Domingo Hindoyan launches his tenure as Music Director with a new production directed and designed by Thaddeus Strassberger.

(Los Angeles) September 10, 2026 — LA Opera opens its 2026/27 season with Georges Bizet's immortal Carmen,   conducted by Domingo Hindoyan in his first performances as the company's new Music Director. The new production is directed by Thaddeus Strassberger, who is also the scenic designer. Due to high ticket demand, a seventh performance was recently added to the original run of six performances.

"As Domingo Hindoyan takes the podium for his first performances as Music Director, we begin an enormously exciting new era for our company,” said Christopher Koelsch, LA Opera’s President and CEO. “It is especially fitting that this new chapter begins with Carmen—and with LA Opera’s first new production of Bizet’s masterpiece since 1998. The work’s familiarity can sometimes obscure just how radical it remains. Bizet gave us one of opera’s most unforgettable protagonists: a woman who insists upon her freedom with a clarity and ferocity that continue to fascinate, provoke and unsettle us. He surrounded her with a score of almost inexhaustible vitality, filled with music that has reverberated far beyond the opera house to become part of our shared cultural vocabulary."

This season marks Domingo Hindoyan’s highly anticipated arrival as LA Opera’s Richard Seaver Music Director, after making his acclaimed company debut conducting Roméo et Juliette in 2024. One of today’s most sought-after conductors, he has led performances at many of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Paris Opera and Staatsoper Berlin. The Venezuelan-Armenian conductor, who also serves as Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, will return later in the season to conduct Nabucco.

About the Production
For LA Opera's first new production of Carmen in nearly three decades, director and scenic designer Thaddeus Strassberger looks beyond the picturesque vision of Spain traditionally associated with the opera to evoke a darker, more mysterious world of devotion, superstition, desire and danger. Drawing inspiration from Spanish photographer Cristina García Rodero’s landmark 1989 collection España Oculta (“Hidden Spain”), the production explores the uneasy coexistence of the sacred and the profane in a Spain suspended between tradition and modernity. Dance is integral to that world, with choreographer Antonio Najarro—one of the leading figures in flamenco and Spanish dance—bringing extraordinary physical energy to a work in which music and movement have always been inseparable.

Meet the Cast
Mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb sings the title role, returning after recent LAO appearances as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and Dorabella in Così fan tutte. Tenor Joshua Guerrero portrays Don José. A former member of LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, he has performed leading roles with the company including Count Almaviva in The Ghosts of Versailles, Greenhorn in Moby-Dick and Macduff in Macbeth. Soprano Kathleen O'Mara, another former Young Artist with the company, sings the role of Micaëla; she will return later in the season as Liù in Turandot. Bass-baritone Liam James Karai will make his company debut as the dashing bullfighter Escamillo.

Several current members of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program will appear in the cast as well: bass Vinícius Costa as Zuniga, soprano Gabrielle Turgeon as Frasquita, mezzo-soprano Katie Trigg as Mercédès, tenor Samuel Wallace as Le Remendado, and baritone Mario Manzo as Le Dancaïre. A recent alumnus of the program, baritone Ryan Wolfe, returns as Moralès.

The Creative Team
The new production is directed by Thaddeus Strassberger, who is also the scenic designer. His previous work at LA Opera includes The Two Foscari, The Clemency of Titus, and Nabucco, which will be revived later this season. The choreographer is Antonio Najarro, who recently made his company debut with Ainadamar. The costume designer is Mattie Ullrich, the lighting designer is Pablo Santiago and the projection designer is Greg Emetaz. Jeremy Frank is director of the LA Opera Chorus and Fernando Malvar-Ruiz is the artistic director of the Los Angeles Children's Chorus. Ran Arthur Braun creates the stunts and action, with Gregory Luis H. Boyle as associate director.

Click here to download production photos and artist headshots.

Performance Dates, Times and Address
There will be seven performances of Carmen presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, located at 135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012:

• Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 6pm
• Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 2pm
• Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at 7:30pm (new performance just added)
• Thursday, October 29, 2026, at 7:30pm
• Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 2pm
• Wednesday, November 4, 2026, at 7:30pm
• Saturday, November 7, 2026, at 2pm

Opening Night Simulcast
The October 17 performance of Carmen will be transmitted live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and simulcast on giant LED screens at two locations: the Santa Monica Pier and William Steinmetz Park in Hacienda Heights. Both presentations are free to the public, with plenty to enjoy before the opera begins. Come early for an afternoon of family-friendly fun, including live musical performances, games, prizes, balloon art, face painting, snacks and more. For details, please visit LAOpera.org/simulcast.

A New Curtain for a New Season
Opening night will also mark the debut of The Things We Know, a monumental new work by Los Angeles-based artist Enrique Martínez Celaya created for the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion stage. Commissioned for LA Opera, the 70-foot-wide curtain reflects the company’s desire to be in active dialogue with Los Angeles’s vibrant contemporary art community and will become part of the audience experience throughout the 2026/27 season.

Tickets
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online at LAOpera.org, by phone at 213.972.8001, or in person at the LA Opera box office at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012).

More information about the production is available at LAOpera.org/Carmen.

About LA Opera
Inspired by the extraordinary diversity and creativity of Los Angeles, LA Opera embraces that spirit through performances that continually redefine what opera can be. Through imaginative new productions, world premiere commissions, and fresh perspectives on foundational works that make them feel immediate and compelling, LA Opera has become one of America's most exciting and ambitious opera companies.

In addition to its mainstage performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA Opera explores new artistic possibilities through LA Opera Off Grand, presenting adventurous works in venues throughout Los Angeles that expand and enrich the operatic repertoire. The LA Opera Connects department offers a robust array of educational programs and community engagement initiatives that reach people throughout every corner of Los Angeles County. Learn more at LAOpera.org.

LA Opera Media Contact
Marlene Meraz
Director of Communications
mmeraz@laopera.org
213.972.7554

Production made possible by generous support from
Joan H. Hotchkis Fund, in honor of Joan and John Hotchkis
Terri and Jerry Kohl
Keith R. Leonard, Jr.
Alfred E. Mann Charities
Linda and Alvaro Pascotto
The Dr. M. Lee Pearce Foundation, Inc.
The Blue Ribbon
The Domingo Hindoyan Music Director Circle, an affiliate of the Producing Partners Consortium

Rihab Chaieb’s appearance made possible by generous support from
The Eva and Marc Stern Principal Artists Fund

LA Opera Orchestra generously underwritten by
Terri and Jerry Kohl

LA Opera is a nonprofit organization dedicated
to serving the greater Los Angeles community.