Rigoletto

She made her LA Opera debut in 2018 as Gilda in Rigoletto. In the 2017/18 season, Ms. Zaharia returned to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein ensemble where her roles included the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor, Konstanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio, Gilda in Rigoletto, and the dual role of Fire and the Princess in Suzanne Andrade’s new production of L’enfant et les Sortilèges. She made her Bavarian State Opera debut in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor, her role and house debut as Elisabetta in concert performances of Roberto Devereux at Oper Frankfurt, and also returned to the Komische Oper Berlin as Pamina in The Magic Flute. Additional concert appearances include her debut at the George Enescu Festival, where she performed the mad scene from Iain Bell’s A Harlot’s Progress, a gala concert with Placido Domingo in Guadalajara with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Jalisco, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Arad State Philharmonic in her native Romania.

Ms. Zaharia has been a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhen ensemble since the 2015/16 season, where she has sung the title role of Lange’s The Snow Queen, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos. As a former member of the Komische Oper opera studio, she also sang Micaëla in Carmen, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Princess Nicoletta in The Love for Three Oranges, Elsbeth in Offenbach’s Fantasio, and Pamina in Barrie Kosky’s production of The Magic Flute. She has also appeared in Kosky’s production for her debuts at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Bolshoi Theater, the Edinburgh International Festival, and the Shanghai Grand Theater. While studying voice and piano at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in her native Romania, Ms. Zaharia sang such roles as Gilda in Rigoletto, Norina in The Elixir of Love, and Musetta in La Boheme. Her concert repertoire includes Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Brahms’s Ein deutches Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, and Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri. She was the recipient of the Grand Prix of the Haricleea Darclée International Competition in 2012.

Since winning Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition in 2005, Arturo’s career has seen a successful and steady development. His repertoire spans from Bellini and Donizetti to Puccini and Verdi. Some of his more sought after roles are: Rodolfo, the Duke of Mantua, Alfredo, Jacopo Foscari, Gabriele Adorno, B.F. Pinkerton, Hoffmann, Werther, and Romeo to name a few.

He has sung private recitals for His Majesties Queen Sofia and King Juan Carlos of Spain, as well as another one for all the leaders of Iberoamerica, and His Majesty King Felipe of Spain.

Recent highlights include two critically acclaimed role debuts: one as Cavaradossi in Tosca, in Spain, as well as his first Nemorino in The Elixir of Love in Italy.

Other recent performances include the Duke in Rigoletto (Verona, Naples, Budapest, Los Angeles and Florence), La Boheme (San Francisco and Hamburg), La Traviata (Munich, Valencia, Moscow and Rome), Ruggero in Puccini’s La Rondine in Genova, Werther in Barcelona and Budapest, Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon in Monte Carlo, Don Jose in Carmen (Tel Aviv, Lyon, Palermo and Zurich), as well as a critically acclaimed role debut as Macduff in Macbeth in Los Angeles and later performed in Vienna.

Recent collaborations with star directors Sofia Coppola (La Traviata, with Valentino costumes) and Woody Allen (Gianni Schicchi, available on DVD and BluRay by Sony) resulted in international acclaim and all sold out performances in Los Angeles, Valencia and Rome.

Upcoming performances include his role debuts as Rafael in Penella’s The Wild Cat in Los Angeles and as Rodolfo in Luisa Miller in Barcelona. He will be Alfredo in La Traviata in Oman, Hoffmann in The Tales of Hoffmann in Naples, the Duke in Rigoletto in Hamburg, Faust in La Damnation de Faust in concert on Mexico City’s Bellas Artes, as well as concerts in Tucson, Mexico City, Honduras and Paris, among many others.

Craig Colclough began the 2019/20 season with his Metropolitan Opera debut in the title role of Macbeth, a role he previously performed with Belgium’s Opera Vlaanderen in Antwerp in the summer of 2019. He reprised the role of Macbeth with the company again this season, with performances in both Ghent and in Luxembourg, and he returned to Arizona Opera for a role debut as Bishop Dyer in Riders of the Purple Sage. Engagements originally scheduled before the COVID-19 shortened season include his role debut as Don Pizarro in Fidelio (canceled), touring with Gustavo Dudamel and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to Barcelona, Dortmund, and Luxembourg, as well as his return to LA Opera for the title role in The Marriage of Figaro (postponed).

During the COVID-impacted 2020/21 season, Craig Colclough had been scheduled for appearances as Henry Kissinger in Nixon in China with Washington National Opera and the LA Philharmonic, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with Opera Vlaanderen and Amonasro in Aida with LA Opera. 

Future seasons include multiple returns to the Metropolitan Opera, his return to Canadian Opera Company, and his debut with the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

His engagements for the 2018/19 season included debuts with Opera Vlaanderen in Belgium as Count Telramund with Lohengrin and with the Frankfurt Opera as Fra Melitone in La Forza del Destino. In July 2018, he debuted at Covent Garden as Pistola in Falstaff. 

Highlights of the previous season include the title role of Falstaff in a new Christoph Waltz production in Belgium, the title role of Don Pasquale for Minnesota Opera, The Ring of Polykrates for Dallas Opera, Donner in Das Rheingold for Arizona Opera and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the LA Philharmonic.

Other recent appearances include Scarpia in Tosca with English National Opera and Canadian Opera Company; Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with ENO; Falstaff with Minnesota Opera, Opera Saratoga and Arizona Opera; and Timur in Turandot with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra. He debuted with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl as Doctor Grenvil in La Traviata.

Craig Colclough began his career at LA Opera. After two seasons appearing with the company in various roles, he joined Florida Grand Opera’s Young Artist Studio, and in 2012, became a Filene Young Artist at the Wolf Trap Opera Company. (CraigColclough.com)

Morris Robinson is considered one the most interesting and sought-after basses performing today.

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)

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.