Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco
LA Opera's revival of Nabucco convinced us of the thrilling musical power of Verdi’s first masterpiece. James Conlon’s conducting of the overture was a model of control, balancing gigantic dramatic statements with pleasingly fluid lyricism; later, the great ensembles, which comprise much of the action, unfolded with stately grandeur... Plácido Domingo’s interpretation of Nabucco was revelatory."
James Conlon conducted a stellar cast in a powerful interpretation of Verdi’s early masterpiece, LA Opera’s first presentation of Nabucco in 15 years. The fascinating production, directed and designed by Thaddeus Strassberger, interpreted Nabucco through the lens of Verdi’s own time by framing it as a sort of opera-within-an-opera, set in the tense political atmosphere of the work’s 1842 premiere. The iconic chorus “Va, pensiero” returned during the curtain call as a dramatically charged encore, with the audience in the house invited to join in.
Cast
- Nabucco
- Plácido Domingo
- Abigaille
- Liudmyla Monastyrska
- Zaccaria
- Morris Robinson
- Ismaele
- Mario Chang
- Fenena
- Nancy Fabiola Herrera
- Anna
- Liv Redpath
- High Priest of Baal
- Gabriel Vamvulescu
- Abdallo
- Joshua Wheeker
Plácido Domingo
Nabucco

Plácido Domingo is recognized as one of the finest and most influential singing actors in the history of opera.
He has sung more than 150 different roles to date, with more than 3900 total career performances. An integral part of LA Opera since its earliest days, he served as the company's General Director from 2003 to 2019.
His more than 100 recordings of complete operas, compilations of arias and duets, and crossover discs have earned him 12 Grammy Awards, including three Latin Grammys, and he has made more than 50 music videos and won two Emmy Awards. In addition to starring in three feature opera films—Carmen, La Traviata and Otello—he voiced the roles of Monte in Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Skeleton Jorge in The Book of Life, and also appeared as himself on Sesame Street and The Simpsons. His telecast of Tosca from the authentic settings in Rome was seen by more than one billion people in 117 countries. He subsequently took the title role in a 2010 live telecast of Rigoletto from Mantua, Italy, the city in which the opera’s story takes place. In 1990, he and his colleagues José Carreras and the late Luciano Pavarotti formed the Three Tenors, performing with enormous success all over the world and attracted millions of new fans to opera.
He has conducted more than 500 opera performances and symphonic concerts with the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Chicago Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, Montréal Symphony, National Symphony, London Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic. In 2018, he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival as a conductor, leading performances of Die Walküre. In 1993, he founded the international voice competition Operalia.
He has received honorary doctorates from Oxford University and New York University for his lifelong commitment and contribution to music and the arts. He made his first stage appearances in a leading baritone role in 2009, performing the title role of Simon Boccanegra in Berlin. Since then, he has added several additional Verdi baritone roles to his repertoire, with appearances in Don Carlo, Rigoletto, The Two Foscari, La Traviata, Nabucco, Giovanna d’Arco, Il Trovatore, Macbeth, Ernani and Luisa Miller. He has also won acclaim in the baritone roles of Athanaël in Massenet’s Thaïs, the title role of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and Zurga in The Pearl Fishers (his 150th role, as of August 23, 2018, which he performed at the Salzburg Festival).
In addition to numerous concerts worldwide, his singing engagements for the 2018/19 season include Giorgio Germont in La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Royal Opera House Muscat; the title role of Gianni Schicchi with the Metropolitan Opera; Rodrigo in Don Carlo and Juanillo in El Gato Montés for LA Opera; the title role of Simon Boccanegra with the Vienna State Opera; the title role of Macbeth with Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden; and the title role of Nabucco with the Semperoper Dresden. Further engagements include Giorgio Germont in La Traviata at the Munich Opera Festival and Giacomo in Giovanna d’Arco with Madrid’s Teatro Real.
His conducting engagements for the season include a concert of Spanish music with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, a gala concert with the Vienna Philharmonic at La Scala in Milan, as well as productions of Aida for the Metropolitan Opera and of La Traviata for the Royal Opera House Muscat. (PlacidoDomingo.com)
Liudmyla Monastyrska
Abigaille

Liudmyla Monastyrska made her LA Opera debut in 2017 as Abigaille in Nabucco.
Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska is acclaimed for her lush, powerful, compelling performances and superb technical command. Her relationships with European, American and Asian opera houses have continued to expand following her highly acclaimed 2010 debut with Deutsche Oper Berlin in the title role of Tosca.
In the 2019/20 season, she continues her successes as Abigaille in Nabucco at Staatsoper Hamburg, Odabella in Attila with Münchener Runfunkorchester and Tosca at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.
She returns to Teatro alla Scala as Leonora in Il Trovatore and then to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. And she finishes her new season at Deutsche Oper Berlin as both Leonora in La Forza del Destino and Abigaille in Nabucco.
The 2018/19 season saw Ms. Monastyrska star in new productions of La Forza del Destino conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano at Covent Garden and Tosca at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. She also made her role debut as Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Staatsoper Berlin and returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Tosca, as well as the Vienna Staatsoper as Abigaille in Nabucco. She also appeared in opera gala concerts in Greece with Dimitri Platanias and Latvia to celebrate the Latvian National Opera’s centennial.
Ms. Monastyrska’s began her 2017/18 season with her LA Opera debut as Abigaille in Nabucco, conducted by James Conlon and opposite Placido Domingo. She also made her role debut as the title role of Norma at the Houston Grand Opera led by Patrick Summers. She returned to Germany for two productions with the Deutsche Oper Berlin where she sang the title role of Tosca and Abigaille in Nabucco. Her season closed in Barcelona at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, where she made her role debut in the title role of Manon Lescaut.
Recent season highlights with the Opera National de Paris include the title roles of Tosca and Aida; with the Metropolitan Opera the title roles of Tosca and Aida, Abigaille in Nabucco with Placido Domingo, and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana; with Deutsche Oper Berlin the title role of Tosca and Abigaille in Nabucco. She also sang the role of Abigaille with Placido Domingo at London’s Royal Opera House, and made her debut with the Vienna State Opera singing the title role in Aida under conductor Simone Young. Additional performances included the title role of Tosca under Patrick Summers for Houston Grand Opera, and in summer 2015 she toured through Japan and sang the role of Lady Macbeth in Macbeth with the Royal Opera House led by conductor Sir Antonio Pappano.
Among Ms. Monastyrska’s many performance credits are Macbeth with Maestro Pappano and Nabucco with Nicolà Luisiotti at London’s Royal Opera House (both new productions), and Nabucco, Cavalleria Rusticana and Aida at La Scala. Aida has also served as her introduction to the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Vienna State Opera, as well as the Hollywood Bowl, where she sang Aida in concert under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel. With the Deutsche Oper Berlin, she has appeared in productions of Tosca, Macbeth and Nabucco, as well as a concert version of Attila. Ms. Monastyrska has sung Verdi’s Requiem at Rome’s Accademia di Santa Cecilia as well as with the Cleveland Orchestra, and has also sung La Forza del Destino with Zubin Mehta at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. She appeared in Macbeth with the Staatsoper Berlin, sharing the stage with Placido Domingo, and made her Italian debut with Festival Puccini in Torre del Lago, Italy. In 2015, she made her debut at the Salzburg Easter Festival conducted by Christian Thielemann, singing the role of Santuzza in a new production
of Cavalleria Rusticana with Jonas Kaufmann, as well as the Verdi Requiem.
Ms. Monastyrska can be seen/heard on DVDs of Macbeth and Nabucco – both from the Royal Opera (Opus Arte), and in Sony Classics DVD of Cavalleria Rusticana from the 2015 Salzburg Easter Festival with the Staatskapelle Dresden.
Born in Kiev, Liudmyla Monastyrska was a principal soloist with the Ukraine National Opera for several years before expanding her international career. Ms. Monastyrska and her family make their home in Kiev.
Morris Robinson
Zaccaria

From: Atlanta, Georgia. LA Opera: Sarastro in The Magic Flute (2009, debut); Fasolt in Das Rheingold (2009, 2010); Oroveso in Norma (2015); Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio (2017); Zaccaria in Nabucco (2017); Sparafucile in Rigoletto (2018); Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo (2018); Parsi Rustomji in Satyagraha (2018). Upcoming: Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Hermann in Tannhauser, Ramfis in Aida.
Morris Robinson is considered one the most interesting and sought-after basses performing today.
He regularly appears at the Metropolitan Opera, where he is a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Program. He debuted there in a production of Fidelio and has since appeared as Sarastro in The Magic Flute (both in the original production and in the children’s English version), Ferrando in Il Trovatore, the King in Aida, and in roles in Nabucco, Tannhäuser, and the new productions of Les Troyens and Salome. He has also appeared at the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, LA Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Teatro alla Scala, Volksoper Wien, Opera Australia, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. His many roles include the title role in Porgy and Bess, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Ramfis in Aida, Zaccaria in Nabucco, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo, Timur in Turandot, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly, Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, and Fasolt in Das Rheingold.
Also a prolific concert singer, Mr. Robinson’s recently made his debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in performances of the Mahler Symphony No. 8 with its music director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyl. His many concert engagements have included appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (where he was the 2015/16 Artist in Residence), San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Met Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, New England String Ensemble, and at the BBC Proms and the Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Cincinnati May, Verbier, and Aspen Music Festivals. He also appeared in Carnegie Hall as part of Jessye Norman’s HONOR! Festival. In recital he has been presented by Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the Savannah Music Festival, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Mr. Robinson’s solo album, Going Home, was released on the Decca label. He also appears as Joe in the DVD of the San Francisco Opera production of Show Boat, and in the DVDs of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Salome and the Aix-en-Provence Festival’s production of Mozart’s Zaide.
For the reduced 2020/21 season, Mr. Robinson returns to both the Michigan Opera Theater and the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Haggen in Twilight: Gods, an innovative production of Gotterdämmerung created by Yuval Sharon. He also sings Sparafucile in a special performance of Rigolettto produced by the Tulsa Opera. He is also a member of the Atlanta Opera’s Company Players for the 2020/21 season where he will appear in various concerts, recitals, and educations outreach events throughout the year.
An Atlanta native, Mr. Robinson is a graduate of The Citadel and received his musical training from the Boston University Opera Institute. He was recently named Artistic Advisor to the Cincinnati Opera.
To learn more, visit MorrisRobinson.com.
Mario Chang
Ismaele
Nancy Fabiola Herrera
Fenena

Spanish mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera entrances audiences and critics around the world.
She enjoyed many great successes on 2018, including the releases of two new recording. She appeared in concert at the Barbican Center with the London BBC as Rosario in Granado´s Goyescas, recorded by Harmonia Mundi, and also appeared in concert with the Manchester BBC as Salud in Falla's La vida breve, recorded by Chandos. She received the Opera Actual Magazine 2018 Lifetime Career Achievement Award. She also made her debut at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as Isabella in L´Italiana in Algeri.
Other concert appearances included Rossini´s Stabat Mater in Malaga, the Verdi Requiem at Palma de Mallorca´s Cathedral, a concert at Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow with Alexis Soriano, Mahler´s 3rd Symphony with the OSSODRE in Uruguay, a concert tour with the Valencia Soloists Septet, and the Verdi Requiem in San Sebastián and Guadalajara (Mexico) conducted by Plácido Domingo. She also performs recitals at Palau de la Musica de Valencia, and with soprano Ainhoa Arteta at the Benicassim Festival. Another successful debut was as Bernarda in Miguel Ortega's La casa de Bernarda Alba at Madrid's Teatro de la Zarzuela, conducted by the composer.
Carmen is undoubtedly Ms. Herrera´s signature role. Her hypnotic portrayal has been seen at the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, New National Theater in Tokyo, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Munich's Bavarian State Opera, Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Dresden Semperoper, Masada Festival, Israeli Opera, LA Opera (where she received the Plácido Domingo Award for her performance of this role), Teatro Bellas Artes in México, and other Spanish theaters such as Sabadell Opera, Teatro Villamarta in Jerez, San Sebastian, Teatro Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santander and Lyric Opera of A Coruña among others. In summer 2009 she opened the season at the Arena di Verona as Carmen and was honored to perform Act IV of the opera with Plácido Domingo in his 40th anniversary gala there.
Her one-woman show Gitanas has been seen in Madrid´s Teatro de La Zarzuela and Teatro Pérez Galdós of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In this show Ms. Herrera becomes immersed in the charm and passion of the gypsy universe, interpreting some of the most fascinating characters in the world of opera, zarzuela and the symphonic repertoire.
Her most recent and future engagements include her Houston Grand Opera debut as Paula in Florencia en el Amazonas, El Gato Montés at LA Opera with Placido Domingo, Guilietta in The Tales of Hoffmann at the National Theater in Beijing, and Dalila in Samson et Dalila at Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, among others. (NancyFabiolaHerrera.com)
Liv Redpath
Anna

Soprano Liv Redpath was a member of LA Opera's young artist program from 2016 through 2019.
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.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Harvard and her Master of Music from the Juilliard School. With the latter institution, she had the eminent distinction of being a Kovner Fellow. Favorite roles at Juilliard include Thérèse in Les Mamelles de Tiresias, the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, and the Angel in Handel's La Resurrezione, which was under the baton of William Christie.
Ms. Redpath’s musical versatility is evidenced by her performances of pieces such as Matthew Aucoin’s Nosferatu (a world premiere performed in LA Opera’s Off Grand series), Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2 (with Juilliard’s ChamberFest), and Milton Babbitt’s Philomel (with the Focus! Festival). She has received awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Palm Springs Opera Guild, The Loren L. Zachary Society, and The Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation. She was awarded the Novick Career Advancement Grant and the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Juilliard School. (LivRedpath.com)
Gabriel Vamvulescu
High Priest of Baal
Joshua Wheeker
Abdallo

The 2018/19 season marked tenor Joshua Wheeker's third year with LA Opera's young artist program.
His appearances with the company have included Malcolm in Macbeth, Cacambo in Candide, Abdallo in Nabucco, Borsa in Rigoletto and Count Lerma in Don Carlo. Additionally, he has covered the leading tenor roles in The Pearl Fishers, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Nabucco and Rigoletto.
In the summer of 2019, he will return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for his role debut as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto.
Recent performances include both Don Basilio and Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro and Malcolm in Macbeth with Kentucky Opera. He has previously appeared with Dayton Opera, Opera Iowa, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Aspen Music Festival, and Des Moines Metro Opera. He has performed under the baton of James Conlon, Placido Domingo, Steven Lord and Grant Gershon. In March 2019, he will compete in the national semi-finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Creative Team
- Conductor
- James Conlon
- Director/Scenery
- Thaddeus Strassberger
- Costumes
- Mattie Ullrich
- Mark McCullough
- Lighting
- Mark McCullough
- Chorus Director
- Grant Gershon
- Fight Choreographer
- Austin Spangler
James Conlon
Conductor

James Conlon has been LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director since 2006.
Since his debut that year with La Traviata, he has conducted 61 different operas and 403 performances to date with the company. Most recently, he conducted the 2020 company premiere of The Anonymous Lover (L'Amant Anonyme) by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
One of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, he has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire. He has conducted virtually every major American and European symphony orchestra since his debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1974. He has conducted more than 270 performances at the Metropolitan Opera. Through worldwide touring, an extensive discography and videography, numerous essays and commentaries, frequent television appearances and guest speaking engagements, Mr. Conlon is one of classical music’s most recognized interpreters.
In 2016, he became Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of the RAI in Torino. He previously was Music Director of the Ravinia Festival, summer home of the Chicago Symphony (2005-2015), 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 Grammy Awards and was awarded France’s Légion d’Honneur.
Also in the U.S. this season, Mr. Conlon continues his commitment to working with young musicians, both at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach (with Pinchas Zukerman as soloist) and at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, where he conducts Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
Currently in his third season as Principal Conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Conlon focuses on 20th-century Italian composers Giuseppe Martucci, Leone Sinigaglia, and Ottorino Respighi, as well as works by Mahler, Martinů, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Wagner, and Zemlinsky. In addition, he leads the Verdi Requiem, and The Creation by Haydn. Mr. Conlon’s symphonic repertoire this season also includes three Shostakovich symphonies with three different orchestras: No. 7 (“Leningrad”), marking a return to the Gürzenich Orchester in Cologne; No. 9 with RAI National Symphony Orchestra; and No. 12 (“The Year of 1917”) with the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Galicia.
Mr. Conlon focuses on the works of Verdi this season, and conducts over 35 performances of seven works in the span of twelve months, including his 500th performance of the great Italian composer’s music. In addition to conducting Verdi in Los Angeles and Vienna, Mr. Conlon returns to the Wiener Staatsoper, after making his debut with the opera house conducting Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina in 2015, to lead performances of Falstaff in June 2018 and January 2019, and Macbeth in May 2019. He also leads the Teatro Real (Madrid) premiere of the composer’s Giovanna d’Arco in concert (with Plácido Domingo) and the Messa da Requiem with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra.
Learn more at JamesConlon.com.
Thaddeus Strassberger
Director/Scenery

Thaddeus Strassberger has directed LAO productions of The Clemency of Titus, Nabucco and The Two Foscari.
He recently created new productions of The Tales of Hoffmann in Innsbruck, Martinů’s The Greek Passion at Ekaterinburg Opera, Rubinstein’s The Demon at Bard Summerscape and Carmen with The Danish National Opera. His acclaimed staging of Nabucco, first seen at Washington National Opera, has also been presented in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Miami and Montreal. Other highlights include The Two Foscari and the world premiere of Glare for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; the world premiere of David T. Little’s JFK, a co-production with Fort Worth and Montreal; the Russian premieres of The Passenger and of Satyagraha, which won a Golden Mask Award for Best Production, at the Ekaterinburg Opera and the Bolshoi Opera; and The Marriage of Figaro, The Rape of Lucretia and Don Giovanni for the Norwegian Opera. (TStrassberger.com)
Mattie Ullrich
Costumes

Recent opera productions include Pelléas et Mélisande for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Giulio Cesare in Tel Aviv, the world premiere of David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s JFK in Montreal and Fort Worth, Satyagraha in Ekaterinburg and Moscow, Don Giovanni in Oslo, The Two Foscari in Vienna, Valencia and at Covent Garden, The Oresteia for Bard Summerscape, Cavalli’s Eliogabalo for Gotham Chamber Opera, Nabucco in Washington DC, Montreal, Miami and Philadelphia, and Lucia di Lammermoor in San Francisco. She previously designed the costumes for LA Opera's recently productions of Nabucco and The Two Foscari. Off-Broadway credits include The Starry Messenger with Matthew Broderick, The Pride directed by Joe Mantello, Fault Lines directed by David Schwimmer, Things We Want directed by Ethan Hawke and Bad Dates starring Julie White at Playwrights Horizons. Film projects include Year of the Fish (Sundance), Shoplifting Chanel and the multi-festival award-winning short Sovereignty. (MattieUllrich.com)
Mark McCullough

Mark McCullough has designed lighting for LAO productions of Porgy and Bess, Lohengrin, Rigoletto, Florencia en el Amazonas, Nabucco and Candide.
Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, he collaborates frequently with the Glimmerglass Festival, where he has designed more than 20 productions. Other highlights include the lighting designs for The Marriage of Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera; Cyrano de Bergerac at La Scala, The Queen of Spades at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Norma at the Ópera Nacional de Chile and The Pearl Fishers at Houston Grand Opera.
Mark McCullough
Lighting

Mark McCullough has designed lighting for LAO productions of Porgy and Bess, Lohengrin, Rigoletto, Florencia en el Amazonas, Nabucco and Candide.
Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, he collaborates frequently with the Glimmerglass Festival, where he has designed more than 20 productions. Other highlights include the lighting designs for The Marriage of Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera; Cyrano de Bergerac at La Scala, The Queen of Spades at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Norma at the Ópera Nacional de Chile and The Pearl Fishers at Houston Grand Opera.
Grant Gershon
Chorus Director

From: Alhambra, California. LA Opera: Resident Conductor since 2012, he made his LAO conducting debut with La Traviata (2009). He has conducted 15 productions to date including, most recently, The Magic Flute in December 2019.
He has additionally conducted LA Opera performances of Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato and Lee Holdridge's Dulce Rosa, as well as Madama Butterfly, Carmen, Florencia en el Amazonas, Gianni Schicchi, Wonderful Town, The Tales of Hoffmann, Tosca, The Pearl Fishers and Satyagraha.
Grant Gershon is hailed for his adventurous and bold artistic leadership and for eliciting technically precise and expressive performances from musicians. He has conducted Rigoletto, Tosca, La Bohème, La Traviata, Carmen and Madama Butterfly at Wolf Trap Opera with the National Symphony Orchestra; John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary at the San Francisco Symphony and Ravinia Festival; Vivaldi’s Griselda at Santa Fe Opera; and many concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The 2019/20 season marks his 19th season as the Kiki & David Gindler Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The Los Angeles Times has said the Master Chorale "has become the most exciting chorus in the country under Grant Gershon,” a reflection on both his programming and performances. During his tenure, he has led more than 200 Master Chorale performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in programs encompassing choral music from the earliest writings and pillars of the repertoire through to contemporary compositions. He has led world premiere performances of major works by John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Christopher Rouse, Steve Reich, Morten Lauridsen, Ricky Ian Gordon, Gabriela Lena Frank, Shawn Kirchner, Ellen Reid, and Chinary Ung, among many others.
Gershon and Adams have an enduring friendship and professional relationship which began 27 years ago in Los Angeles when Gershon played keyboards in the pit for Nixon in China at LA Opera. Since then, Gershon has led the world premiere performances of Adams’ theater piece I Was Looking At The Ceiling And Then I Saw The Sky, premiered his two-piano piece Hallelujah Junction (with Gloria Cheng), and has conducted performances of Harmonium, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, El Niño, The Chairman Dances, and choruses from The Death of Klinghoffer. In New York, Gershon has appeared at Carnegie Hall and at the historic Trinity Wall Street, as well as on the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center and the Making Music series at Zankel Hall.
Other major appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Salzburg and Vienna Festivals, the South American premiere of Il Postino in Chile, and with the Baltimore Symphony and the Coro e Orchestra Del Teatro Regio Di Torino in Turin, Italy. He has worked closely with numerous conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Simon Rattle, and his mentor, Esa-Pekka Salonen. His discography includes two Grammy Award-nominated recordings: Sweeney Todd (New York Philharmonic Special Editions) and Ligeti’s Grand Macabre (Sony Classical); and six commercial CDs with the Master Chorale. He has also led the Master Chorale in performances for several major motion pictures soundtracks including Star Wars: The Last Jedi at the request of composer John Williams. Mr. Gershon was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Thornton School of Music in 2002 and received the USC Alumni Merit Award in 2017. He is a member of the Board of Councilors for the Thornton School and the Board of Directors of Chorus America.
Austin Spangler
Fight Choreographer
Additional concert performance on November 14, 2017, at the Musco Center for the Arts.
Production made possible by generous gifts from Barbara Augusta Teichert and Marilyn Ziering. Additional generous support from The Seaver Endowment. Placido Domingo's appearance made possible by generous support from The Eva and Marc Stern Principals Artists Fund.