Company premiere: Mozart's The Clemency of Titus
"Spectacularly imaginative...this Clemenza was distinguished by the wall-to-wall quality of its singing, down to the smallest roles."
A new production by Thaddeus Strassberger marked the company premiere of a masterpiece composed nearly simultaneously with The Magic Flute in the last months of Mozart’s short life. Strassberger’s scenic design was inspired by 19th-century Romantic-era paintings set in Rome’s Temple of Jupiter, the Roman baths, and Titus’ throne room. The production featured lavish costumes, including a gown worn by Vitellia which sported a 25-foot train, and lighting and projections that replicated the burning of Rome. With James Conlon on the podium, the production starred tenor Russell Thomas as Emperor Titus.
Cast
- Titus
- Russell Thomas
- Vitellia
- Guanqun Yu
- Sesto
- Elizabeth DeShong
- Servilia
- Janai Brugger
- Annio
- Taylor Raven
- Publio
- James Creswell
Russell Thomas
Titus

From: Miami, Florida. LA Opera: Pollione in Norma (2015, debut); Cavaradossi in Tosca (2017); title role in The Clemency of Titus (2019); online Signature Recital (2021); title role of Oedipus Rex (2021); Radames in Aida (2022); title role in Otello (2023); Calaf in Turandot (2024); soloist in Fire and Blue Sky (2024). He has been the company's Artist in Residence since 2021.
With a “heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision” (Opera magazine) and “gorgeously burnished power” (The New York Times), American tenor Russell Thomas uses his signature elegance and intensity to create vivid character portrayals on the world’s most important stages.
In the 2023/24 season, Mr. Thomas undertakes his first Parsifal at Houston Grand Opera and returns to major stages around the world in signature Verdi and Puccini roles. He sings Radames in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Aida, Cavaradossi in the Royal Opera House’s Tosca, Calaf in LA Opera’s Turandot and Alvaro in the Norwegian Opera’s La Forza del Destino. He appears in concert and recital with the Edinburgh International Festival, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Vocal Arts DC at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, before concluding his artistic residency at LA Opera with Fire and Blue Sky, a world premiere song cycle composed for him by Joel Thompson.
Acclaimed for his “voice of intrinsic warmth and refined sense of style” (Opera News), Mr. Thomas has enjoyed a string of operatic triumphs in key Verdi roles, including appearances as Otello at Canadian Opera Company and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Ernani at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Manrico in Il Trovatore at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Radames in Aida at Houston Grand Opera, Stiffelio at Opera Frankfurt, and Don Alvaro in La Forza del Destino at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Opéra National de Paris. An alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Program, he most recently returned to the Met as Don Carlo and Rodolfo in La Bohème. Other important appearances include Cavaradossi at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Idomeneo at the Salzburg Festival, Roberto Devereux at San Francisco Opera, Radames and Otello at LA Opera, Florestan in Fidelio at San Francisco Opera and Cincinnati Opera, and Calaf and Adorno in Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Mr. Thomas created the role of Lazarus in the world premiere of The Gospel According to the Other Mary by John Adams and Peter Sellars, and his portrayal of Tito in the new Sellars production of La Clemenza di Tito at the Salzburg Festival drew praise from The New Yorker, which noted, “Thomas’s penetrating tenor, which has lately acquired richness and heft, anchored the evening.”
Mr. Thomas’s “ardent expression and spine-tingling high notes” (Cincinnati Enquirer) have been heard in the Verdi Requiem with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Washington, D.C. and Barcelona. He has appeared as tenor soloist in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the symphonies of Dallas, Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle, and Houston; the title role in Oedipus Rex at LA Opera and with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen; and as tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, BBC Proms, and Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. He joined the Met Orchestra for their first overseas tour in more than 20 years, singing Otello opposite Angel Blue at Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Barbican Centre, and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.
During the hybrid 2020/21 season, Mr. Thomas began his tenure as Artist in Residence at LA Opera, where he plays a substantial role in artistic planning and casting. In addition to hosting and curating the company’s After Hours recital series, he has spearheaded new training programs designed to serve outstanding singers from historically Black colleges and universities and Los Angeles public high school students from underserved communities.
Learn more at RussellThomasTenor.com.
Mr. Thomas has enjoyed a string of operatic triumphs in recent seasons, including performances as Don Carlo at Washington National Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin; Cavaradossi in Tosca at LA Opera and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and Pollione in Norma at Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. He has debuted as Florestan in Fidelio at Cincinnati Opera, as Stiffelio at Oper Frankfurt, and as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Mr. Thomas has sung Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera, Loge in Das Rheingold with the New York Philharmonic, Adorno in Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and Ismaele in Nabucco at the Metropolitan Opera and Seattle Opera. His portrayal of the title character in the new Peter Sellars production of The Clemency of Titus at the Salzburg Festival and Dutch National Opera drew praise from the The New Yorker, which noted, “Thomas’s penetrating tenor, which has lately acquired richness and heft, anchored the evening.”
Future seasons include appearances in Berlin, London, Toronto, Chicago, Houston, New York, and Washington, D.C.
Learn more at RussellThomasTenor.com.
Guanqun Yu
Vitellia

From: Shandong, China. LA Opera: Rosina in The Ghosts of Versailles (2015, debut); Countess in The Marriage of Figaro (2015); Vitellia in The Clemency of Titus (2019); Leonora in Il Trovatore (2021); Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (2023); Liu in Turandot (2024).
Soprano Guanqun Yu is a regular guest at international opera houses in Europe and America. Her engagements in the 2022/23 season included the staged version of Verdi's Messa da Requiem at the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, Micaela in Carmen at the Staatsoper Hamburg, her role debut as Elvira in a new production of Ernani at the Festspielhaus Bregenz, and again Verdi's Messa da Requiem with the Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to the major Mozart roles such as Vitellia, Elettra, Contessa, Fiordiligi, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, Guanqun Yu's repertoire features the Italian repertoire in particular. She has sung Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera and at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra in Valencia, Hamburg and Frankfurt, Desdemona in Otello at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as well as at the Hamburg State Opera, Mimì in La Bohème in a new production at the Zurich Opera House as well as at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and Liù in Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra de Paris, Staatsoper Hamburg, in Zurich, Cologne and at the Bregenz Festival.
Guanqun Yu is also familiar with the French repertoire singing Micaëla in Carmen and Mathilde in Guillaume Tell – a role which brought her a great personal triumph in a new production at Hamburg State Opera.
Her numerous engagements also led her to the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Semperoper Dresden. With Lucrezia in a concert performance of I due Foscari, she madeher highly noticed debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2017.
Guanqun Yu has worked with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Michele Mariotti and Cornelius Meister. In 2010 she made her debut in Vienna in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc under the baton of Bertrand de Billy. Numerous concert commitments have taken Guanqun Yu to Scandinavia and Germany.
Guanqun Yu is winner of the Belvedere singing competition and winner of the renowned Operalia competition. After studying in Shandong and Shanghai, she was a member of the opera studio at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna.
Her interpretation of Lina in Verdi's Stiffelio was released on DVD in a production from Parma.
Learn more at GuanqunYu.com.
Elizabeth DeShong
Sesto

From: Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. LA Opera: Rosina in The Barber of Seville (2015, debut); Sesto in The Clemency of Titus (2019); Bradamante in Alcina (2021).
Opera News wrote of Elizabeth DeShong's performance as Sesto in LA Opera's production of The Clemency of Titus: "Elizabeth DeShong took pride of place as Sesto. Completely unrecognizable in her beard and dingy armor, DeShong sang with the range, expressiveness and musical precision that captured the hysterical extremes of her character. Much of Sesto’s music lies in the cellars of DeShong’s mezzo-soprano, where the intensely deep contralto tones she commands contrasted startlingly with the dazzling coloratura runs at the top of her range.”
During the 2019/20 season, Ms. DeShong returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. She debuted with the Melbourne Symphony as Hansel in a concert performance of Hansel and Gretel and performed Pauline in The Queen of Spades at Lyric Opera of Chicago—both conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
The previous season, Ms. DeShong performed Adalgisa in Norma with the North Carolina Opera, gave a recital for Vocal Arts, D.C., sang John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with the composer conducting, and was a soloist in Handel's Messiah with the San Francisco and Houston Symphonies, conducted by Jane Glover. Additional highlights were her debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Ariel in Sibelius' The Tempest, the Philadelphia Orchestra in Rossini's Stabat Mater, conducted by Yannick Nézet -Séguin, a tour of Europe and the United States with The English Concert in which she portrayed both Juno and Ino in Handel's Semele, the Verdi Requiem with the Minnesota Orchestra, and Sesto in a new production of La Clemenza di Tito with the Los Angeles Opera.
In 2018/19, Ms. DeShong sang Ruggiero in Alcina at Washington National Opera, and Arsace in Semiramide at the Metropolitan Opera. In concert she performed Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Music of the Baroque, and made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Schubert’s Mass No. 6, and the world premiere of Three Lisel Mueller Settings by Maxwell Raimi, both conducted by Riccardo Muti. On the European platform, Ms. DeShong portrayed Suzuki in a new production of Madama Butterfly at the Glyndebourne Festival, and made her debuts with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and at the Proms in Bernstein's Symphony No. 1 ("Jeremiah"), under the direction of Sir Antonio Pappano, and sang Hänsel in a concert version of Hänsel and Gretel conducted by Sir Andrew Davis at the Edinburgh International Festival.
Further performances of note include Adalgisa in Norma at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and her Royal Opera and Bayerische Staatsoper debuts as Suzuki. Ms. DeShong has performed extensively throughout the world with such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, English National Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Opéra National de Bordeaux, the Glyndebourne Festival, and Aix-en-Provence.
The list of symphony orchestras with whom she has performed includes the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Cincinnati Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, the Royal Flemish Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, The English Concert, and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Ms. DeShong was the recipient of the Washington National Opera’s “Artist of the Year” award in 2010, as the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. On DVD, she can be seen as Suzuki in the Royal Opera's production of Madama Butterfly on Opus Arte, Hermia in the Metropolitan Opera’s pastiche opera The Enchanted Island (Virgin), and as Maffio Orsini in the San Francisco Opera’s production of Lucrezia Borgia (EuroArts Music and Naxos of America). Her recording of Handel’s Messiah with the Toronto Symphony under the direction of Sir Andrew Davis was released by Chandos and nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2018.
Learn more at ElizabethDeShong.com.
During the 2016/17 season, Ms. DeShong returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing Adalgisa in Norma, and made her Royal Opera and Bavarian State Opera debuts as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. In concert she performed the Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Baltimore Symphony, the Verdi Requiem with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Mahler Symphony No. 2 with the Oregon Symphony.
She has performed extensively throughout the world with such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, English National Opera, Vienna State Opera, Opéra National de Bordeaux, the Glyndebourne Festival, and Aix-en-Provence.
She made her LA Opera debut in 2015 as Rosina in The Barber of Seville.
Janai Brugger
Servilia

From: Darien, Illinois. LA Opera: Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro (2010, debut) with subsequent roles including Musetta in La Bohème (2012, 2016), Pamina in The Magic Flute (2013) and Servilia in The Clemency of Titus (2019). She is an alumna of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program (2010-2012) and a 2021 recipient of the Eva and Marc Stern Artist Award. Upcoming: Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro (2022).
Janai Brugger, the 2012 winner of Operalia and of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, made her television debut in 2020 when she sang a specially-written requiem composed by Laura Karpman for an episode of HBO’s renowned Lovecraft Country. She returned to Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and revived a favorite role, Pamina in The Magic Flute for performances at Palm Beach Opera’s first Outdoor Opera Festival. More recently she appeared as Michaela in Carmen at Cincinnati Opera and returned to Dutch National Opera for their acclaimed Missa in tempore Belli (Haydn) conducted by Lorenzo Viotti and directed by Barbora Horáková.
In both 2019 and 2021, she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in the role of Clara in their celebrated new production of Porgy and Bess in which she’d previously appeared at Dutch National Opera. At Lyric Opera of Chicago she sang the role of Ilia in Idomeneo and at Cincinnati Opera she appeared as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. In her artistic home at LA Opera, she sang the role of Servilia in La Clemenza di Tito, a role she previously sang at Dutch National Opera. She recently travelled to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden for revival performances of Pamina in The Magic Flute and sang the role of Liù in Turandot at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Engagements for the 2022/23 season include Glauce in Medea at the Metropolitan Opera, Liu in Turandot with Opera Colorado and the title role of Susannah with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Learn more at JanaiBrugger.com.
Taylor Raven
Annio
James Creswell
Publio

American bass James Creswell has established himself as one of the leading basses of his generation.
Born in Seattle, he graduated from Yale University and his early career included apprenticeships with LA Opera and San Francisco Opera until moving to Germany as a soloist with the Komische Opera Berlin.
Earlier this season, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Ashby in The Girl of the Golden West at the Metropolitan Opera and performed Phorbas in Oedipe for Dutch National Opera. Upcoming engagements include Frére Laurent in Roméo et Juliette and Dr. Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro with San Francisco Opera, Sarastro in The Magic Flute with Scottish Opera, and Oroveso in Norma for Oper Frankfurt.
Mr. Creswell has appeared at the Dutch National Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Bilbao Opera, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Staatsoper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Theater an der Wien, Opéra de Bordeaux, Angers-Nantes Opéra, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Edinburgh International Festival, Nederlandse Reisopera, Tallinn Festival, Ravinia Festival and Bergen International Festival.
Creative Team
- Conductor
- James Conlon
- Director / Scenery
- Thaddeus Strassberger
- Costumes
- Mattie Ullrich
- Lighting
- JAX Messenger
- Projections
- Greg Emetaz
- Chorus
- Jeremy Frank
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 67 different operas and more than 450 performances to date with the company.
(Click here to visit James Conlon's Corner, where you can find essays, videos and conversations he has created especially for LA Opera.)
Internationally recognized as one of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, James Conlon has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire. Since his 1974 debut with the New York Philharmonic, he has conducted virtually every major American and European symphony orchestra, and at many of the world’s leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera. Through worldwide touring, an extensive discography and filmography, numerous writings, television appearances, and guest speaking engagements, Conlon is one of classical music’s most recognized and prolific figures.
Conlon has been Principal Conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Torino, Italy (2016–20); Principal Conductor of the Paris Opera (1995–2004); General Music Director of the City of Cologne, Germany (1989–2003), simultaneously leading the Gürzenich Orchestra and the Cologne Opera; and Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (1983–91). Conlon was Music Director of the Ravinia Festival (2005–15), summer home of the Chicago Symphony, and is now Music Director Laureate of the Cincinnati May Festival―the oldest choral festival in the United States―where he was Music Director for 37 years (1979–2016), marking one of the longest tenures of any director of an American classical music institution. He also served as Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (2021–2023). He has conducted over 270 performances at the Metropolitan Opera since his 1976 debut. He has also conducted at leading opera houses and festivals such as the Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Mariinsky Theatre, Covent Garden, Chicago Lyric Opera, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
As Music Director of LA Opera, Conlon has led more operas than any other conductor in company history. Highlights of his LA Opera tenure include the company’s first Ring cycle; initiating the groundbreaking Recovered Voices series, an ongoing commitment to staging masterpieces of 20th-century European opera suppressed by the Third Reich; spearheading Britten 100/LA, a city-wide celebration honoring the composer’s centennial; and conducting the West Coast premiere of The Anonymous Lover by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a prominent Black composer in 18th-century France.
Conlon opens his 18th season at LA Opera conducting Mozart’s Don Giovanni directed by Kasper Holten. His groundbreaking Recovered Voices initiative, dedicated to rescuing works from historical neglect or censorship, returns to the company with a double-bill featuring the company premiere of William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA in a new production directed by Kaneza Schaal, and a revival of Zemlinsky’s The Dwarf (Der Zwerg)—an opera that launched the Recovered Voices initiative in 2008—directed by Darko Tresnjak. He also conducts Verdi’s La Traviata—the first opera he led as Music Director of LA Opera—continuing his multi-season focus on the works of the great Italian composer. To date, Conlon has conducted more than 500 international performances of Verdi’s repertoire. Conlon closes his LA Opera season honoring the 100th anniversary of Puccini’s death, conducting Turandot, Puccini’s final opera composed in 1924.
Additional highlights of his season include returning to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to lead Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and conducting Wagner’s Lohengrin at Deutsche Oper Berlin. He also returns to Switzerland’s Bern Symphony, where he is Principal Guest Conductor, to lead three programs including Schubert and Beethoven symphonies, a celebratory New Years Day concert, and a season finale with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.
Conlon is dedicated to bringing composers silenced by the Nazi regime to more widespread attention, often programming this lesser-known repertoire throughout Europe and North America. In 1999 he received the Vienna-based Zemlinsky Prize for his work bringing the composer’s music to a broader audience; in 2013 he was awarded the Roger E. Joseph Prize at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for his efforts to eradicate racial and religious prejudice and discrimination; and in 2007 he received the Crystal Globe Award from the Anti-Defamation League. His work on behalf of silenced composers led to the creation of The OREL Foundation, an invaluable resource on the topic for music lovers, students, musicians, and scholars; the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School; and a recent virtual TEDx Talk titled “Resurrecting Forbidden Music.”
Conlon is deeply invested in the role of music in civic life and the human experience. At LA Opera, his popular pre-performance talks blend musicology, literary studies, history, and social sciences to discuss the enduring power and relevance of opera and classical music. He also frequently collaborates with universities, museums, and other cultural institutions and works with scholars, practitioners, and community members across disciplines. He frequently appears throughout the country as a speaker on a variety of cultural and educational topics.
Conlon’s extensive discography and filmography spans the Bridge, Capriccio, Decca, EMI, Erato, and Sony Classical labels. His recordings of LA Opera productions have received four Grammy Awards, two respectively for John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and for Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Additional highlights include an ECHO Klassik Award-winning recording cycle of operas and orchestral works by Alexander Zemlinsky; a CD/DVD release of works by Viktor Ullmann, which won the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik; and the world-premiere recording of Liszt’s oratorio St. Stanislaus.
Conlon holds four honorary doctorates, was one of the first five recipients of the Opera News Awards, and was distinguished by the New York Public Library as a Library Lion. He received a 2023 Cross of Honor for Science and Art (Österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst) from the Republic of Austria, and was named Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic. He was also named Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and, in 2002, personally accepted France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur, from then-President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac.
Learn more at JamesConlon.com.
Mr. Conlon’s first season as Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra includes three weeks of concerts, starting with an October 2021 program of music by historically marginalized composers. The featured works are Alexander Zemlinsky’s Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid), which is the piece that sparked Mr. Conlon’s interest in suppressed music from the early 20th century, and William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, which reflects a theme that will recur throughout Mr. Conlon’s advisorship—the bringing of attention to works by American composers neglected due to their race. He returns in February 2022 for performances including Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony and the final scene of Wagner’s Die Walküre, with guest artists Christine Goerke and Greer Grimsley. The BSO season concludes in June 2022 with Mr. Conlon conducting an orchestra co-commission from Wynton Marsalis, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Beatrice Rana, and Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony (“Leningrad”). As Artistic Advisor, in addition to leading these performances, Mr. Conlon will help ensure the continued artistic quality of the orchestra and fill many duties off the podium, including those related to artistic personnel—such as filling important vacancies and attracting exceptional musicians.
Additional highlights of Mr. Conlon’s season include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at Rome Opera, Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman at New National Theatre, Tokyo, the Paris Opera’s Gala lyrique with Renée Fleming, and concerts with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony and works by Beethoven and Bernstein), Gürzenich Orchester Köln (Sinfoniettas by Zemlinsky and Korngold), Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra (works by Shostakovich and Zemlinsky), and at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Mr. Conlon’s 2021/22 season follows a spring and summer in which he was highly active amidst the re-opening of many venues to live performance. These engagements included concerts with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and RAI National Symphony Orchestra. He also led a series of performances in Spain scheduled around World Music Day (June 21). In Madrid, over a period of two days, he conducted the complete symphonies of Schumann and Brahms in collaboration with four different Spanish orchestras: the Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, and Joven Orquesta Nacional de España (JONDE). He subsequently conducted JONDE at the Festival de Granada and Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza. Additional summer 2021 engagements included the Aspen, Napa, Ravello, and Ravinia Festivals.
In an effort to call attention to lesser-known works of composers silenced by the Nazi regime, Mr. Conlon has devoted himself to extensive programming of this music throughout Europe and North America. In 1999 he received the Vienna-based Zemlinsky Prize for his efforts in bringing that composer’s music to international attention; in 2013 he was awarded the Roger E. Joseph Prize at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for his extraordinary efforts to eradicate racial and religious prejudice and discrimination; and in 2007 he received the Crystal Globe Award from the Anti-Defamation League. His work on behalf of suppressed composers led to the creation of The OREL Foundation, an invaluable resource on the topic for music lovers, students, musicians, and scholars; the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School; and a recent virtual TEDx Talk titled “Resurrecting Forbidden Music.”
Mr. Conlon is an enthusiastic advocate of public scholarship and cultural institutions as forums for the exchange of ideas and inquiry into the role music plays in our shared humanity and civic life. At LA Opera, he leads pre-performance talks, drawing upon musicology, literary studies, history, and social sciences to contemplate—together with his audience—the enduring power and relevance of opera and classical music in general. Additionally, he frequently collaborates with universities, museums, and other cultural institutions, and works with scholars, practitioners, and community members across disciplines. His appearances throughout the country as a speaker on a variety of cultural and educational topics are widely praised.
Mr. Conlon’s extensive discography and videography can be found on the Bridge, Capriccio, Decca, EMI, Erato, and Sony Classical labels. His recordings of LA Opera productions have received four Grammy Awards, two respectively for John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Additional highlights include an ECHO Klassik Award-winning recording cycle of operas and orchestral works by Alexander Zemlinsky; a CD/DVD release of works by Viktor Ullmann, which won the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik; and the world-premiere recording of Liszt’s oratorio St. Stanislaus.
Mr. Conlon holds four honorary doctorates and has received numerous other awards. He was one of the first five recipients of the Opera News Awards, and was honored by the New York Public Library as a Library Lion. He was named Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic. He was also named Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and, in 2002, personally accepted France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur, from then-President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac.
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)
JAX Messenger
Lighting

JAX Messenger maintains a successful career as a lighting professional. He has lit productions for such companies as Opera Philadelphia (The Wake World), Curtis Institute of Music (Dr Atomic, Impressions of Pelléas), the Canadian Opera Company (Pyramus and Thisbe), Boston Lyric Opera (In the Penal Colony), Bard SummerScape (Oresteia, The Wreckers, The Turandot Project), R. B. Schlather’s exhibition (Alcina, Orlando, The House Taken Over), Adam H Weinert (MONUMENT), Wanda Culture Industry Group (Princess Butterfly), Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (Laurencia, Waltzpurgisnacht, Majisimas), Merola Opera (The Barber of Seville, Transformations) The Washington Ballet (Sleeping Beauty, Fluctuating Hemlines, Shostakovich Concerto, Don Quixote), the San Francisco Opera (Requiem, The Elixir of Love for Families). As a lighting supervisor he has produced tours for Black Grace Dance, the Washington Ballet and Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo in hundreds of venues around the world. (JAXMessenger.com)
Greg Emetaz
Projections

Greg Emetaz has designed video and projections for Jimmy López’s Bel Canto at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Werther at Boston Lyric Opera, Terence Blanchard’s Champion at Washington National Opera and several productions for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, including John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer, Peter Ash’s The Golden Ticket and Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier. Later this year, he will design Norma at Utah Opera and Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in my Bones for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. As a filmmaker, he is the writer and director of the horror-comedy feature Camp Wedding and the award-winning shorts Bowes Academy, Death by Omelette and Spell Claire. He is also the director of the web series Do It Yourselfie: Songs for Millennials and numerous music videos and commercials. (MinorApocalypse.com)
Jeremy Frank
Chorus

Jeremy Frank became Chorus Director in 2022.
Since joining LA Opera in 2007, he has served as associate chorus director (since 2011) and assistant conductor, and he has worked closely with the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. Before becoming Chorus Director, he previously directed the LA Opera Chorus for the Plácido Domingo 50th Anniversary Concert (2017) and for The Clemency of Titus (2019). One of his generation’s most respected pianists and vocal coaches, he has collaborated with major opera houses throughout the United States. He has assisted in the preparation of operas and vocal chamber music at the LA Philharmonic. As a pianist, he has partnered with Sondra Radvanovsky, J'Nai Bridges, Eric Owens, Brandon Jovanovich, Rodell Rosel, Dolora Zajick, Kate Lindsey and Susan Graham. He accompanied Joyce DiDonato at the 54th Grammy Awards, the first time the ceremony featured a performance by a classical singer.
In partnership with the Getty Villa and LACMA in Los Angeles and the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., he has curated multimedia recitals which draw connections between the classical vocal repertoire and special exhibits in the museums. He is a frequent collaborator at Wolf Trap Opera as an assistant conductor, chorus master and recitalist. He has been a guest coach at the Opernfestspiele St. Margarethen, in Esterhazy, Austria, and he helped prepare Seattle Opera’s Ring cycle in 2013. He has been a guest faculty member for young artist programs at Utah Opera and Seattle Opera, and he is a part-time lecturer in vocal arts and opera at the University of Southern California. (JeremyMFrank.com)
Behind the Curtain: Director & Designer Thaddeus Strassberger with Christopher Koelsch
New production made possible with generous support from The Carol and Warner Henry Production Fund for Mozart Operas; GRoW @ Annenberg; and The Emanuel Treitel Senior Citizen Fund.