISTIC PERSONNEL

LA OPERA CHORUS

LA OPERA ORCHESTRA

generously underwritten

by Terri and Jerry Kohl

SOPRANO

FIRST VIOLIN

BASS

TROMBONE

Roberto Cani

Nathan Farrington

William Booth

Frances Liu Wu

Alvin Veeh Terry Cravens

Christina Borgioli* Lisa Crave* Ayana Haviv Courtney Taylor

Janet Todd Rebecca Tomlinson** Chloe Vaught

Armen Anassian

A SSOCIATE CONCERTMA STER

ALTO Elizabeth Anderson Natalie Beck*** Aleta Braxton***

Lisa Sutton Sara Campbell* Bonnie Snell Schindler Jennifer Wallace**

TENOR Daniel Coy Babcock Omar Crook* Francis Lucaric**

STUART CANIN CONCERTMA STER

Sal Malaki** Robert Norman Todd Strange*

A SSISTANT CONCERTMA STER

Margaret Wooten Hana Kim Olivia Tsui Grace Oh Kathleen Sloan Radu Pieptea Heather Powell

PRINCIPAL

A SSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

PRINCIPAL

Don Ferrone

TIMPANI FLUTE Heather Clark

Gregory Goodall PRINCIPAL

PRINCIPAL

Angela Wiegand

OBOE

HARPSICHORD Kevin Murphy PRINCIPAL

BASS

SECOND VIOLIN

Leslie Reed PRINCIPAL

MANDOLIN

Mark Beasom*** Reid Bruton** Abdiel González*

Ana Landauer

Jennifer Cullinan

Brian Head

Robert Hovencamp** James Martin Schaefer* Tim Smith**

PRINCIPAL

PRINCIPAL

Marisa Sorajja

CLARINET

Florence Titmus Leslie Katz Michele Kikuchi Cynthia Moussas Loránd Lokuszta Ina Veli

Stuart Clark

A SSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

* Has appeared in 50 or more productions ** Has appeared in 100 or more productions *** Has appeared in 150 or more productions

SUPERNUMERARIES

PRINCIPAL

Donald Foster

PRINCIPAL

Shawn Mann

William Wood

PRINCIPAL

Corinne Chooey Molly Flanagan Ariel Hart Kristen Refermat

Jennifer Rose Karola Sanchez Angela Yee Stasha Surdyke, cover

Rob Brophy

A SSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

Karie Prescott Dmitri Bovaird Kate Vincent Aaron Oltman

CELLO

HORN Steven Becknell

Melisandra Dunker MUSIC LIBR ARIAN

BANDA VIOLIN

Nina Evtuhov Elizabeth Hedman Ashoka Thiagarajan Irina Voloshina

PRINCIPAL

Daniel Kelley

CELLO

Helen Altenbach

TRUMPET Ryan Darke PRINCIPAL

John Walz

ORCHESTR A PERSONNEL MANAGER

BASSOON William May

VIOLA

Brady Steel

BASS

Tim Eckert

David Washburn

PRINCIPAL

Rowena Hammill

A SSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

A SSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

Dane Little Michael Kaufman Nadine Hall

Stuart Canin Concertmaster Chair made possible by a deeply appreciated gift from Dunard Fund USA.

STAY CONNECTED!

facebook.com/LAOpera

twitter.com/LAOpera

#LAODonGiovanni

instagram.com/LAOpera

youtube.com/LAOpera

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P11

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PRODUCTION STAFF A SSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER

Azra King-Abadi SUPERTITLE PREPAR ATION / CUER

Linda Zoolalian A SSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS

Hannah Blaile Arturo Fernandez, Jr. Miranda Wilson WALLY RUSSELL LIGHTING INTERNS

Elijah Frankle Alejandro Melendez

COSTUME SHOP

WIGS AND MAKE-UP

THE DOMINGO-COLBURN-STEIN YOUNG ARTIST PROGRAM

Samantha Wiener

The Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program supports the future of opera by discovering and developing the talents of highly gifted young artists to become the stars of tomorrow. Since the company’s inception, LA Opera has been committed to nurturing a resident ensemble of young singers who would benefit from long-term professional development. The Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, which builds on the success of the company’s earlier, highly respected Resident Artist Program, has the goal of developing the talents of exceptionally gifted young artists to become performers of potentially international stature, whose first loyalty would be to LA Opera.

WIGMA STER

Danielle Richter

A SSOCIATE WIGMA STER

Brandi Strona

DEPARTMENT COORDINATOR & CREW FOREMAN

Nicole Rodrigues Morgan Sellers

SENIOR WIG & MAKE-UP ARTISTS

Nathalie Eidt Jenni Gilbert Kelso Millett

WIG & MAKE-UP ARTISTS

Lindsey Ellison Robbie Monsod JoEllen Skinner Enrique Urbina

Jacki Nocerino

Adle Smithson Clara Weidman Haley Williams

Scott Papez

CUT TER/DR APERS

FIRST HANDS

Alexandra Babec SECOND HAND

Cesar Cisneros Rosa Limon-Cervantes Katherine Kincaid Blanca Miranda Luz Carmen Muñoz Elissa Perrin Anna Wong SE AMSTERS

Wing Cheung

HE AD OF TAILORING

Manuel Dominguez Manuel Medina Kelvin Small, Jr. TAILORS

Lark Arrowood Dahlia Gonzalez Alexa Marron

LE AD ST YLIST

STAGE CREW OPER A CARPENTER

Robert Colby Klein OPER A ELECTRICIAN

David Salas

OPER A A SSISTANT CARPENTER

2023/24 PARTICIPANTS

Alerton Perez

Manuel Arellano

A SSISTANT ELECTRICIAN

Scott Shepherd

OPER A PROPERT Y MA STER

Heather Orozco

OPER A HE AD AUDIO

Kelly Richard Travis OPER A HE AD VIDEO

Brad Cobb

OPER A AUDIO ENGINEER

DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILION HOUSE STAFF

CR AF TSPERSONS

Miranda Orellana Haley Silver

Ryan Lebetsamer

Emily Frank Rhiannon Smith

COSTUME A SSISTANTS

Jacqueline Colindres Paz Gwyneva Rosales PRODUCTION A SSISTANTS

HOUSE HE AD ELECTRICIAN MA STER OF PROPERTIES

Todd Reynolds

HOUSE HE AD AUDIO

Robert Devis

HOUSE MANAGER

Demetra Willis Carolyn Van Brunt

VICE PRESIDENT OF GUEST SERVICES

Lee Smilek

HE AD OF WARDROBE

Mary Basile Charlyn Trenier

WARDROBE A SSISTANTS

Charlie Fleiss Shelley Graves-Jimenez Mary Lehman Glen Moore Tyrell Pickett Danyele Thomas

Deepa Johnny

MEZZO-SOPR ANO

Anthony León TENOR

Madeleine Lyon MEZZO-SOPR ANO

Lucas Nogara

PIANIST/COACH

Kathleen O'Mara SOPR ANO

Sarah Saturnino Alan Williams

BA SS-BARITONE

Ryan Wolfe BARITONE

Dennis Holbrook

HE AD USHER

WARDROBE

PIANIST/COACH

MEZZO-SOPR ANO

Timothy L. Conroy

MA STER CARPENTER

PRODUCTION SUPERVISORS

The Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program is generously underwritten by the Colburn Foundation and Eugene and Marilyn Stein.

Additional generous underwriting support is provided by Terri and Jerry Kohl. Special support for young artist stipends is graciously provided

by The Lenore and Richard Wayne Young Artist Fellowship. Additional support provided by the Young Artist Circle. The program was created with funding from the Flora L. Thornton Foundation.

VARI-LITE AUTOMATED LIGHTING PROVIDED BY

Vari-Lite Inc.

Special thanks to the staff of the Music Center.

Directors, singers, choreographers, stage managers, ensemble members and assistant directors in this production are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists. Orchestra musicians are represented by the American Federation of Musicians, Local 47. The following employees are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Machine Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada, AFL-CIO, CLC,: Stage Crew, Local 33; Treasurers and Ticket Sellers, Local 857; Wardrobe Crew and Costume Crew, Local 768 ; Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists, Local 706. Interns in the Technical Department are students at California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, California).

All editorial materials copyright Los Angeles Opera, 2023. The opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Los Angeles Opera.

SE A SONAL DRESSERS

P12 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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LA OPERA Christopher Koelsch

SEBA STIAN PAUL AND MARYBELLE MUSCO PRESIDENT AND CEO

James Conlon

RICHARD SE AVER MUSIC DIRECTOR

John P. Nuckols

Claire Pegram

PROGR AM A SSOCIATE / EXECUTIVE A SSISTANT TO MUSIC DIRECTOR

Tate Shoebridge

LE ARNING AND ENGAGEMENT COORDINATOR

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF STR ATEGIC OFFICER

Jake Ryan Lindsey

Diane Rhodes Bergman, APR

Kirsten Anderson

VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

Jill Boyd

VICE PRESIDENT, L ABOR REL ATIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR COMMUNICATIONS A SSOCIATE

Carmen Recker

SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER

Eli Villanueva

RESIDENT STAGE DIRECTOR

Tehvon Fowler-Chapman

VICE PRESIDENT, CONNECTS

Kathleen Ruiz

VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Lina González-Granados

FINANCE Deborah Gould

Gregory White

COSTUME DEPARTMENT MANAGER

Corrine Roache Manuel Garcia

CHORUS DIRECTOR

WAREHOUSE MANAGER

Russell Thomas

John Musselman

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

ADMINISTR ATIVE A SSISTANT

Renée Fleming

Neal Anderson

MAINTENANCE A SSISTANT

DEVELOPMENT Joslyn Treece

Daisy Lopez

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE MANAGER

BOX OFFICE Shane K. Morton

BOX OFFICE TRE A SURER

Shawnet Sweets

FIRST A SSISTANT TRE A SURER

Dale Bridges Johannsen Michael Meyer Brenda Roman Andrew Tomasulo Susan Wong

SECOND A SSISTANT TRE A SURERS

Joseph Howells Joseph Selway

THIRD A SSISTANT TRE A SURERS

Kiana Culpepper Liz Mancia Andy Phu TICKET SELLERS

CONNECTS Andréa Fuentes, Ed.D. DIRECTOR OF CONNECTS

Natalie Ramirez

OPER ATIONS AND DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER

Adam LeBow

A SSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNIT Y PROGR AMMING

SENIOR BOARD AND EXECUTIVE ADMINISTR ATOR

Robin Green

EXECUTIVE A SSISTANT AND OFFICE MANAGER

Melisandra Dunker MUSIC LIBR ARIAN

Brady Steel

ORCHESTR A PERSONNEL MANAGER

Ignazio Terrasi

MUSICAL ASSISTANT TO JAMES CONLON HE AD COACH, YOUNG ARTIST PROGR AM A SSISTANT LIBR ARIAN

PRODUCTION Michelle Magaldi

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Nicki Harper

DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC OPER ATIONS

Jasna Gara

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Grace Piper

Kayla Siembieda

Zade Dardari

Whitney McAnally

RESE ARCH OFFICER ANNUAL FUND SPECIALIST

Kylie Smith

ANNUAL FUND COORDINATOR

INDIVIDUAL GIVING

Benji Railton-Ashe

DIRECTOR, MA JOR GIF TS

MANAGER, ARTISTIC PROGR AMS AND REHE ARSAL PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER

Maya Ordoñez

ARTISTIC OPER ATIONS COORDINATOR

PUBLIC RELATIONS Marlene Meraz

Christian Johnsten

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Weston Olson

A SSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, PUBLICATIONS

SENIOR MA JOR GIF TS OFFICER MA JOR GIF TS OFFICER

Evangeline Santos

Mark Lyons

Melanie Broussalian

INDIVIDUAL GIVING OFFICER

A SSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND VIDEO

Claudia Giugni

Daniel Calderon

INDIVIDUAL GIVING COORDINATOR

INSTITUTIONAL GIVING

Meredith Ernstberger

INSTITUTIONAL GIVING OFFICER/ GR ANT WRITER

Olivia Adair

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR DESIGN MANAGER

TECHNICAL ADMINISTR ATOR PRODUCTION MEDIA MANAGER

Lisa Coto

PROPERTIES COORDINATOR

MUSIC ADMINISTRATION

Amy Swain

Kellynn Meeks

Jeff Kleeman

James Pomichter

SENIOR HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTR ATOR

Chul Park

DIRECTOR, MA JOR AND PL ANNED GIFTS

TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT

Esmeralda Marroquin

Josh Harrold

SENIOR DIRECTOR, TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

MARKETING A SSISTANT

Margie Schnibbe

Eric Bornemann

SENIOR DIRECTOR, MARKETING

Yesenia Vargas

HUMAN RESOURCES

Caroline Boyce

DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT OPER ATIONS

INTER ACTIVE & GR APHIC DESIGNER

Carolina Angulo

Janneke Straub

SENIOR DIRECTOR, ARTISTIC PL ANNING

Terrance Lovecraft

SENIOR FINANCIAL ANALYST

Paul Hopper

DIRECTOR, LE ADERSHIP GIF TS

A SSOCIATE DIRECTOR, ACQUISITION MARKETING

Victoria Rey

DIRECTOR OF FINANCIAL PL ANNING

Blair Salter

SENIOR DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT

Pauline Hwa

Sandra Vazquez

DIRECTOR, INSTITUTIONAL GIVING & GOVERNMENT REL ATIONS

Patricia McLeod

A SSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, BR AND & DESIGN

MARKETING STR ATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

Rowena Matibag-Potter

COSTUME DIRECTOR

Keith J. Rainville

CONTROLLER

Jeannique Prospere

Jeremy Frank

ARTISTIC ADVISOR, YOUNG ARTIST PROGR AM

EVENTS DESIGN SPECIALIST

Brian Stefanko

RESIDENT CONDUCTOR

Susan Graham

Caitlin Harper

COSTUMES

PRODUCTION, STOCK & RENTAL COORDINATOR

ADVISOR, SPECIAL PROJECTS

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, SPECIAL EVENTS

PAYROLL MANAGER

Rupert Hemmings

VICE PRESIDENT, ARTISTIC PL ANNING

SPECIAL EVENTS

Dustin Paugh

CONTENT MEDIA SPECIALIST

Damon Schindler

RESIDENT LE AD SCENIC ARTIST

Chris Carey

TECHNICAL PAYROLL OFFICER

Stephanie Santiago TECHNICAL MANAGER

Katelan Braymer

LIGHTING A SSISTANT

Dani Monterroso

TECHNICAL A SSISTANT

TECHNOLOGY SERVICES Michael Masuda

NET WORK MANAGER

Tommy Mam

SENIOR SYSTEMS AND NET WORK ADMINISTR ATOR

Alex Badali Jordan Tan Brian Urrutia

APPLICATIONS ADMINISTR ATORS

ACADEMY INTERNS Scarleth Arias Kassandra Arroyo Bene’t Benton Diego Castro J.J. Flores Elisa Raya Cristian Venegas

CONSULTANTS Leonard Samuels (Zayde Creative) KE Y ART DESIGN

Stephen King

HE AD OF VOCAL INSTRUCTION DOMINGO-COLBURN-STEIN YOUNG ARTIST PROGR AM

Studio Fuse

SALES AND MARKETING Elizabeth Galvan

GR APHIC DESIGN

Marlinda Menashe

DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT

A SSOCIATE DIRECTOR, LOYALT Y MARKETING

INSTITUTIONAL GIVING A SSISTANT

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P13

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SUPPORTERS

25th Anniversary Angels

MARC STERN, CHAIR

LA Opera recognizes and thanks those who made extraordinary leadership commitments in honor of the 25th Anniversary Season, ensuring the company’s continued artistic excellence and prominence in the worldwide cultural community.

Sebastian Paul and Marybelle Musco

The Seaver Family

Marc and Eva Stern Foundation

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Colburn Foundation County of Los Angeles

Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Carol and Warner Henry Alfred and Claude Mann

Flora L. Thornton Marilyn Ziering

Mr. Harold Alden and Dr. Geraldine Alden Annenberg Foundation Ambassador Frank and Kathy Baxter The Blue Ribbon Alex Bouzari Robert Day Dunard Fund USA Malsi Doyle and Michael Forman

Brindell Roberts Gottlieb The Green Foundation Bernard and Lenore Greenberg, in honor of Leonard Green LGHG Foundation Rosemary and Milton Okun The Milan Panic Family Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer

Lloyd E. Rigler - Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation Ronus Foundation Eugene and Marilyn Stein Christopher V. Walker Richard and Lenore Wayne Ziering Family Foundation Selim K. Zilkha and Mary Hayley / Selim K. Zilkha Foundation

20th Anniversary Angels

MARC STERN, CHAIR

LA Opera wishes to honor those individuals who have made an extraordinary leadership commitment to the company.

Building upon the remarkable foundation created by the Founding and Domingo’s Angels, the outstanding support of the 20th Anniversary Angels has helped ensure an artistically vibrant and financially secure future for LA Opera.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Colburn Foundation County of Los Angeles

Carol and Warner Henry Alfred and Claude Mann Sebastian Paul and Marybelle Musco Richard Seaver and Sara Jayne Kimm

Marc and Eva Stern Foundation Flora L. Thornton Marilyn Ziering

Mr. Harold Alden and Dr. Geraldine Alden Annenberg Foundation Ambassador Frank and Kathy Baxter Yuki and Alex Bouzari Nancy Daly Edgar Foster Daniels Kelly and Robert Day Leslie and John Dorman Malsi Doyle and Michael Forman

Brindell Roberts Gottlieb The Green Foundation Bernard and Lenore Greenberg, in honor of Leonard Green Lauren B. Leichtman and Arthur E. Levine Family Foundation LGHG Foundation Beatrix F. Padway, in honor of Nathaniel W. Finston Mr. and Mrs. Milan Panic

Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Tarasenka Pankiv Fund (Tara Colburn) Barbara Augusta Teichert The Joop van den Ende Foundation Christopher V. Walker Richard and Lenore Wayne Ziering Family Foundation Selim K. Zilkha and Mary Hayley / Selim K. Zilkha Foundation

Domingo’s Angels

MARC STERN, CHAIR MARY HAYLEY, CO-CHAIR WARNER HENRY, CO-CHAIR

Domingo’s Angels are individuals who made a leadership commitment to fulfilling the artistic initiatives of the Domingo Seasons, 2001-2005. Their remarkable generosity provided a new threshold from which the artistic professionals associated with LA Opera created and produced opera that thrilled and inspired Los Angeles audiences and the world.

Robert V. Adams and Barbara Abercrombie Ambassador Frank and Kathy Baxter Colburn Foundation Kelly and Robert Day Marta and Plácido Domingo Leslie and John Dorman

The Green Foundation Lenore and Bernard Greenberg Carol and Warner Henry Walter Lantz Foundation / Edward A. Landry, Trustee Rosemary and Milton Okun Mr. and Mrs. Milan Panic

Richard Seaver and Sara Jayne Kimm Marc and Eva Stern Foundation The Skirball Foundation Flora L. Thornton Foundation Selim K. Zilkha and Mary Hayley / Selim K. Zilkha Foundation

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SUPPORTERS

Founding Angels

WARNER HENRY, CHAIR

LA Opera is grateful for the vision, boldness and extraordinary generosity of the Founding Angels, whose commitment to the company in its early years helped ensure the future of opera in Los Angeles.

Mr. and Mrs. Roy L. Ash Dorothy Collins Brown Mr. Richard D. Colburn The Edgar Foster Daniels Foundation Forman Family Foundation

Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation The Emese and Leonard Green Foundation Carol and Warner Henry Opera League of Los Angeles

Richard Seaver The Skirball Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Leonard H. Straus Flora L. Thornton Foundation

Artistic Excellence Circle LA Opera recognizes the dedicated individuals whose annual support ensures that the finest singers, conductors, directors and designers bring the power and beauty of the art form to our stage. To learn more, call John Nuckols at 213.972.7256.

PREMIER DIAMOND PATRON ($500,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous The Ahmanson Foundation GRoW @ Annenberg Herbert Berk Estate The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Colburn Foundation Cosgrove Family Trust Malsi Doyle and Michael Forman / Pacific Theatres Foundation Dunard Fund USA Penelope Foley Valerie Franklin Estate Gemini Industries, Inc. Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation

Bernard and Lenore Greenberg Opera Fund Carol and Warner Henry Terri and Jerry M. Kohl Margo Leavin Nanette and Keith Leonard Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath Supervisor Janice Hahn Claude Mann and Alfred E. Mann Estate Sebastian Paul and Marybelle Musco The Tarasenka Pankiv Fund (Tara Colburn) Linda and Alvaro Pascotto Andrea and Janie Pessino

Suzanne Rheinstein, in honor of Fred Rheinstein Ronus Foundation Kenneth D. Sanson, Jr., Trust Ariane and Lionel Sauvage The Richard Seaver Trust for the Opera Eugene and Marilyn Stein Marc and Eva Stern Foundation Emanuel Treitel Trust US Small Business Administration Gregory and Régina Weingarten Marilyn Ziering Ann Ziff Selim K. Zilkha and Mary Hayley / Selim K. Zilkha Foundation

DIAMOND PATRON ($250,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous Mr. Harold Alden‡ and Dr. Geraldine Alden‡ Ana and Robert Cook Leslie and John Dorman The Fund for the Performing Arts Mr. Alex Furlotti Nancy Geller Trust Peter and Diane Gray

The Green Foundation Cornelia Haag-Molkenteller, M.D. Latham & Watkins, LLP Lauren B. Leichtman and Arthur E. Levine Family Foundation LGHG Foundation Dan Murphy Foundation Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP

Elizabeth Segerstrom The David and Linda Shaheen Foundation Sheppard, Mullin, Richter and Hampton LLP Ms. Barbara Augusta Teichert Wells Fargo

PREMIER PLATINUM PATRON ($150,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous (3) The Armenian Consortium Stanley Black; in memory of Joyce Black The Blue Ribbon Max H. Gluck Foundation

The Norman and Sadie Lee Foundation Patty and Ken McKenna The Music Man Foundation Michele and Dudley Rauch / The Rauch Family Foundation

David Sanders Living Trust Laura and Carlton Seaver South Coast Plaza Christopher V. Walker Alyce de Roulet Williamson

PLATINUM PATRON ($100,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous (2) Dr. Robert Adler and Alexis Deutsch-Adler Patricia Artigas and Lucas Etchegaray Karen Beecher Trust Jules Brenner Trust The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation Family of Ginger Conrad

Estate of Edgar Foster Daniels Kathleen and Jerrold Eberhardt Manuel Gutierrez, in memory of George Sponhaltz Hispanics for Los Angeles Opera Joan H. Hotchkis Freya and Mark Ivener Richard Kendall and Lisa See Lawrence A. Kern L.L. Foundation for Youth

James Mulally The Opera League of Los Angeles In loving memory of our beloved parents, Ted and Hedy Orden Dr. Heinrich and Barbara Schelbert Susan R. Shapiro James and Ellen Strauss Ellen and Arnold Zetcher Jane D. Zimmerman Trust

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE P15

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SUPPORTERS

THE OPERA COUNCIL

Chaired by Paul and Catherine Tosetti

The dedicated support of the Opera Council enables LA Opera to achieve its artistic goals. This program offers exclusive privileges and behind-the-scenes opportunities to those individuals, foundations and corporations who make annual gifts of $25,000 or more.

For information, please call 213.972.3160.

GRAND GOLD PATRON ($75,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous (2) Ahsan Aijaz Mr. Haig S. Bagerdjian Lynn A. Booth and Kent Kresa The Otis Booth Foundation

Barbara Burtin California Arts Council Stephen A. Kanter Estate Susan Lord and Scott Richard Lord Paul and Sandra Montrone

OPERA America/Opera Fund Linda Pierce Caroline and Andrew Randall, in memory of Ann Ronus Barry and Nancy Sanders

“You are all magicians. When I come to LA Opera, I enter a world of beauty.

You always lift me to heights I’d never reach on my own.” —Lisa (donor) GRAND GOLD PATRON ($50,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous Wallis Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation Mr. James Asperger and Ms. Christine Adams Paul and Marie-France Bloch Fund at The Miami Foundation Maynard and Linda Brittan Brian P. Brooks Janet and Nicholas Ciriello Mark H. Dalzell and James Dao-Dalzell De Marchena-Huyke Foundation Elsa and Craig Donohue Geoff Emery Annette Ermshar and Dan Monahan

Mr. Robert Finnerty and Mr. Richard Cullen Catherine and Andrew Garroni Betty L. Hall Trust Ms. Janet Jones Travis and Thomas Kranz Renee and Meyer Luskin / Scope Industries LLWW Foundation The Rafael and Luisa de Marchena-Huyke Foundation Michael and Lori Milken Family Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Michelle Rohé Wendy and Ken Ruby Tina L. Segel

Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Seidel Eric L. Small Dr. Vina Spiehler Alan and Janet Stanford Jay and Deanie Stein Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Stein Warren and Mimi Techentin Sandra W. Terner Paul and Catherine Tosetti Brigitta B. Troy John and Gill Wagner Richard and Lenore Wayne‡ Estate of Monica Weil and Paul Schrade XO Capital LLC

Em Green Gary Gugelchuk Nicolas Hamatake Eloisa and Chris Haudenschild In memory of Morris A. Hazan Catherine and Mark Helm Hub International Insurance, LTD Mr. and Mrs. David K. Ingalls Rian Johnson Tim Johnson and Jean Cunningham Mr. and Mrs. Richard B. Jones James P. Kelley and Joseph W. Lund William and Priscilla Kennedy Landmann Family and the Rivelle Family Drs. Anu and Ali Leemann Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs Merrill Lynch J.H.B. Kean and Toby E. Mayman Mr. and Mrs. Carlos Mollura, Sr. Anthony and Olivia Neece

Dr. Leslie A. Pam and Dr. Ann Christie Petersen / Esper A. Petersen Foundation The Louis and Harold Price Foundation Mrs. Rita Coveney Pudenz Penny and Harold B. Ray Courtney Reum Koni and Geoff Rich Lloyd E. Rigler – Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation Mimi Rotter Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Saunders George and Terry Schreyer Natalie K. and Marvin S. Shapiro Edward A. and Ai O. Shay Family Foundation Carol and James Sterling Dwight Stuart Youth Fund Richard and Cynthia Troop Donna Wagner M. Faye Wilson‡ Andrew Xu and Timothy Iverson Zev Yaroslavsky Esther and Abe Zarem

GOLD PATRON ($25,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous (5) Gregory A. Adams Maria Altmann; in memory of Fritz Altmann Debbie and Mark Attanasio Shirley Barasch Family Trust Ambassador Frank and Kathy Baxter Beverly Hills Porsche Carol Bramont and David Chesley Drs. Maryam and Iman H. Brivanlou Marlene Schall Chávez, Ph.D. Edward E. and Alicia Garcia Clark Ginger Conrad Mrs. Alice S. Coulombe John and Gina Despres Michael and Jane Eisner First American Title Insurance Co., National Commercial Services Kiki and David Gindler Goldman Sachs & Co. Sally and Irwin Goldstein Thomas and Thea Gottschalk Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development

‡ in memoriam

P16 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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Nov 1 – Nov 26

pasadenaplayhouse.org | 626-356-PLAY | Tickets start at $35

by JEROME LAWRENCE and ROBERT E. LEE Directed by MICHAEL MICHETTI

PA PA Z I A N H I RS C H E N T E RTA I N M E N T PRESENTS

Ruıns the

S TA R R I N G

JOBETH WILLIAMS PETER STRAUSS OCTOBER 6 – 29 EL PORTAL THEATRE elportaltheatre.com

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SUPPORTERS

PATRONS OF LA OPERA

Chaired by Kathleen and Jerrold Eberhardt

Patrons of LA Opera, who contribute gifts of $3,500 or more, enjoy exclusive ticket services, benefits and activities to enhance their opera experience. For more information, please call 213.972.7655.

GRAND SILVER BENEFACTOR ($20,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous The Sirpuhe and John Conte Foundation John and Linda Kay Abdulian Drs. Nazareth and Ani Darakjian Barbara Abercrombie Linda and Bobby Hanada Emily Arms and Steven Johnson Diane Henderson Bank of America Foundation Lenny‡ and David Kelton Mrs. Any Yakoub-Barr and Mr. Michael Barr Micheal and Stephanie Landes Thomas and Judith Beckmen Mr. and Mrs. David Mgrublian Hans and Dianne Bozler Judith S. Mishkin Allen Briskin and Gerry Hinkley Eduard Morf PREMIER SILVER BENEFACTOR ($15,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous Dr. Ronald Gabriel In memory of Maggi Gordon Kay Anderle Monica Gutierrez-Roper and Trevor Roper BMO Suzanne Kayne Capital Markets Keller Anderle LLP Susan and L. David Cole Jennifer L. Keller Laura Donnelley and the Good Works Foundation Anita Lorber Further Global Capital Management / Fredrik Malmberg and Joakim Zetterberg Olivier Sarkozy Emily and Sam Mann SILVER BENEFACTOR ($10,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous (5) Danielle Nelson Erem and Vivian Nelson Manny Abascal Stephen M. Erhart Adams/Cohen Family Alan J. Freeman Adar Family Trust Dr. Elizabeth Short and Dr. Michael Friedman Rachel and Bulent Altan Bruce and Adele Gainsley Patti and Harlan Amstutz The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Jerome M. Applebaum Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Gramling Margaret Campbell Arvey Beverly and Felix Grossman Esther M. Baird and Stanley Fimberg Alma Guzman and Susan Stamberger Jill C. Baldauf and Steven L. Grossman Jessica Harper Kaye and Tom Ballantyne J. Ira and Nicki Harris Foundation Sandy Behrens Betty Hayman Mr. and Mrs. Sanford Beim Robert and Denise Hayman Raffaela and John Belanich Freddi and Dr. Kenneth D. Hill Dr. Sheldon D. Benjamin and Constance Chesnut Chase Hodge-Brokenburr Beatrice and Paul Bennett Stuart and Simone Isen Leah S. and Gregory M. Bergman Stella Jeong and Randall Lee Phebe Berkowitz-Tanners Ms. Ratna Jones Anne Boundy Tagney Jones Family Fund at Lisa Bratkovich The Seattle Foundation Warren Breslow and Gail Buchalter Phyllis H. Klein, M.D. Vladimir and Araxia Buckhantz Foundation Elaine F. Kramer Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cannon Renee Kumetz Canyon Partners, LLC Edward and Marie Lewis Victor Carabello, M.D.; in honor of Leonard M. Lipman Charitable Fund my beloved parents Oscar and Elisa Mr. and Mrs. David B. Lippman Laurel K. Clark Mr. Paul Lombardi and Mr. Jeffrey B. Soref Claytor Family Foundation Sam Losh and Judith Lovely Valerie and Harry G. Cooper Hon. Nora M. Manella Corinna Cotsen and Lee N. Rosenbaum Diane Hickingbotham McNabb Myron and Margie Crain Marlane Meyer Elizabeth Hofert Dailey Fund Carolyn L. Miller Dr. and Mrs. Donald E. Dickerson Mrs. Synne Hansen Miller Tom Dolby Ms. Judy Miner Mr. Michael Dreyer; in memory of Warner Henry Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. Betty and Brack Duker Carol Mitchell Ms. Gail Eichenthal Fred Muhs; in memory of Warner Henry Dr. and Mrs. Paul Eisenberg Barbara and Norman S. Namerow Mr. and Mrs. David Elmore Gregory Nava and Barbara Martinez Jitner GRAND BENEFACTOR ($7,000 & ABOVE) Anonymous (2) Aversa Foundation Linda Maddocks Brown Todd L. Calvin Nicholas Chrisos Marie M. Cohen and Jared Diamond Cecelia Cole Ms. Sheila Coop

Michele M. Crahan Patrick Dickey Dr. and Mrs. William M. Duxler Susan and John Ebey W. Allan Edmiston, Jr., M.D. Paul A. Erskine Family Fund Dr. Jon Fellows and Judith Hemenway Mrs. Elaine Galanti

Harry and Cheryl Nadjarian The Stephen Philibosian Foundation Warren and Katharine Schlinger Foundation Terry and Dennis Stanfill Karen and William Timberlake Michael Weber and Frances Spivy-Weber Libby Wilson, M.D.

Linda May and Jack Suzar The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation The Recording Industries’ Music Performance Trust Fund The SahanDaywi Foundation Schlinger Chrisman Foundation Evy and Fred Scholder Family Susan Zolla; in memory of Edward M. Zolla

Ms. Michele Newberry Chris and Dick Newman / C and R Family Foundation Michael Nohaile and Kristin Yarema Carolyn R. Novin Christine Marie Ofiesh and Arthur L. Zussman William and Carol Ouchi Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts Thomas Patrick and Stephen Rulo John S. Perkins Gary and Arsine Phillips Ali Razi and Shelley Reid Rodrigo J. Rocha, M.D.; in memory of my beloved parents Jutta Romero Lars Roos and Dr. Estelita Calica Roos Mrs. Barbara C. Rosenthal Matthew and Jennifer Rowland Barbara Sadoff; in honor of Armin Sadoff Sakana Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Alexander A. Sawchuk Dr. Sharron L. Seal and Mr. Lawrence Seal Dr. Donald Seligman and Dr. Jon Zimmermann Dr. Bertrand and Joan Shapiro Charles Souw, in loving memory of Bill Maldonado Mr. Burnie Sparks; in memory of Warner Henry Bette I. Tatge Michael and Suzanne Tennenbaum Kyle Thorpe Mr. and Mrs. Andy Torosyan Elinor and Rubin Turner Mr. and Mrs. Dale Ulman Drs. Francine Bartfield and Martin Wasserman Mark A. Weaver Aviva Weiner and Paulino Fontes Sheila and Wally Weisman Doris Weitz and Alexander Williams Robert E. Willett Wendy and Jay Wintrob

Larry and Marlis Gilman Larry Hawley and Barbara Aran Dr. Ronald Hopkins Mrs. Maria Antonia Horne Patricia Houston; in loving memory of Chet Houston Nancy Katayama Mr. and Mrs. Edward A. Landry

‡ in memoriam

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YOUNG ARTISTS

Rising Stars We’re always eager to introduce audiences to the members of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. This prestigious twoto three-year paid residency for singers and pianists helps these highly gifted performers become the stars of tomorrow.

Pianist/coach Lucas Nogara performed last season in concert with tenor Russell Thomas, when he also conducted the world premiere of Damien Geter’s Annunciation. In February, he will reunite with Thomas for a recital at the Kennedy Center. He spent the summer as a collaborative pianist for the Ravinia Steans Music Institute’s Program for Singers.

Pianist/coach Manuel Arellano was on the music staff for Omar and Otello last season. He has been a coaching fellow at Music Academy of the West and Aspen Opera Theater and a full-time vocal coach at El Camino College. He earned a doctorate in opera coaching at the University of Texas at Austin.

Soprano Kathleen O’Mara joins LA Opera this season, making her company debut as Berta in The Barber of Seville and also appearing in The Dwarf.

A Juilliard graduate, she covered the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte for both Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Palm Beach Opera earlier this year.

Mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny debuted at the Manchester International Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Bregenz Festival over the summer. This season, in addition to her LA Opera appearances, she’ll make her role debut as Carmen with Opéra de Rouen and perform Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro with Portland Opera.

Mezzo-soprano Sarah Saturnino, a 2023 grand finals winner of the Met’s Laffont Competition, has appeared with LA Opera as Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia and Emilia in Otello. Most recently, she performed Mistress Ford in Sir John in Love with the Bard Music Festival. She begins the season as Carmen with Opera Santa Barbara.

Tenor Anthony León, a 2023 grand finals winner of the Met’s Laffont Competition, most recently appeared in L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Salzburg Festival’s Young Singers Project. After several LA Opera roles last season, he’s back as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and also sings Nadir in The Pearl Fishers at Cologne Opera.

Bass-baritone Alan Williams most recently performed the Voice of Neptune in Idomeneo with Aspen Opera Theater. He made his LA Opera debut last season as Abe in Omar. This season, he performs roles in five mainstage productions, including Masetto in Don Giovanni, Doctor Grenvil in La Traviata and the Mandarin in Turandot.

Mezzo-soprano Madeleine Lyon spent the summer as a Fellow with the Ravinia Steans Music Institute’s Program for Singers. Last season’s roles included Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, followed

by Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia and Bithia in Moses. This season, she’ll perform in El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego and The Dwarf.

Over the summer, baritone Ryan Wolfe performed Le Dancaïre in Carmen with Des Moines Metro Opera and made his Hollywood Bowl debut in Chris Thile’s Attention! with the LA Philharmonic.

Last season, he made his LA Phil debut as the Steersman in Tristan und Isolde. His LA Opera roles this season include Ping in Turandot.

The Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program is generously underwritten by the Colburn Foundation, Eugene and Marilyn Stein, and Richard and Lenore Wayne, with additional generous underwriting support provided by Terri and Jerry Kohl.

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Meet Lucas Meachem One of LA Opera’s favorite baritones, Lucas Meachem opens the new season in one of his signature roles, Don Giovanni, his fifth role with the company.

You have quite a history in Los Angeles.

My debut was Barber [in 2009]. That was amazing, because my father was living in Los Angeles at the time. I just remember him being so proud. It was really quite special for me.

Tannhäuser was wonderful because any time I get to perform that piece I just feel like I’m in heaven, and The Marriage of Figaro is my favorite opera. So yeah, I’ve had some really amazing career highlights in L.A. But what puts The Ghosts of Versailles right at the top of the list for me, is that I was falling in love with my wife. I asked her to marry me during that production. And then to win a Grammy for it was pretty incredible. One of the most special moments of my life was giving the acceptance speech at the Grammys, to get up there in front of all those amazing artists and represent opera, LA Opera, all the cast and crew, the orchestra and the artists behind the scenes who made it all possible.

How many times have you performed Don Giovanni?

I need to do the math! I’ve done enough to feel very comfortable with the role and I have a very specific idea of what I want to translate with him. Don Giovanni is no devil.

He thinks differently for his time and he’s chastised for it. I find him to be a redeemable human, somebody who really sticks to his guns so much that he’s willing to die for it.

Did your conception of Giovanni come to you fairly easily, or did it develop through performing it numerous times?

I put a lot of stock into my first impressions of the roles that I do. It’s almost like your first impressions of meeting someone in real life; they’re normally right, you know? And I need to trust my gut with it. If the director wants something different than my idea, I am really open if we find correlations in the text. Text is king.

I find that the best rehearsal situations are when the director and I arrive together with a clear idea of what we’d like to do, and we find the best path forward to tell our story. We’re artists working together in collaboration.

I think about Don Giovanni in a humanistic way. I grew up in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina. At

the end of a paved road, a dirt road begins, and at the end of that dirt road is where my house was. There wasn’t much classical music in my life, but I lived a lot, which I think shaped my ability to take in these characters and make them human. I always want to make my characters empathetic in some way. The audience might not end up in the same place as me, but if I can inspire some reaction, I feel complete.

How does the role fit in your voice?

Don Giovanni is a role like Carmen. We all have our ideal version in our minds, so it’s impossible to fit everyone’s ideals. At the end of the day, you just need to sing as beautifully as you can, with your voice, without changing anything. And that’s exactly how I approach the Don. I sing it in my way. I know that LA Opera hired me to sing this role, which gives me a lot of confidence as an artist. They wanted me, so I’m like “okay, I’m going to give you me and I’m never going to try to be anyone else or sound like anything else.”

The role honestly sits right in the middle of the voice all night long, which is sort of my money spot.

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

When you’re singing a production, your wife and son travel with you.

It’s fun and very fulfilling. It’s also the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s a choice that my wife and I have made.

We’re creating our vision of what we want our lives to look like. That’s a really special thing. He’s been with us to 10 countries at four years old, but the commonality we share with so many amazing parents out there is that we want what’s best for our son. As of now, it’s a beautiful experience for all of us. And for me, having us together is such a boon for my life and for my happiness. It’s about the best thing ever.

Meachem made his LAO debut as Rossini's Figaro in 2009.

“Don Giovanni is no devil. He thinks differently for his time and he’s chastised for it. I find him to be a redeemable human…”

What are your favorite things to do in Los Angeles?

We rent a house in West Hollywood that makes for beautiful walks to some of our favorite restaurants. I love the weather, I love the people, the nature, and culture. And being vegan, LA is a vegan mecca. So many amazing spots to eat at that are just absolutely blowyour-mind delicious. So yeah, it’s an amazing place.

PHOTO BY CRAIG T. MATHEW/MATHEW IMAGING

Any there any dream roles you haven’t sung yet?

Rodrigo in Don Carlo. It’s just one of those roles that fits so perfectly that it feels truly written for me. And it’s not done so often. I’ve got places to go in the Verdi repertoire and even the heavier bel canto stuff as well.

I’ve got some time.

PHOTO BY ROBERT MILLARD

So it’s a great role for me. It never goes too high—of course, I might put in a little high note at the end— and it never goes too low. If I’ve saved anything for the end of the night, I let it all go in the final scene.

Luckily, I have a good friend in the pit in James Conlon who leads everyone together. And at the end, it’s all about the drama, so those lines aren’t as important from a vocal standpoint. Normally there’s bombastic stuff happening on the stage and it’s electric.

Lucas Meachem as Figaro in 2015's The Ghosts of Versailles, a Grammy winner.

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SUPPORTERS

PATRONS OF LA OPERA GRAND BENEFACTOR ($7,000 & ABOVE) June and Simon K.C. Li Mrs. Isabel Markovits-Rosenberg James and Grace McAdams Ms. Gay Phinny

Ernest and Anne Prokopovych Drs. Michael and Marion Quinn Cliff and Toni Reston Elizabeth Loucks Samson

Robert and Linda Smith Dennis Wasser and Ruth Roberts

PREMIER BENEFACTOR ($5,000 AND ABOVE) Anonymous (6) Dr. and Mrs. Santo Galanti The Maurice Amado Foundation Dr. Patricia Goldring The Amphion Foundation, Inc. Charles and Marian Goldsmith Tracy Stone and Allen Anderson Patrick and Mary Goshtigian Anne Andrews and John Thornton Peter and Elizabeth Goulds Ruth Bachofner Wendy and Luis Guerrero Ms. Sunny Baey Manuel R. Gutierrez Dr. Peter and Mrs. Helen Bing Lee Hendrix William Blair Claire and Robert Heron Judith F. Blumenthal Dr. Ann M. Hirsch and Dr. Stefan J. Kirchanski Employees Community Fund of Boeing David L. and Susan H. Hirsch Bonnie Brae In Sook Hong Gary and Johanna Brown Cameron Hotchkis Mrs. Michele Brustin Dr. Judith Hyman Michael and Tania Cahill Ms. Marsha Hymanson Ms. Marion A. Cameron Bruce Johansen Evelyn and Stephen Cederbaum Jee Sung and Hun Ku Kang Diana and Marc Chazaud Mr. Howard B. Klein Laura K. Christa Ellen and Harvey Knell V. Shannon and Pamela Clyne Mr. Joel and Mrs. Sharon Koppelman Rhoda Coleman, in loving memory of Sherry Lansing and William Friedkin Howard Coleman C. Deborah Laughton; in memory of Christina and Bill Conkle Charles (Terry) Hendrix The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc. Larry Layne and Sheelagh Boyd Dain, Torpy, Le Ray, Wiest & Garner, P.C. Christine and Jay Lee Ms. Joanne Dallas Davis/Dauray Family Fund Mr. Leonard Levine and Dr. Mateo Ledezma Jack and Barbara Dawson Marilyn Lightner Jennifer Diener Lilly Fong Liu Mr. Ronald Dolkart and Ms. Margaret Rose, Mr. Mark Loewen in memory of our beloved niece, Coco Ogburn Dr. Liana Lucaric Boghossian David A. Drummond Mr. Nigel Lythgoe Linda L. Duttenhaver John and Jill Manly Gail and Jim Ellis; in honor of Edeltraud McCarthy Carol and Warner Henry Jennifer and Mark McCormick Dr. Randall T. Espinoza Judy and Steve McDonald Mr. Robert Estrin, in memory of Mary Lloyd Estrin Mr. Richard J. Meyer Evelyn & Norman Feintech Family Foundation Janet Michaels Theodore Finney Hill Cindy Miscikowski Nancy Fleischer and Libby Wilson, M.D., Carol Mitchell in honor of Ida and Max Fleischer Nancy-Gene Morrison Mr. and Mrs. Don Erik Franzen Mr. Shannon J. Morton Elisabeth and Tony Freinberg Mr. and Mrs. Bengt Muthen

Dr. and Mrs. Steven Nagelberg The E. Nakamichi Foundation Robert and Sally Neely David Drew Neer, M.D., J.D. Liza and Thomas Newbauer Frank and Andrea Newman Mrs. Inna Ockelmann Jenny Okun and Richard Sparks Mr. and Mrs. Peter O’Malley Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Oppenheimer Park Bixby Tower, Inc. Mary E. Petit and Eleanor Torres Frank and Betty Pinkerton Peggy and Peter Preuss Eileen and Charles Read Mr. and Mrs. Stephen D. Rountree Ms. Allison Sampson; in memory of Warner Henry Brad Schlei and Jamie Price-Schlei Robert Segal; in loving memory of Jeanne Segal Richard and Ellyn Semler Marilyn Shapiro Dr. and Mrs. Neil J. Sherman Joyce and Al Sommer Philip Starr and Michael Simental John and Beverly Stauffer Foundation Yvonne Stevens and Paul Schickler Dr. Roger D. Stewart Dr. Julie Stindt Mr. Eliazar Talamantez Lisa Tatge Ms. Joanne L. Dallas and Mr. Frank A. Traficante Linda and Sorrell Trope Ms. Barbara A. Van Postman Larry Verdugo Cynthia Walk Barbara and Ken Warner David and Michele Wilson Mrs. Joan A. Winchell; in memory of Verne Winchell Clemence Yi Martin and Rosalind Zane

BENEFACTOR ($3,500 AND ABOVE) Anonymous (6) In memory of Dr. Yoshio Akiyama Mr. Bulent Altan Honey Amado Patti and Harlan Amstutz Mr. Robert C. Anderson Ron and Perky Apperson Shirley Ashkenas; in memory of Irving Ashkenas David Baltimore and Alice Huang Howard Barmazel Randall C. Bassett Shelley and Rick Bayer Christine Benchay John R. Benfield and Mary Ann Shaw Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bennion Dr. Dietmar P. Berger Leigh Lindsey and Andrew Blaine Mr. William J. Bracken and Ms. Mary Jo Markey Langley B. Brandt Barbara and Richard Braun Dr. Martin J. Brickman Patsy Burke Drs. Carol and David Cass CBRE National Partners West / Darla Longo, Barbara Perrier, Michael Longo

Mr. Ronald Goldman Nora Gordon and Brent Bryan Christine Gregory Charles F. Hanes Dr. and Mrs. Irwin Harris Marie O. Hedlund Jeff and Yolanda Heller C. Terry Hendrix; in memory of Gracia Alkema Marcia and Dr. Paul Herman Larry and Lilia Hershenson Margaret M. Hess Mrs. Phoebe Ann Heywood Gary Ho and Aihua Gan Richard Holland Trust Barbara Holman Adel F. Jabour, M.D. Mr. Daniel J. Jaffe Paul and Missy Jennings Dr. Thomas D. Johnson, Ph.D., and Stacy B. Young Gary and Denise Kading Gloria Kaplan Drs. Nedeen and Alan Kaufman Gayle Kirschbaum and Scott D. Baskin Christopher Koelsch and Todd Bentjen Rosalie Kornblau

Jacob Clark and Patrick Dickey Michael Dillon Mr. Joseph Cochran Nancybell Coe and William Burke, in honor of James Conlon Donald and Joan Damask Mr. and Mrs. R. Stephen Doan Dan and Carol Donlan Larry and Jan Duitsman Mr. and Mrs. Karl J. Durow Susan Edelstein Mr. Craig A. Emanuel Margaret Epstein Helen Funai Erickson John Farrell and Corey Spivey Joyce and Mal Fienberg Mrs. Frances R. Flanagan John Fleming and Kris Maine David F. Freedman, in memory of Joan Freedman Dr. Jerry and Jean Friedman Scott and Elizabeth Frost Ronald Frydman Arthur and Helen Geoffrion Jerome J. Glaser / International Curtain Call Dr. and Mrs. Steven M. Goldberg

30 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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S

>

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NEW SEASON NEW THEATER CAP UCLA’s 2023–24 SEASON brings you a variety of voices and creative expressions in music, dance, theater, literary arts and collaborative disciplines.

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> John Cameron Mitchell > Ruthie Foster

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LA Opera Wrap 1023.indd 31

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LA OPERA CONNECTS

At LA Opera, Students are Honored Guests LA Opera Connects is committed to increasing access to the arts throughout Los Angeles County. One way we create these exciting opportunities is by collaborating with educators to offer students a one-of-a-kind field trip to LA Opera.

High schoolers may not think they love opera (yet), but who can better relate to the hapless Nemorino pining after Adina in The Elixir of Love or to Lauretta’s dramatic appeal to her doting father in Gianni Schicchi? The Opera Prep program is perfect for them, bringing these gripping stories to life for secondary school students attending a final dress rehearsal in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. This is the last rehearsal before an opera opens, so Opera Prep participants are among the very first to enjoy a performance-ready show. Students also hear directly from artists about their careers in the opera industry. These talks provide students with practical insight and might even inspire some of them to explore professions in the arts.

For most of these students, Opera Prep is their first opportunity to see a fully staged opera and experience the many benefits of a grand-scale theatrical performance. Psychologists have found that exposure to music and the fine arts has a positive influence on standardized test scores in children, and that’s not all.

Programs like Opera Prep also help bridge gaps in emotional and social development caused by the disruption of schooling during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

According to published studies, students who attend live theater become more tolerant and better able to read the emotions of others. Likewise, a conference presented by the National Endowment for the Arts concluded that live theater encourages students to engage more positively with others and to imagine brighter futures for themselves.

Committed to students’ full academic journey, Connects offers OperaWise and other programs tailored to college and university groups. OperaWise provides these students with exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to each mainstage opera. Professors can bring their

classes to see an orchestra technical rehearsal—the first time all the elements of an opera come together during the rehearsal process—as well as hear from artistic and production staff. Observing an orchestra technical rehearsal gives college students a glimpse of the earlier stages of the creative process when the finishing touches are still being added. This unique opportunity is enriching for students of all majors, especially for those considering a career in the arts.

Programs like Opera Prep and OperaWise have a profound impact on our community. After attending the final dress rehearsal for Omar with her class last season, one teacher from Vista Middle School told us: “To show my students and their families that they belong amongst the crystal chandeliers and marble staircases—that they are not just invited but invited as honored guests—it means more than I have words to express. The story my students tell themselves about who they are and where they belong in this world changed last night.”

Now more than ever, it is vital for young people to experience the diverse, moving stories presented on the LA Opera stage. Your support allows opera to inspire students throughout their entire academic career as they grow into confident, capable and compassionate adults.

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Sat Oct 14 | 8pm

Lila Downs

DOS CORAZONES DÍA DE MUERTOS

Sun Oct 22 | 7pm

Anoushka Shankar Quintet Aparna Ramaswamy’s Ananta, The Eternal

Thu Nov 2 | 8pm

Joshua Henry’s GET UP, STAND UP!

LA Opera Wrap 1023.indd 33

CHOOSE ANY 3 OR MORE CONCERTS TO MIX & MATCH YOUR SEASON!

Thu Nov 9 | 8pm

Midori with Festival Strings Lucerne

9/6/23 8:22 PM

SUPPORTERS

PATRONS OF LA OPERA BENEFACTOR ($3,500 AND ABOVE) Ronald and Joann Kramar Diane S. Lake Dr. Paul E. LeMal Irwin and Rachel Levin Ms. Janet Levin and Mr. Frank Gruber Dr. Cheryl D. Lew, M.D. Mary H. Lewis Dr. Leonard Lipman Gerrie Maloof Michael and Claudia Margolis Ms. Faydell P. Martin Steven and Susan Matt Robert Mendow Bryan Mershon Adam Mielke and Angel Blue Mielke Mr. and Mrs. Stephen D. Miller Carol Mitchell Olga Moretti Jane Gray Morrison Diane Williams Murphy Gary W. Murphy Mr. Emory Ron Myrick Ms. Laurice Myron Barbara and Lawrence Nevens Mary Ruth and Jeff Newman Jerry and Elaine Offstein

Dr. Edward O’Neill Dr. Sophia Y. Pak, M.D. Dr. and Mrs. Nissan Pardo Ms. Karen A. Pederson The Muriel Pollia Foundation Ruth Popkin Mr. and Mrs. Roger H. Porter, Jr. Kai-Li and Hal Quigley Madeline and Bruce Ramer Sonia Randazzo and Family Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Reid Fen Rhodes and Nancy Corby Ken and Erika Riley Craig and Janis Risch Charleen Rohde Rikki Rosen Paula and Allan Rudnick Dr. Michael Rudolph Mr. and Mrs. Neal Schmale John Schunhoff and Ken Titley Amy and Andy Schwartz Albert Sepe Ruth Simon Margy and David Sievers Mr. and Mrs. John B. (Jack) Simon Dr. Joan E. Smiles

Judith L. Smith Debra Vilinsky and Michael Sopher Steven and Eleanor Sorenson Shirley Earlise Starke-Wallace Sidney Stern Memorial Trust Ms. Donna Lynn Stillo Dr. and Mrs. Edward C. Stone Francine Swain and Robert Murdock Dr. I. Maribel Taussig Mr. Andrew Tavakoli Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Techentin Dr. and Mrs. Jose Torreblanca Nancy Valentine Eve C. Van Rennes Ms. Carol Vernon and Mr. Robert Turbin James and Robin Walther Dr. Robert W. Weinman Tina H. Wilson Jan and Steve Winston Dr. Judith G. Wolf Sharon and Fillmore Wood David L. Paul and Leyla V. Woods David A. Workman Mr. Rudolf Ziesenhenne Thomas and Kat Zimmerman

ARTISTS CIRCLE ($2,000 AND ABOVE) Anonymous (2) Act 1 Tours Patrick Anderson and Lester Olson Stephanie Barron and Max Rifkind-Barron The Shirley and Harry Beer Charitable Foundation Nancy Berman and Alan Bloch Sarah and David Bottjer Mr. William Buettner James and Debbie Burrows Ms. Marion A. Cameron Ms. Julia Cherry Dr. Malcolm and Gabrielle Cosgrove Dr. Michele A. Felix David and Marianna Fisher Dr. and Mrs. Santo Galanti Mr. Manolo F Galindo Constance Towers Gavin Grace on Earth Foundation Annie Gross Norma A. Harris & Frank Packard III Heavensent Foundation

Claudia Henry Ms. Nancy Irwin Alan and Amy Karbelnig Jim and Jean Keatley Marylyn and Chuck Klaus Mr. Bruce Lassen Mr. Robert M. Lea Ms. Janet Levin and Mr. Frank Gruber Randall and Janell Lewis Joseph H. MacDonald Drs. Anne and Ronald Mellor Dr. Reinhard W Menzel Barbara Merkle Fred Muhs and Elizabeth McGinnis The Ted Muhs Foundation Dr. and Mrs. G. Arnold Mulder Lorenzo Murguia, M.D. Beatrice H. Nemlaha Liza and Thomas Newbauer Mr. and Mrs. John G. Niles Doerthe Obert

Mr. Phil Ockelmann Kenneth and Terry O’Dell Adriana Ortiz Michael and Beverly Phillips Mrs. Lucy Pliskin Mr. Christopher A. Reed Diana Romero Paul and Suzanna Rubenstein Mr. Herbert Schraibman John Serpe and Tracy Maddox Laurie Samitaur Smith Mr. Don Simkin Ruth Simon Joan Snyder Mrs. Laney G. Techentin Michael Frazier Thompson Max and Diane Weissberg Marty, Sara and Samantha Widzer Eddie and Mary Williams Brian Wong

Th

BELLA VOCE PATRONS (IRREVOCABLE ESTATE GIFTS) LA Opera is grateful for the generosity and foresight of opera lovers who have established future gifts to the company in their estate plans.

Natsuko Akiyama, in memory of Yoshio Akiyama Dr. & Mrs. Julio Aljure Gracia Alkema & C. Terry Hendrix Karen Alpert Trust Dr. & Mrs. Harlan C. Amstutz Mr. Marvin Antonowsky Mr. and Mrs. Roy Ash Shirley Ashkenas Shirley Lee Barasch Ms. Angela Bardowell Estate of Margaret and David N. Barry III Ambassador Frank & Kathy Baxter Karen M. Beecher Anne Boundy The Samuel M. Brainin Trust Carol & Normand Brewer Jacqueline Briskin Maynard & Linda Brittan

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Christine Brodie Richard & Norma Camp T. Robert Chapman Trust David Chierichetti Edward E. & Alicia Garcia Clark Richard D. & Lisa K. Colburn The Tarasenka Pankiv Fund (Tara Colburn) Nancy Cook Cosgrove Family Trust Michele McGarry Crahan Estate of Nancy Daly Janet & Roger DeBard Teresa DeCrescenzo Estate of Phyllis & Donal Dreifus The George A.V. Dunning Fund/ California Community Foundation Allan & Diane Eisenman

Gerald Faris Adell Fink Theodore Hill Finney Claudia & Mark Foster Herbert O. and Jean Fox Kara Kass Fox Estate of Valerie Franklin Allen B. Freitag Trust Ronald Frydman Gerri Lee Frye Roger Gallizzi and James Willey Nancy Gentry Geller Trust Gwynne M. Gloege Estate of Barbara Goldenberg Eric A. Gordon Leonard Green Bernard and Lenore Greenberg Susan R. Greer

ANNE

34 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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SUPPORTERS

BELLA VOCE PATRONS (IRREVOCABLE ESTATE GIFTS) Joyce and Joelle Grinker Estate of Walter O. Halden Betty Hall Trust Roy Hamilton The Jerome G. Handelsman Trust Hildegard Harris Lee & David Hayutin Anne Heineman Estate of Harvey B. Heller Warner & Carol Henry Yvonne & Gordon Hessler Joan & John Hotchkis Drs. Herbert and Judith Hyman Mr. & Mrs. David K. Ingalls Robert Jesberg and Michael J. Carmody Estate of H. Kirkland Jones Sylvia & Vernon D. Jones Estate of Stephen A. Kanter Lawrence A. Kern Joyce and Kent Kresa Helen LammIvan and Hilda Layda / Layda Family Trust Margo Leavin The Norman & Sadie Lee Foundation

Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine Dr. Paul E. LeMal Raymond A. Lieberman Trust Robert & Marguerite Marsh In memory of Terry Roberta Matthies Linda May Suzar Dr. Michael McGuire Paula Kent Meehan Mr. & Mrs. Paul A. Miller The Jane Moore Family Trust Diane and Leon Morton Sebastian Paul and Marybelle Musco Anthony & Olivia Neece Joan Harding Newman Mei-Lee Ney Estate of Beatrix F. Padway Mr. Milan Panic Chloe Pollock-Mieczkowski Cat Jagger Pollon Mrs. Jean Powell Nan Rae Suzanne Rheinstein Christine P. Ries Kenneth D. Sanson, Jr., Trust

The L. Franc Scheuer Trust The Malcolm Schneer LAOC Trust The Richard Seaver Trust for the Opera Archie Sharp Milton Singer Mr. & Mrs. William Smollen Ellen & Harry Sondheim, in memory of Betty & Felix Leibholz Estate of Mr. Arthur Spitzer Marilyn & Eugene Stein/ Capital Group Companies Marc & Eva Stern Estate of Gaby K. Tanas Flora L. Thornton & Eric L. Small Estate of C. Dickson Titus III Emanuel Treitel Trust Ms. Carol Vernon and Mr. Robert Turbin Magda & Frederick R. Waingrow Richard and Lenore Wayne Mark A. Weaver Monica Weil and Paul Schrade Douglas B. Wood Sharon and Fillmore Wood Irene Zimmerman

BELLA VOCE PATRONS (FUTURE GIFTS) Anonymous (9) Doris Alexander Helen Mae Almas John Altschul Robert C. Anderson Sharon Baranoff James C. Bassett, Ph.D. Randall C. Bassett Nancy Griffith Baxter James M. Bell Herbert M. Berk Lorna D. Blancaflor Dr. Judith F. Blumenthal Rebecca Bowne Hans and Dianne Bozler Ms. Dale Bridges Johannsen Mrs. Michele Brustin Elizabeth B. & Elwood S. Buffa Jacqueline & Henry Cahn Todd Calvin Dr. Alisa Cone Camberlan Leigh Robinson Cartwright Drs. Carol & David Cass Julia Cherry Cecelia R. Cole Bernice Colman Ginger Conrad Hilary Crahan Keith Crasnick Family Trust Drs. Nazareth & Ani Darakjian Lawrence E. Deutsch Amy Lyn DeZwart and George Betar Leslie & John Dorman Mary Kathryn Dunn Gerald Elijah/Octaveous Starr Maureen Engelhard Daniel Fink, M.D. Richard Cullen and Robert Finnerty David F. Freedman Dr. Michael A. Friedman and Dr. Elizabeth M. Short Mr. & Mrs. John Garvey James Gelb and Diane Morton Dr. Melinda Gilmore Jerome J. Glaser

Joyce & Eric Goldman Rebecca Gomez Marielle Gottlieb Ms. Nancy A. Grant Donna & Greg Griffith Alma Guzman and Susan Stamberger Susan D. Heard Laura C. Hecht Ms. Nita Heimbaugh Bonnie Helms Dr. Jon Fellows and Judith Hemenway Malcolm T. Henderson Marcia and Dr. Paul Herman Freddi and Dr. Kenneth D. Hill Judge Judith O. & Dr. Glen L. Hollinger Dr. Ronald Hopkins Sharon & Donald Jackley Norman W. & Rose M. Jaffe Bruce Johansen Dr. Barbara Johnston Dr. & Mrs. William Kern Dr. Stephen Knafel Linda L. R. Knight Richard P. & Meredith B. Kramer Victoria and Douglas Lane Larry Layne Robert M. Lea Elaine Otter Leventhal Mr. and Mrs. Lou D. Liuzzi Gloria Lothrop Mr. Jeff MacKey Gerrie Maloof Hon. Nora M. Manella Wolfgang E. Marum Trust Sam I. Matsumoto/Gordon J. Geever Trust Melissa Machin Mazur Edward McCann McCone Grand Opera Fund Steven D. McGinty Cynthia McWhirt The Minturn Family Charitable Foundation Michael and Lorraine Mohill Nancy-Gene Morrison Barbara and Maury Mortensen

Mary Jane Myers Gordon & Rosie Ornelas Olson Dr. Sophia Pak Lenore and Carl Pearlston Janet Petersen Mr. & Mrs. Nathan Prusan Dr. and Mrs. Robert H. Pudenz Jeanne E. Roerig Mr. & Mrs. Patrick T. Rogers Mimi Rotter Lawrence Rubenstein, Ph.D. Frank D. Rubin Dr. Jeanne W. Ruderman Maged Salib Elizabeth Loucks Samson Melody & Warren Schubert Mr. & Mrs. Christof E. Schwab Dr. Donald Seligman and Dr. Jon Zimmermann Richard and Ellyn Semler Olga Sevilla John Jacob Shaak Marilyn Shapiro Lynn Foster Sipe Audre Slater Terry & Dennis Stanfill R. Rhoads Stephenson Donna Stillo James and Ellen Strauss Ms. Amanda F. Susskind Elisabeth Tamari Iris & Robert Teragawa Dr. Elaine Totten and Mr. Barclay Totten Mrs. Ella Upsher Dr. Michael Upsher Rose Vardanian Larry Verdugo Barbara and Ken Warner Michael Weber & Frances Spivy-Weber Aviva Weiner Linda & Robert E. Willett Wesley and Rachel Williamson Mr. & Mrs. Lorin H. Wilson Tana Wong

36 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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9/6/23 7:48 PM

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SUPPORTERS

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

National Endowment for the Arts Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, Chair

City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs Daniel Tarica, General Manager

Los Angeles County Dept. of Arts & Culture Kristin Sakoda, Executive Director

County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors Kathryn Barger Janice Hahn, Chair Lindsey P. Horvath Holly J. Mitchell Hilda L. Solis

California Arts Council Jonathan Moscone, Executive Director

CORPORATE SUPPORT

38 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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SUPPORTERS

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TCHAIKOVSKY 4 OCTOBER 21, 2023

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BRETT MITCHELL conductor DIANA ADAMYAN violin

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

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FEBRUARY 17, 2024

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40 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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SUPPORTERS

MATCHING GIFTS LA Opera is pleased to acknowledge the companies that support our company with matching gift programs.

Under a corporate matching gift program, cash gifts from eligible employees are matched with company or corporate foundation funds.

This additional contribution increases a participating employee’s membership level, enhancing their benefits and privileges of membership.

Please call 213.972.7277 for more information.

Activision AIG Amazon, Inc. Amgen Foundation Apple, Inc. AT&T Foundation Bank of America Charitable Foundation The Boeing Company California Wellness Foundation The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation The Charles Schwab Foundation Chevron Corporation CNA Foundation Colony NorthStar Employees Community Fund of Boeing GE Foundation Goldman Sachs & Co. Google, Inc. Humana Foundation IBM Corporation The J. Paul Getty Trust Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies JPMorgan Chase Foundation Los Angeles Times Macy’s, Inc. Merrill Lynch & Co. Foundation, Inc. Microsoft Corporation Morgan Stanley Netflix Niantic Patagonia, Inc. Pfizer Foundation Quidel Sony Pictures Entertainment Stanley Black & Decker Synopsys Inc. & The Synopsys Foundation T-Mobile The Walt Disney Company Time Warner UBS Union Bank Foundation Weingart Foundation Wells Fargo

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PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 41

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42 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE

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LA OPERA HISTORY

Don Giovanni at LAO PHOTO BY OHRINGER / MILLARD

1991

Akram Khan Company’s Jungle Book reimagined US Premiere October 26-28, 2023 “a wondrously conceived production, and a marvellous visual feast.”

–The Quinntessential Review

Thomas Allen with Gwendolyn Bradley

1999

broadstage.org

2003

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Dwayne Croft with Zheng Cao

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Erwin Schrott

PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 43

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9/6/23 8:33 PM

Welcome to The Music Center!

2023/2024 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thank you for joining us.

Cindy Miscikowski Chair

Rollin A. Ransom

Robert J. Abernethy Vice Chair

DIRECTORS EMERITI

The Music Center is your place to experience all the arts have to offer, where you can express yourself, connect with others and enjoy incredible live performances and events in our four incredible theatres, at Jerry Moss Plaza and in Gloria Molina Grand Park.

We promise to provide you the best, safest experience possible on our campus.

Be sure to visit musiccenter.org to learn about upcoming events and performances.

Enjoy the show! #BeAPartOfIt @musiccenterla General Information (213) 972-7211 | musiccenter.org Support The Music Center (213) 972-3333 | musiccenter.org/support

TAKE A TOUR OF THE MUSIC CENTER Free 90-minute docent-led tours take you through the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and Walt Disney Concert Hall, along with Jerry Moss Plaza. You’ll learn about the history and architecture of the theatres along with The Music Center’s beautiful outdoor spaces.

Tours are offered daily. Check the schedule to plan a fun-filled day in Downtown L.A.!

Visit musiccenter.org for additional information.

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OFFICERS

Darrell R. Brown Vice Chair Rachel S. Moore President & CEO Diane G. Medina Secretary Susan M. Wegleitner Treasurer William Taylor Assistant Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer

MEMBERS AT LARGE

GENERAL COUNSEL

Wallis Annenberg Peter K. Barker Judith Beckmen Ronald W. Burkle John B. Emerson ** Richard M. Ferry Brindell Gottlieb Bernard A. Greenberg Stephen F. Hinchliffe, Jr. Glen A. Holden Kent Kresa Edward J. McAniff Mattie McFaddenLawson Fredric M. Roberts Richard K. Roeder Claire L. Rothman Joni J. Smith Lisa Specht ** Cynthia A. Telles James A. Thomas Andrea L. Van de Kamp ** Thomas R. Weinberger Alyce de Roulet Williamson

Charles F. Adams William H. Ahmanson Jill C. Baldauf Susan E. Baumgarten Phoebe Beasley Thomas L. Beckmen Kristin Burr Dannielle Campos Elizabeth Khuri Chandler Amy R. Forbes ** Chair Emeritus Greg T. Geyer Current as of Joan E. Herman August 18, 2023 Jeffrey M. Hill Mary Ann Hunt-Jacobsen Carl Jordan Richard B. Kendall Terri M. Kohl Lily Lee Cary J. Lefton Keith R. Leonard, Jr. David B. Lippman Susan M. Matt Elizabeth Michelson Darrell D. Miller Teresita Notkin Michael J. Pagano Cynthia M. Patton Karen Kay Platt Joseph J. Rice Melissa Romain Beverly P. Ryder Maria S. Salinas Corinne Jessie Sanchez Mimi Song Johnese Spisso Michael Stockton Philip A. Swan Timothy S. Wahl Jennifer M. Walske Jay S. Wintrob

Hubbard Street Dancers Alysia Johnson and Abdiel Figueroa Reyes. Photo by Michelle Reid.

Styling by Imani Sade.

9/7/23 11:46 PM

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES Support from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors plays an invaluable role in the successful operation of The Music Center.

Kathryn Barger Supervisor, Fifth District Lindsey P. Horvath Chair Pro Tem, Third District

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Janice Hahn Chair, Fourth District

Holly J. Mitchell Supervisor, Second District Hilda L. Solis Supervisor, First District

9/7/23 11:46 PM

Live at The Music Center SUN 1 OCT / 2:00 p.m.

Don Giovanni LA OPERA @ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Thru 10/15/2023 SUN 1 OCT / 2:00 p.m.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago TMC ARTS @ Ahmanson Theatre TUE 3 OCT / 8:00 p.m.

Hadestown CENTER THEATRE GROUP @ Ahmanson Theatre Thru 10/15/2023 THU 5 OCT / 7:00 p.m.

LA Phil Gala: Celebrating Frank Gehry LA PHIL @ Walt Disney Concert Hall

OCT 2023

WED 11 OCT / 8:00 p.m.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet • Lisa Batiashvili • Gautier Capuçon LA PHIL @ Walt Disney Concert Hall

SAT 21 OCT / 11:00 a.m.

Symphonies for Youth: Wing on Wing LA PHIL @ Walt Disney Concert Hall Also 10/28/2023

FRI 13 OCT / 8:00 p.m.

Gershwin and Rachmaninoff LA PHIL @ Walt Disney Concert Hall Thru 10/15/2023

SAT 21 OCT / 11:00 a.m.

Grand Ave Arts: All Access TMC ARTS CENTER THEATRE GROUP LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE LA OPERA LA PHIL @Jerry Moss Plaza

SUN 15 OCT / 7:00 p.m.

Heaven + Earth: The Music of Reena Esmail & Philip Glass LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE @ Walt Disney Concert Hall FRI 20 OCT / 11:00 a.m.

Sibelius and Swan Lake LA PHIL @ Walt Disney Concert Hall Thru 10/22/2023

FRI 6 OCT / 8:00 p.m.

Stravinsky and Shostakovich with Dudamel LA PHIL @ Walt Disney Concert Hall Thru 10/8/2023

FRI 20 OCT / 8:00 p.m.

KCRW Series: Marisa Monte LA PHIL @ Walt Disney Concert Hall

TUE 10 OCT / 8:00 p.m.

Chamber Music: Sounds of Italy and Spain LA PHIL @ Walt Disney Concert Hall

SAT 21 OCT / 7:30 p.m.

The Barber of Seville LA PHIL @ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Thru 11/12/2023

FRI 27 OCT / 8:00 p.m.

An Alpine Symphony with Salonen LA PHIL @ Walt Disney Concert Hall Thru 10/29/2023 TUE 31 OCT / 8:00 p.m.

Halloween Organ, Film & Music: The Phantom of the Opera LA PHIL @ Walt Disney Concert Hall

Grand Park’s Downtown de los Muertos. Michelle Moro for Grand Park.

Visit musiccenter.org for additional information on all upcoming events. @musiccenterla

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9/7/23 11:46 PM

October 21, 2023 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

EXPLORE, BE CURIOUS AND CHOOSE YOUR OWN ARTS ADVENTURE Join us for a FREE day of the arts. Grand Ave Arts: All Access is a free, one day arts open house, featuring more than 10 cultural institutions along Grand Avenue. All events are open to the public. For more information and programming details, visit grandavearts.org.

Photos by John McCoy.

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9/7/23 11:46 PM

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