LA Opera Podcasts: Behind the Curtain

Enjoy this inspiring conversation with composers Juhi Bansal, Gabriela Lena Frank, Nia Imani Franklin and Laura Karpman, moderated by mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzmán. These women are redefining classical and film music, while smashing preconceptions and barriers for other artists. Each has become a champion of a more vibrant and inclusive future. This podcast was recorded on December 3, 2020 as part...

Jeremy Frank, LA Opera's Associate Chorus Master is actually a man of many talents: conductor, pianist, educator and mixologist? He is certainly the delightful host of LA Opera Connects' popular Opera Happy Hour web series. In this episode, Jeremy dives into some of opera's most famous family reunions (some more heartwarming than others). Enjoy more Opera Happy Hour here: www.laopera.org/discover/...

Bass Morris Robinson is considered one of the most compelling and sought-after performers in opera today. He regularly appears at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. He made his LA Opera debut in 2009 with The Magic Flute and has appeared subsequently in numerous thrilling roles. LA Opera audiences love him - especially our teen audienc...

Discover On Gold Mountain, the true story of Fong See, a pioneer of Los Angeles’ Chinatown who immigrated to America to work on the railroad and find his fortune. Author and librettist Lisa See and composer Nathan Wang join Li Wei Yang, curator for the Pacific Rim Collections at The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, for a conversation with music exploring See’s Chinese immigran...

Presented in collaboration with the Prototype Festival, Modulation is a ground-breaking exploration of opera and theater adapting to a new format. Audience members are in control as they navigate through a landscape of new musical pieces—each with its own visual component—exploring the strands that weave together our lives over this past tumultuous and revelatory year. With themes of isolation, id...

Jeremy Frank, LA Opera's Associate Chorus Master is actually a man of many talents: conductor, pianist, educator and mixologist? He is certainly the delightful host of LA Opera Connects' popular Opera Happy Hour web series. In this special audio edition of Opera Happy Hour, toast to love with Jeremy as he explores the (many) depictions of wedding scenes in opera. Enjoy more Opera Happy Hour here:...

This episode of Behind the Curtain features a conversation between Classical KUSC's Brian Lauritzen and composer Ellen Reid. It was recorded and first shared in November 2018 prior to LA Opera's world premiere of "p r i s m" by Ellen Reid and librettist Roxie Perkins. Directed by James Darrah, the opera went on to win the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in music. Beginning on January 26, 2021 at 4pm PT, LA Op...

Jeremy Frank, LA Opera's Associate Chorus Master is actually a man of many talents: conductor, pianist, educator and mixologist? He is certainly the delightful host of LA Opera Connects' popular Opera Happy Hour web series. In this special audio edition of Opera Happy Hour, Jeremy explores how opera transcends space, time and cultural genres, while inviting everyone to take a sip and enjoy opera a...

Dr. Mitchell Morris, UCLA's Chair and Professor of Musicology, explores the intersections of Romantic Opera and nationalism in the context of Wagner's operas, as well as their resonances for today. This presentation was recorded live as a part of LA Opera Connects' professional development series for teachers, Opera for Educators, on Saturday, October 10, 2020.

Why have some "classical classics" become holiday tradition, and others have not? Join LA Opera's Music Director James Conlon as he encourages us to "have it all" by enjoying both the well-known stars of classical holiday music, as well as more obscure works in the cannon. Dive in with the Maestro to the traditional, seasonal works of Messiah, Bach Christmas Oratorio and The Nutcracker; and then e...

Dr. Muriel McClendon, Associate Professor for History at UCLA, and Jeremy Frank, LA Opera's Associate Chorus Master, continue their exploration into the historic fictions of opera, what they get right and wrong. More importantly they dig into what the opera reveals about the time in which it was created and how it relates to today. In this episode, Muriel and Jeremy are joined by Samuel B. Keeley,...

Listen to LA Opera's Music Director James Conlon discussing the deepest meanings and broadest themes of Wagner's "Tannhäuser" through an exploration of literature, the opera's plot, and Wagner's exquisite music. This presentation was recorded for LA Opera Connects' professional development for teachers series, Opera for Educators, on Saturday, October 10, 2020. For more information on Opera for Ed...

Musicologist and pianist Dr. Tiffany Kuo is joined by her Colburn Conservatory of Music students to explore how learning, performing, and living a fuller and broader world of classical music - with an emphasis on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) composers - enhances our musical lives.  In partnership with the Colburn Conservatory of Music, this discussion was recorded as a part of LA...

LA Opera's Music Director, James Conlon, guides us through the musical moments of The Anonymous Lover (L'Amant Anonyme). This charming 1780 comic romance by pioneering Black composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges opens at LA Opera on Saturday, November 14, 2020 at 5pm (PT). The Anonymous Lover will be available to watch from Saturday, November 14, at 5pm (PT) through November 29 at 11...

In anticipation of LA Opera's production of The Anonymous Lover by Joseph Bologne, LA Opera is happy to present this conversation on History vs. Opera. This conversation was recorded on November 7, 2020, and features Muriel McClendon, Jennifer Palmer and Jeremy Frank. Muriel McClendon is Associate Professor of History at UCLA, where she teaches courses on medieval and early modern European History...

Mysterious letters, secret admirers - The Anonymous Lover (L'Amant Anonyme)is a comedic delight but is rarely performed. So how did this charming opera, written by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges--a contemporary of Mozart and one of the first Black classical composers known to history, become neglected? Hear from director Bruce Lemon Jr., dramaturg Ariane Helou and bassoonist Andrew Bra...

Some people have lives that simply cry out to be turned into books, movies, graphic novels, songs... maybe even operas. Ada Lovelace (1815-1852)—considered to be the "mother of computer science"—was one of them. This fall, Ada’s story will be told in operatic form in Edge of a Dream, a new work by composer Juhi Bansal and librettist Neil Aitken. It's LA Opera Connects’ newest Secondary In-School O...

Verdi bent the rules and broke a few in the convention-pushing Il Trovatore.  LA Opera's Music Director James Conlon digs into this opera that he adores and helps to contextualize the work in its time and ours.  This discussion was recorded on Saturday, September 19, 2020 as a part of LA Opera Connects’ professional development series for teachers: Opera for Educators.

In this podcast discussing Il Trovatore, Dr. Naomi André explores - through letters between Giuseppe Verdi and librettist Salvadore Cammarano - the qualities of Azucena that make her one of the most complex characters in Verdi’s operas. Dr. André is a professor in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, Women’s studies, and the Residential College at the University of Michigan. Her res...

Dr. Muriel McClendon, Associate Professor for History at UCLA, joins Jeremy Frank, LA Opera's Associate Chorus Master, as the two dive into the historic fictions of opera, what they get right and wrong. More importantly they dig into what the opera reveals about the time in which it was created and how it relates to today. This podcast series launches with Il Trovatore, in which we learn: if you d...

What happens when you put three passionate, articulate teenage opera lovers in a Zoom room together - and can La Traviata stand up to it? Listen and find out as LA Opera youth leaders and super-fans Maurissa Dawson, Christopher Gutierrez, and Clemence Yi share insights for the novice and aficionado alike, discussing which operas are the best "starter" operas, what keeps them intrigued, and where t...

This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience following the February 8, 2020 performance of Eurydice, by Matthew Aucoin and Sarah Ruhl, and was part of the County-wide Eurydice Found festival. It features singers Danielle de Niese, Raehann Bryce-Davis and producer Beth Morrison being interviewed by musicologist Dr. Kristi Brown-Montesano.

In this podcast, LA Opera's Sebastian Paul & Marybelle Musco President & CEO Christopher Koelsch speaks with writer and director James Gray. Mr. Gray was scheduled to have his LA Opera debut directing the production of The Marriage of Figaro, which was necessarily postponed due to COVID-19. Listen to this wide-ranging conversation, recorded in June 2020 from their respective homes, as the two disc...

LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director, James Conlon, explores the fourth opera of Wagner's Ring cycle: Götterdämmerung during LA Opera’s pre-performance lecture in June 2010. Maestro Conlon goes in depth on Götterdämmerung's characters, plot line, and musical themes. Listen to all four talks in preparation of LAO At Home's audio stream of Wagner's epic four-part Der Ring des Nibelungen, conduct...

LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director, James Conlon, explores the third opera of Wagner's Ring cycle: Siegfried during LA Opera’s pre-performance lecture in June 2010. Maestro Conlon goes in depth on characters, plot line, and musical themes in Siegfried. Listen to all four talks in preparation of LAO At Home's audio stream of Wagner's epic four-part Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by Music...