LA Opera Podcasts: Behind the Curtain

In this podcast, mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis and assistant stage director Angela Saroglou discuss Il Trovatore behind the scenes and the pathways forward to bringing Verdi's work to life.

In this podcast, Dr. Mitchell Morris, Chair of Musicology as well as of LGBTQ studies at UCLA, discusses Il Trovatore, the career of Verdi, and the reception of Italian Opera. This recording was created as part of LA Opera Connects’ professional development series for teachers, Opera for Educators, in September of 2020.

In this podcast, Christopher Koelsch, President and CEO of LA Opera, speaks with world-renowned tenor, Russell Thomas, LA Opera's recently-appointed Artist in Residence. They discuss Mr. Thomas’s new role with LA Opera which includes his two newly created training programs for young singers, his journey discovering and sharing opera, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped the art form.

In this podcast, renowned mezzo soprano Suzanna Guzman chats with Khori Dastoor, an artist-turned administrative leader in the field of opera and the first woman to have the role of General Director and CEO of Houston Grand Opera. Joined by Eli Villanueva, the Resident Stage Director for LA Opera Connects, they discuss their journeys to discovering opera, careers, and plans for the future. This co...

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, Ashley Faatoalia joins Jeremy to help answer the age-old question: What’s the difference between musical theater and opera?

In this podcast, Dr. Muriel McClendon, Associate Professor of History at UCLA, and Dr. Teofilo Ruiz, a scholar of social and popular cultures of late medieval and early modern Spain, chat with LA Opera Associate Chorus Master Jeremy Frank about Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" — the fantasy and reality of the story, the meanings of Mozart’s music, and the complexity of the histories that centered this stor...

In this podcast, Dr. Mitchell Morris discusses the complexity of opera post-1950. In his talk, titled “Modernism and the Sonically Complex: Styles and Philosophies of Opera Since the 1950s”, Dr. Morris invites us into the history of opera house repertory and a study of the effects of modernism. This recording was created as part of LA Opera Connects professional development series for teachers, 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 summer episode, Jeremy takes us on a virtual trip around the world while we listen to some of our favorite operas.

In this podcast, Dr. Tiffany Kuo discusses the influence of cultural context, venues, and patronage in producing opera as she analyzes Francesca Caccini’s "La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina", which Dr. Kuo refers to as "The Rescue of Roger". This recording was created in May 2021 as part of LA Opera Connects professional development series for teachers, Opera for Educators. The subjec...

On June 26 at 10 am PT, LA Opera On Air will return to KUSC radio station with a broadcast of "Billy Budd." With an all-male cast of 25 solo roles, and vast choral and orchestral forces, all conducted by James Conlon, it’s the most grandly scaled of Britten’s many operas. Liam Bonner, Richard Croft and Greer Grimsley take the leading roles. And, of course, June is also Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Tran...

In anticipation of LA Opera's On Now streaming of "Oedipus Rex", Conductor and LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director James Conlon delves into the one-act opera's mythic and musical power. Composer Igor Stravinsky and librettist Jean Cocteau based "Oedipus Rex" on the ancient Greek tragedy of the same name by Sophocles—yes, the one where Oedipus unknowingly kills his own father and marries his m...

In this Behind the Curtain podcast, Andrea Fuentes, Associate Director for Programming with LA Opera Connects, speaks with composer Mariela Rodríguez and soprano Vanessa Becerra to discuss their work, artistry, and the importance of musical discovery in LA Opera's "After Hours: Latina Composers" recital, which is available at laopera.org.

In this Behind the Curtain conversation, musicologist Dr. Kristi Brown Montesano and Dr. Arianne Helou, a dramaturg and French studies scholar, discuss "Oedipus Rex," composed by Igor Stravinsky to a libretto by Jean Cocteau based on the ancient Greek tragedy of the same name by Sophocles. The 1927 opera is a highly stylized, ritualistic work set in the time of plague. On Sunday, June 6, 2021, LA...

LA Opera artist in residence Russell Thomas has curated the digital recital "After Hours: Songs of Protest", honoring and celebrating some of the unforgettable music that has galvanized social justice. In this Behind The Curtain conversation, Dr. Shana Redmond, Professor of Musicology and African American Studies at UCLA, speaks with Russell Thomas, soprano Brandie Sutton and baritone Justin Austi...

In this podcast, Dr. Tiffany Kuo, Professor of Music at Mount San Antonio College and Colburn Conservatory of Music, analyzes the importance of patronage in opera and the arts as she examines "Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine" by composer Tyshawn Sorey, whose digital short "DEATH" is currently streaming at laopera.org/death Tiffany Kuo’s discussion of "Perle Noire", a staged-song cycle conce...

Dr. Susan McClary discusses the ways in which the perception of Mozart’s works as “safe,” or otherwise perfect, affects our understanding of the deeper meanings and sense of beauty of his works, with a focus on Don Giovanni. This discussion was recorded as part of LA Opera Connects' professional development series for teachers, Opera for Educators, in February 2021. Dr. McClary is a professor of m...

Jeremy Frank, LA Opera's Associate Chorus Master is 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. Put on your dancing shoes and get your cocktail shakers ready.⁣ In this episode, Jeremy's headed to the dance floor to explore dance and opera in The Marriage of Figaro, Salome, Aida an...

As part of LA Opera's On Now digital offerings, we are thrilled to be sharing an audio performance of "Billy Budd" beginning Tuesday, April 27th at 5:00 p.m. PT. on LA Opera's website, Facebook and YouTube (links below). "Billy Budd" was composed by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by English novelist E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, based on the short novel "Billy Budd" by Herman Melville. LA Oper...

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. Are you a fan of reality TV? Well, believe it or not, opera has its own style of this truth-like entertainment, called "Verismo". In this episode, Jeremy walks us through one o...

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 that originally aired in January 2021, Jeremy explores opera in America through the works of three contemporary composers – André Previn, Philip Glass, and Anth...

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 that originally aired in November 2020, Jeremy breaks down one of the most beloved subgenres of opera: bel canto.

In this special edition of Behind the Curtain, LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director, James Conlon contemplates some of the rich musical works, oratorios, opera and stage festival plays, that have been associated with Easter traditions and celebrations. Works featured include: Messiah by George Frideric Handel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r68P8TBWiIQ St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 by Johann Se...

Dr. Beatriz Ilari is Associate Professor of Music Education and Chair of the Department of Music Teaching and Learning at the University of Southern California. Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, she has conducted extensive research with infants and children to examine the intersections between music, child development, cognition, and culture. In this talk, recorded on March 20 as...

In conjunction with LA Opera's presentation of Breaking the Waves (a co-commission with Opera Philadelphia and Beth Morrison Projects), we are pleased to offer this conversation between LA Opera's Senior Director of Artistic Programs Joshua Winograde and the creative team behind the opera: creative producer Beth Morrison, composer Missy Mazzoli, and librettist Royce Vavrek. This conversation was r...

DEATH is a new digital short in three parts, based on a poem of the same name by the great American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906). Composer Dr. Tyshawn Sorey crafts a breathtaking reflective musical setting, and filmmaker Nadia Hallgren creates a visual story that gives a glimpse into the creative process of both composer and poet, and addresses the Black experience in America. In this Beh...