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LA Opera finished its season strongly with a revival of Mark Lamos’s 2010 production of Rigoletto. This staging’s first outing in Los Angeles was among the finest presentations of a Verdi opera in the company’s history. The current revival is even stronger than the original.
The 2017/18 mainstage season closed with one of the foundational works of the operatic repertoire, conducted by Artist in Residence Matthew Aucoin. Unusually for us, we showcased two different trios of international artists performing the principal roles. Director Mark Lamos returned to stage his striking production, last seen here in 2010.
Hailed as a “true revelation” by Euro News, Romanian soprano Adela Zaharia was the 2017 first place winner of Operalia.
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.
Arturo Chacón-Cruz, a native of Sonora, Mexico, has established himself in recent years as a leading tenor with exciting appearances in renowned theaters and concert halls across the globe. He has sung over 50 roles in more than 25 countries.
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.
In addition to an extensive existing operatic discography, the artist’s first solo CD is available. Arturo Chacón le canta a México features some of the most beautiful Mexican music ever written, and is accompanied by the Orquesta Filarmónica de Sonora.
He has received many honors and awards throughout the years. The most recent one being “GQ Man of the Year 2018” for Classical Music in Mexico. He was the “Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Emerging Star” of 2017 for the San Francisco Opera. He received the Alfonso Ortíz Tirado medal in 2013 (Sonora’s highest cultural award), the Distinguished Sonoran Medal 2009, the Culturarte de Puerto Rico, the Opera de Valencia and the Plácido Domingo Zarzuela Awards in Operalia 2005 in Madrid’s Teatro Real. He received the Elleanor McCollum 1st Prize Award, and Audience Choice Award with the Houston Grand Opera in 2003, among many others.
His first ever mariachi recording de México para el Mundo was released in December 2018, distributed by Sony and available on CD as well on all digital platforms.
He made his La Scala debut as Hoffmann, and received a very warm reception from the audience and press: “He excellently portrayed the lovelorn poet, with a youthfulness that only made him more attractive, exhibiting great mastery over his instrument and an indeed pleasant high register, all in all, a brilliant participation." (GB Opera)
Arturo shares a long and important relationship with two of the reigning opera singers of our day, Plácido Domingo and Ramón Vargas. Since discovering Arturo in 2000, Plácido Domingo has remained Arturo’s friend and mentor, and the two have shared the operatic stage and concert platform many times.
Arturo was awarded the Plácido Domingo Scholarship in 2002, and Mr. Domingo himself helped launch Arturo’s international career after Arturo’s success in the Operalia Competition. Arturo also enjoys a nurturing friendship with Ramón Vargas who became a mentor, teacher and friend over a decade ago.
Arturo currently lives in Miami with his wife and his son. (ArturoChaconCruz.com)
From: Los Angeles, California. LA Opera: Guccio in Gianni Schicchi (2008, debut); 11 roles to date including Monterone in Rigoletto (2018); Father in Hansel and Gretel (2018). He will return as a soloist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion (2022).
Mr. Colclough began the 2019/20 season with his Metropolitan Operadebut as the title role in Macbeth, a role he performed with Belgium’s Opera Vlaanderenin Antwerp in the summer of 2019. He reprises the role of Macbeth with the company again this season, with performances in both Ghent and in Luxembourg, and he returns 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 included a return to LA Opera as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, and a tour with Gustavo Dudamel and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to Barcelona, Dortmund, and Luxembourg. The 2020/21 season includes performances with Washington National Opera in the role of Henry Kissinger in Nixon in China and as Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with Opera Vlaanderen.
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)
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 quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most interesting and sought after basses performing today. A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in their production of Fidelio. He has since appeared there as Sarastro in The Magic Flute (both in the original production and in a new children’s English version), the King in Aida and in roles in Nabucco, Tannhäuser and new productions of Les Troyens and Salome.
He has also appeared at the Dallas Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, the Wolf Trap Opera, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
In the 2016/17 season, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Sarastro in The Magic Flute and to LA Opera as Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio. Recent appearances include a return to LA Opera as Oroveso in Norma, returns to the Houston Grand Opera in both Otello and The Magic Flute, Opera Philadelphia as the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos, and the Atlanta Opera in Rigoletto. (MorrisRobinson.com)
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)
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.
Production made possible by generous support from GRoW @ Annenberg and from Sebastian Paul and Marybelle Musco
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