Crossing

Matthew Aucoin, a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, was named LA Opera's first ever Artist in Residence, a position he held from 2016 to 2020. He has conducted LA Opera productions of Akhnaten (2016) and Rigoletto (2018), as well as concert performances of his own opera Crossing (2018) and performances of Joby Talbot's new score for the film Vampyr (2018).  In 2020, he conducted the world premiere of his newest opera, Eurydice, in Los Angeles; the opera will subsequently be presented by the Metropolitan Opera.

He will return to LA Opera in 2021 for a chamber music program (which will include music he has composed) entitled Veils of Desire.

Born in 1990, he is an American composer, conductor, writer and pianist. In the 2014/15 season, he conducted the premieres of two of his operas: Crossing at Boston’s American Repertory Theater (directed by Diane Paulus); and Second Nature, a chamber opera for the young, at Lyric Opera of Chicago. He wrote the libretti for both works. He is currently at work on a new opera for the Metropolitan Opera / Lincoln Center Theater’s New Works program. In the coming season, he will conduct the premiere of his new orchestral work, commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. His new song cycle, set to texts by James Merrill and co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, New York, and Wigmore Hall, London, will be premiered by tenor Paul Appleby and pianist Ken Noda at recitals in New York, Boston, Chicago, Notre Dame, and Miami. Violinist Jennifer Koh will premiere Aucoin’s new solo violin work at the New York Philharmonic Biennale and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

He is also at work on a piano concerto commissioned by The Gilmore for pianist Charlie Albright. This season, he makes conducting debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Music Academy of the West (Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, as well as his own chamber opera Second Nature); the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy (The Marriage of Figaro); and he returns to the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. In recent seasons, he has appeared as a conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Rome Opera Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (a special event featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma) and Juilliard Opera (Eugene Onegin). (MatthewAucoin.com)

Other notable LA Opera roles include Papageno in The Magic Flute (1993, 2002); Walt Whitman in Matthew Aucoin's Crossing (2018); and as the soloist in David Lang's one-man opera the loser (2019). He will return in 2021 in The Brightness of Light by Kevin Puts.

Born and raised in Southern California, he earned degrees from California State University Fullerton, and the University of Southern California. From 1987 to 1989 he was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble, and from 1989 to 1994 he was a member of the Zurich Opera ensemble.

The two-time Grammy nominee, singer and actor has performed in all the world's music capitals. He is acclaimed world-wide in opera, musicals, recitals and cabaret. He has created 12 leading roles in opera world premieres, most recently in the Brooklyn Academy of Music solo opera by David Lang, the loser; and at the Houston Grand Opera in Jake Heggie's It's a Wonderful Life. Other recent appearances include: Adelaide Festival (Brett Dean's Hamlet), Glyndebourne Festival (Hamlet world premiere), Metropolitan Opera (Thomas Adès The Exterminating Angel), Brooklyn Academy of Music (Aucoin's Crossing), Los Angeles Master Chorale (Beethoven Missa Solemnis), Edinburgh Festival (Così fan tutte), American Repertory Theater Boston (Matthew Aucoin's Crossing world premiere), Zurich Opera (Rote Laterne world premiere), NYC Mostly Mozart Festival (Cosi fan tutte), San Francisco Symphony (The Tempest), Alabama Symphony (Beethoven 9th Symphony), Vienna Volksoper (Kismet), New York City Opera (Anna Nicole), Aix-en-Provence Festival (Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte), Quebec City Festival (The Tempest), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Cosi fan tutte), London Royal Opera Covent Garden (Anna Nicole), Metropolitan Opera (The Merry Widow) and the Milwaukee Symphony (Cosi fan tutte).

Winner of the Birgit Nilsson prize at the 2016 Operalia competition, he is quickly establishing himself as a singer of great vocal diversity and dramatic depth. Mr. Ryan returns to the Metropolitan Opera in the 2018/19 season to sing both Spoletta in Sir David McVicar’s production of Tosca and Monostatos in the Julie Taymor production of The Magic Flute. Mr. Ryan also makes his European debut singing Pedrillo in a new production of The Abduction from the Seraglio with Opéra de Monte-Carlo, returns to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis singing Nero in Tim Albery’s production of The Coronation of Poppea, and returns to Opera Philadelphia for his role debut as Lysander in the U.S. premiere of Robert Carsen’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Orchestral engagements include Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, conducted by Bramwell Tovey.

The 2017/18 season saw Mr. Ryan’s return to the Metropolitan Opera as Spoletta in a new production of Tosca, conducted by Emmanuel Villaume, which was broadcast to theatres around the world as part of the Met’s Live in HD program. Mr. Ryan also made his house debut with Opera Philadelphia as Monostatos in the Barrie Kosky production of The Magic Flute and his house debut with Santa Fe Opera singing the role of Dancing Master in Ariadne auf Naxos. Additional engagements included his house debut with Dallas Opera singing both Gastone in La Traviata and Florian in Der Ring des Polykrates, as well as a return to LA Opera singing John Wormley in concert performances of Matthew Aucoin’s Crossing. Concert work included his debut with Virginia Symphony Orchestra for Orff’s Carmina Burana.

An alumnus of LA Opera's young artist program (2014 to 2016), he made his LA Opera debut as Gastone in La Traviata. His many appearances as a young artist include, most notably, Léon in The Ghosts of Versailles (2017 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording), Beppe in Pagliacci and Monostatos in The Magic Flute. He most recently returned to Los Angeles as Pedrillo in The Abduction from the Seraglio (2017) and as John Wormley in Matthew Aucoin's Crossing (2018).

During the 2018/19 season, she starred as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel and also performed the role of the Heavenly Voice in Don Carlo. Her appearances in the 2017/18 season included Amour in Orpheus and Eurydice, Frasquita in Carmen, Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto and the Messenger in Crossing. 

Her 2016/2017 season at LA Opera was a significant one: aside from making her debut in the company’s season-opening production of Macbeth, she also stepped in for Diana Damrau in performances as Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann. She was a featured soloist in a gala celebration of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program’s 10-year anniversary. Further work included a host of collaborative projects with LA Opera Artist-in-Residence Matthew Aucoin.

In the summer of 2018, she performed Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos in a return to Santa Fe Opera, where she had been a 2017 apprentice artist. Previous summers were spent singing Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Héro in Beatrice et Benedict at the Aspen Music Festival, and with Wolf Trap Opera.