LA Opera At Home

Online programming in coming weeks includes a marathon one-day audio stream of Wagner's complete Ring cycle

(Los Angeles) June 26, 2020 — During its hiatus from public performances, LA Opera has created an extensive array of online programming under the banner LAO At Home. 

Coming soon, the summer's programming will now include a major musical event: an audio stream of Wagner's epic four-part Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by Music Director James Conlon, commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the company's extraordinary first complete presentation of the Ring in 2010. The Ring cycle will be featured in a marathon back-to-back audio stream of all four operas in one day, beginning at 7am on July 25.

With Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, this week's "From the Vault" audio stream, LAO At Home reaches the midpoint of the "Figaro Trilogy" of operas inspired by the Figaro plays by Beaumarchais, which began with Rossini's The Barber of Seville on June 18.  All three were recorded in performance at LA Opera in 2015, conducted by Music Director James Conlon. In two weeks, Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles will conclude the trilogy.   

Here's what else is on tap for the week to come.

• Sunday, June 28, at 3pm PDT  — Great Opera Choruses
  The annual LA Opera Chorus concert at The Soraya may have been cancelled, but that doesn't mean the show won't go on. This family-friendly event moves online for a virtual concert featuring these extraordinary artists, led by Resident Conductor Grant Gershon, with Assistant Chorus Master Jeremy Frank as accompanist and music supervisor.   
  
  
• Tuesday, June 30, at 2pm PDT  —  Learn at Home (Grown-Up Edition)
  Join Music Director James Conlon for a podcast introduction to Wagner's Ring cycle, the perfect way to prepare for the audio stream of LA Opera's 2010 Ring, coming in July to LAO At Home's "From the Vault" series.
  
  
• Wednesday, July 1, at 4pm PDT  —  Living Room Recital
  Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, who made her memorable LA Opera debut as Hansel in 2018, sings a recital with her husband, baritone Kelly Markgraf, and pianist Bryan Banowetz, featuring the world premieres of songs by composers Kamala Sankaram and Joel Puckett, as well as some classic show tunes.
  
  
• Thursday, July 2, at 5pm PDT  —  From the Vault
  LA Opera's 2015 "Figaro Trilogy" continues with Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by Music Director James Conlon and featuring Roberto Tagliavini and Pretty Yende as Figaro and Susanna, with Ryan McKinny and Guanqun Yu as Count and Countess Almaviva.

To access all of these programs, and to learn more about current and future programming, please visit LAOpera.org/AtHome.

About LAO At Home
LA Opera was the first major American opera company to create a weekly schedule of original new online programming to bring opera to audiences during the coronavirus crisis. LAO At Home launched on March 17 with the first in a series of live "Living Room Recitals" featuring artists performing in their homes. Other programming highlights include "Learn at Home (Grown-Up Edition)" opportunities for opera lovers of any experience level to dive deeper into the art form, "Opera Family Time" presentations created specially for families with children to enjoy together (just one of many family and school programs offered), "From the Vault" audio-streams of earlier performances, and "Backstage at LAO" features that take viewers behind the scenes for a look at what it takes to create world-class opera.

About LA Opera
Los Angeles is a city of enormous diversity and creativity, and LA Opera is dedicated to reflecting that vibrancy by redefining what opera can be. The communal and curative power of opera is needed now more than ever before, especially given the extraordinary challenges of the time. As LA Opera awaits its cue to return to the stage, the company is grateful to its supporters for helping to ensure that it has the resources needed to get through this unprecedented period. Those wanting to support LA Opera can go to LAOpera.org/donate.

LA Opera is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the greater Los Angeles community.

LA Opera's young artist program is generously underwritten by the Colburn Foundation, Eugene and Marilyn Stein, and Richard and Lenore Wayne. The program was created with funding from the Flora L. Thornton Foundation. 

Great Opera Choruses is made possible with generous support from Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. Additional support from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs.