Puccini’s blockbuster returns to LA Opera for the first time in two decades, in a fantastical production designed by David Hockney.
Captivated by a beauty who scorns love, a renegade prince enters an all but impossible contest, where the price of failure is death. But beyond the legendary riddles, he’ll find another challenge in melting Turandot’s stubborn heart.
Soprano Angela Meade takes on the thrilling title role, with tenor Russell Thomas as her impetuous suitor and soprano Guanqun Yu as the woman who shows everyone the true meaning of devotion.
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A scene from the David Hockney-designed production of "Turandot"
Cory Weaver / San Francisco OperaSwipe for More

A scene from the David Hockney-designed production of "Turandot"
Cory Weaver / San Francisco OperaSwipe for More

A scene from the David Hockney-designed production of "Turandot"
Cory Weaver / San Francisco OperaSwipe for More

A scene from the David Hockney-designed production of "Turandot"
Cory Weaver / San Francisco Opera“Meade’s voice has lustrous body and brilliant volume. There is dark richness that holds the potential for exceptional expressivity when that weight of sound is moved with graceful ease.”
“The designs [by David Hockney] were at once enchanting and disorienting, brightly timbred and coolly esthetic, powerfully alluring and disturbingly inhuman.”
Cast
- Turandot
- Angela Meade
- Calaf
- Russell Thomas
- Liu
- Guanqun Yu
- Timur
- Morris Robinson
- Ping
- Ryan Wolfe
- Pang
- Terrence Chin-Loy
- A Mandarin
- Alan Williams
- Emperor Altoum
- Ashley Faatoalia
Angela Meade
Turandot

From: Centralia, Washington. LA Opera: Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (2012, debut); title role of Norma (2015); Queen Elizabeth in Roberto Devereux (2020); title role in Turandot (2024).
Photo: Faye Fox
American soprano Angela Meade is the winner of both the Metropolitan Opera’s 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the 2011 Richard Tucker Award. In 2008 she joined an elite group of history’s singers when, as Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani, she made her professional operatic debut on the Met stage. Since then she has fast become recognized as one of today’s outstanding vocalists, excelling in the most demanding heroines of the 19th-century bel canto repertoire as well as in the operas of Verdi and Mozart.
The 2019/20 season sees Ms. Meade returning to Europe for the title roles in Rossini’s Ermione and Bellini’s Norma at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Italy. This season also includes performances as Imogene in Bellini’s Il Pirata at Teatro Massimo di Palermo in Italy, the title role of Verdi’s Aida at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and the title role of Anna Bolena in Bilbao.
The 2018/19 season began with Ms. Meade joining forces with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain for Verdi’s Requiem. The season also included a role debut as Margherita in the Robert Carsen production of Boito’s Mefistofele at the Metropolitan Opera, a company debut with Seattle Opera as Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore, and a return to the Dallas Opera as Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff. Internationally, Ms. Meade returned to Spain in the title role of Rossini’s Semiramide in Bilbao and revived her portrayal of Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore at Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla as well as to the Palacio de la Opera in A Coruña, Spain and the Sinfónica de Galicia for a concert of operatic highlights, a recital and masterclass with Vancouver’s The Singer Behind the Song series and a return to Verdi’s Requiem in Dublin with the RTÉ National Symphony conducted by Michele Mariotti. Ms. Meade ended the season with a gala concert in her debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy.
Since her momentous Met debut, Ms. Meade’s numerous returns to the storied New York house include starring in the title roles of Norma and Sir David McVicar’s new Anna Bolena; as Leonora in Il Trovatore; as Alice Ford in a new Falstaff under James Levine, seen around the world in the Met’s Live in HD series and released on DVD by Decca Classics; and as Mozart’s Countess in The Marriage of Figaro. She also reprised Verdi’s Elvira in Ernani in a production seen both in the Met’s Live in HD series and as a Great Performances at the Met presentation on PBS.
Learn more at AngelaMeade.com.
Russell Thomas
Calaf

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” (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.
His engagements for the 2021/22 season include his return to LA Opera as Radames in Aida, Florestan in Fidelio with San Francisco Opera, Cavaradossi in Tosca with Cincinnati Opera, Don Alvaro in La Forza del Destino at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the title role of Otello at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Appearances in the 2022/23 season will include the title role of Ernani with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Calaf in Turandot with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
He opened the truncated 2019/20 season with his role debut as Don Alvaro in a new production of La forza del destino at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and subsequently made his role and house debuts as Radames in Houston Grand Opera’s new production of Aida. He also returned to Washington National Opera as the title character in Otello. On the concert stage, he joined Gianandrea Noseda at the Vienna Konzerthaus for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. (Engagements cancelled due to the pandemic included leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera and Canadian Opera Company.)
The 2018/19 season featured Mr. Thomas’s hotly anticipated stage debut in Verdi’s iconic Otello, seen at the Canadian Opera Company after concert performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He sang Manrico in Il Trovatore at the Bavarian State Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, made his role debut as Roberto Devereux at San Francisco Opera, and brought his celebrated Titus in The Clemency of Titus to LA Opera. On the concert stage, he joined the World Orchestra for Peace in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the BBC Proms, and performed Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He closed his season by reuniting with conductor Teodor Currentzis and director Peter Sellars for a new Idomeneo at the Salzburger Festspiele.
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
Liu

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 2021/22 season include 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 Ernani in a new production (de Beer/Mazzola) of the opera 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 includes the Italian repertoire in particular. She has sung Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera, at 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 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 The Two Foscari, she celebrated her highly noticed debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2017.
Guanqun Yu has already 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.
Morris Robinson
Timur

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); Ferrando in Il Trovatore (2021); Hermann in Tannhäuser (2021); Ramfis in Aida (2022); Lodovico in Otello (2023); Timur in Turandot (2024).
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.
Ryan Wolfe
Ping

From: Arlington Heights, Illinois. LA Opera: soloist in Frankenstein with Live Orchestra (2022); Jailor in Tosca (2022, mainstage debut); Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia (2023); Moses in Moses (2023); Herald in Otello (2023). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2022.
Ryan Wolfe is a passionate musician fueled by his love for collaboration and performance, who has been commended for his “commanding presence” and “well-tutored, polished baritone.”
His 2022/23 season began with Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with the Richmond Symphony followed by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He made his LA Opera debut as the Jailer in Tosca, with future credits including the Herald in Otello, Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia conducted by Lina Gonzalez Granados, and the title character in Henry Mollicone’s Moses conducted by James Conlon. Additionally, he is the cover for the roles of Johnson/Owen in Omar, the Count in The Marriage of Figaro, and Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande. He debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the Steersman in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
In the summer of 2022, he returned to the Apprentice Artist Program at Des Moines Metro Opera to cover Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The 2021/22 season saw him make several role debuts including Ithe Count in The Marriage of Figaro and Cardinal 3/Priest/Father in Phillip Glass’s Galileo Galilei at the University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of Music (CCM). In March of 2022, Ryan covered the role of Papageno in Barry Kosky’s internationally acclaimed production of The Magic Flute with Des Moines Metro Opera. Most recently, Ryan appeared as the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with the Santa Cruz Symphony, conducted by Daniel Stewart.
He won an Encouragement Award in the Central Region Finals of the Eric and Dominque Laffont Competition in 2021, won first prize in the 2022 University of Cincinnati – CCM Corbett Opera Scholarship Competition and is a two-time semi-finalist (2021, 2022) of the Lotte Lenya Competition. He has also won awards from Classical Singer National Voice Competition and the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition.
In the summer of 2021, he joined the Des Moines Metro Opera Company as an Apprentice Artist where he performed Sen. Potter’s Assistant/Bookseller/Priest/Technician/Party Guest in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers and Narumov in The Queen of Spades and covered Cithéron in Rameau’s Platée. He was also featured as Pandolfe in Cendrillon and the title role in Don Giovanni in the festival’s scenes program. He made his professional debut in February 2020 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as the Armchair and Tree in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges under the baton of Louis Langrée and direction of James Bonas. A strong proponent of new music and a consummate musician, he collaborated with Opera Fusion:New Works - Cincinnati Opera to workshop Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice (co-commissioned by LA Opera and the Metropolitan Opera).
Other operatic highlights include Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Baron Mirko Zeta in The Merry Widow, Giove in La Calisto, Kecal in The Bartered Bride, Simone in Gianni Schicchi, and Seneca in The Coronation of Poppea. He has also been seen performing selections of Bernstein and Mahler with the CCM Philharmonic, and was the bass soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with the DePaul University Symphony Orchestra.
Ryan completed his master’s degree before partially completing an artist diploma at the University of Cincinnati – CCM where he studied with esteemed baritone William McGraw. Upon Professor McGraw’s retirement, Ryan began studying with world-renowned baritone Elliot Madore. He is a proud alumnus of DePaul University where he received his bachelor of music, studying with Jeff Ray.
Terrence Chin-Loy
Pang

From: Phoenix, Arizona. LA Opera: Pang in Turandot (2024, debut).
American tenor Terrence Chin-Loy, whom Opera News described as having a “beautiful lyric tenor voice” pairs passionate performance with a full, sweet sound. In the 2022/23 season, Terrence will perform Tamino in The Magic Flute with the National Taichung Theater in Taiwan as well as at Arizona Opera, Don José in Carmen with MasterVoices at Lincoln Center, Old Head 2 and Charlie in the world premiere of Factotum with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Acis in Acis and Galatea with Eugene Opera, and join the roster of the Metropolitan Opera to cover the role of Arbace in Idomeneo. In concert, Terrence joins the North Carolina Symphony for Mozart’s Requiem, and the Boise Philharmonic for a performance of Hailstork’s I Will Life Mine Eyes as well as a residency with the College of Idaho.
Terrence opened the 2021/22 season in his solo debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones. He returned to Arizona Opera for his second and final season as a Marion Roose Pullin Resident Artist where he performed Henrik Egerman in A Little Night Music and Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Benny Paret Jr. in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Terence Blanchard's Champion. In concert, he performed and recorded Taneyev’s At the Reading of a Psalm with the American Symphony Orchestra and Leon Botstein at Carnegie Hall.
Learn more at TerrenceChinLoy.com.
Alan Williams
A Mandarin

From: San Bernardino, California. LA Opera: Abe in Omar (2022, debut); soloist in Frankenstein with Live Orchestra (2022); Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia (2023); Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro (2023); Jethro / Voice of God 2 in Moses (2023); Montano in Otello (2023); Masetto in Don Giovanni (2023). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2022.
Alan Williams recently received his specialist and master's degrees in voice performance from the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Daniel Washington. He received his undergraduate degree in 2018 from Northern Arizona University, where he studied with Dr. Judith Cloud.
He has performed a number of major roles with various festivals and universities including John P. Parker in Adolphus Hailstork’s Rise for Freedom: The John P. Parker Story, Rev. Olin Blitch in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah and the title role in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. He has also performed in various concerts with Detroit Opera, recently in Detroit Players Club Opera Event. In the fall of 2021, Alan was invited to sing for Jean Snyder's presentation on the works of Harry T. Burleigh at the Oxford Lieder Festival in Oxford, England. He has also had the honor of singing with Dr. Eugene Rogers' professional chamber choir Exigence since 2020.
He has received notable awards, recently earning an encouragement award at the Arizona District Laffont Competition. In 2021, he was named the winner of the Graduate Concerto Competition at the University of Michigan. Also during his M.M. studies at Michigan, he was selected as a national finalist in the 2019 National Association of Negro Musicians convention. In his undergraduate studies at Northern Arizona University, he was selected as a finalist for two consecutive years in the Rocky Mountain District for MONC auditions.
In the summer of 2022, he will join the Frank R. Brownell III Apprentice Program at Des Moines Metro Opera, where he will sing the role of Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and cover the role of the Lawyer in Porgy and Bess.
Ashley Faatoalia
Emperor Altoum

From: Los Angeles, California. LA Opera: Crab Man in Porgy and Bess (2007, debut); Sage/Counselor in The Festival Play of Daniel (2010); Habakkuk in The Festival Play of Daniel (2012); On Now recital (2021); the Digital Short We Hold These Truths (2022); Simon/Pharisee in The Three Women of Jerusalem (2022); Amadou in Omar (2022). He works regularly with LA Opera Connects as a teaching artist.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Ashley Faatoalia has been singing for as long as he can remember. He studied voice at Chapman University with Dr. Peter Atherton and since then he has been performing around the world.
In the first few years of his professional career, Ashley has become a sought-after vocalist for new works and experimental projects working closely with composers from across the country including, Lewis Pesacov, Rand Steiger, Bruno Louchouarn, Christopher Cerrone, Anne LeBaron and many more.
Often noted for his soaring tenor and warm stage presence, he has recently performed the role of Antron’s father in the premiere of Anthony Davis's Pulitzer Prize-winning Central Park Five with Long Beach Opera, the role of the Crab Man in Porgy and Bess with Seattle Opera, EUROPERAS with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Industry, Albert Hoffman in Anne LeBaron's LSD: The Opera with The Industry, his debut as Marco Polo in the premiere of Chris Cerrone's Emmy Award-winning and Pulitzer-Prize-nominated Invisible Cities with The Industry, Charles Edward in Candide with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and many more. He has also had the honor of singing the national anthem to sold-out audiences at Dodger Stadium and the Staples Center.
Upcoming work includes Remus in Treemonisha with Volcano Theatre of Toronto, recitals for LA Opera and more. He is featured on multiple professional recordings including the original cast recordings of Invisible Cities (CD/DVD/digital release) and The Edge of Forever (vinyl/digital release) and San Francisco Opera's production of Porgy and Bess (BluRay-DVD).
Learn more at AshleyFaatoalia.com.
Creative Team
- Conductor
- James Conlon
- Director
- Garnett Bruce
- Scenery
- David Hockney
- Costumes
- Ian Falconer
- Original Lighting Design
- Thomas J. Munn
- 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 66 different operas and more than 435 performances to date with the company. Highlights of recent seasons include the 2020 company premiere of The Anonymous Lover (L'Amant Anonyme) by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the 2021 company premiere of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, and the 2022 company premiere of Bach's St. Matthew Passion.
(Click here to visit James Conlon's Corner, where you can find essays, videos and conversations he has created especially for LA Opera.)
One of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, James Conlon 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 September 2021, he became Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
He 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).
Mr. Conlon has served as the Music Director of the Ravinia Festival, summer home of the Chicago Symphony (2005–15), 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. As a guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, he has led more than 270 performances since his 1976 debut. He has also conducted at leading opera houses and festivals including 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 LA Opera's Music Director since 2006, Mr. Conlon has led more performances than any other conductor in the company’s history—to date, over 420 performances of more than 60 different operas by over 20 composers. Highlights of his LA Opera tenure include conducting the company’s first Ring cycle, recently re-aired in a marathon webcast celebrating the performances’ tenth anniversary; initiating the groundbreaking Recovered Voices series, an ongoing commitment to staging masterpieces of 20th-century European opera that were suppressed by the Third Reich; and spearheading Britten 100/LA, a city-wide celebration honoring the centennial of that composer’s birth. During the period in which Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was closed due to the pandemic, Mr. Conlon conducted LA Opera’s live-streamed, socially distanced production—staged at the Colburn School—of The Anonymous Lover by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a prominent Black composer in 18th-century France. The performance was presented as an online-only event in fall 2020 and marked the work’s West Coast premiere. The Pavilion reopened in June 2021 with Mr. Conlon conducting the company premiere of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, with which LA Opera became the first major American opera company to perform live in its own theater since the coronavirus outbreak. The performance was subsequently released online for at-home viewing. During LA Opera’s 2021/22 season, Mr. Conlon conducts three operas long absent from the company’s repertory: Verdi’s Il Trovatore, which opens the season; Wagner’s Tannhäuser; and Verdi’s Aida. He also conducts John Neumeier’s ballet adaptation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, performed at LA Opera for the first time.
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.
Garnett Bruce
Director

From: Washington, DC. LA Opera: Turandot (2024, debut).
Garnett Bruce’s body of work includes directing at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera and his European opera debut staging Turandot for the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples among many others.
From 2008 to 2011 he was the artistic adviser and principal stage director for Opera Omaha, where he led a cycle of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas. He began directing for the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University in 2004, receiving a faculty appointment in 2006. He was on staff at the Aspen Music Festival and School from 1993 and joined the faculty from 1997 until 2019. In 2022 he joins the faculty of University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music as Lecturer in Opera Studies and Stage Director.
Born in Washington, D.C., Bruce was a choirboy at Washington National Cathedral and holds degrees in English and drama from Tufts University. After internships with Hal Prince and Leonard Bernstein in the early 1990’s, he joined the staffs of the Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera, and Opera Colorado. His award-winning production of La Cenerentola for Kansas City has traveled to Austin, Orlando, and Madison. Known especially for his large-scale work of the standard repertoire, he has created stagings of Turandot, Carmen, Tosca, Aida, Pagliacci and La Bohème that have been seen coast to coast.
Learn more at GarnettBruce.com.
David Hockney
Scenery

From: Bradford, England. LA Opera: Tristan und Isolde (1987, debut; also 1997, 2008); Die Frau ohne Schatten (1993, 2004); Turandot (2024).
A British artist based in Los Angeles for many years, David Hockney (born 1937) is a distinguished designer, artist and author whose work has been seen at the world’s most prestigious venues. He is among the most visible and well-known serious contemporary artists of our time. His distinctive style and use of color and light have graced an enormous range of art media since the 1960s, encompassing etchings, paintings, drawings, photographic collages and printing, as well as the creation of landmark theatrical designs for film, theater and opera.
For Glyndebourne Opera, he has designed productions of The Rake’s Progress and The Magic Flute. His designs for Turandot premiered in 1992 at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and were seen on PBS’ “Great Performances” at the San Francisco Opera. He has also designed sets and costumes for Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps, Le Rossignol and Oedipus Rex. In 1987-1988 he wrote, directed and was featured in the film A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China or Surface is Illusion but so is Depth, produced by Philip Haas. He is the author of Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters. In 1997 he received the Order of the Companion of Honour Award from Queen Elizabeth II.
Learn more about his art at Hockney.com.
Ian Falconer
Costumes

From: Ridgeville, Connecticut. LA Opera: Die Frau ohne Schatten (1993, debut; 2004); Turandot (2024).
The late Ian Falconer (1959-2023) studied at New York University, Parson’s School of Design and the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles. He worked as a painter, illustrator and scenic designer, and his work includes many theater productions in New York and Los Angeles. He designed the costumes for Tristan und Isolde and Die Frau ohne Schatten (LA Opera) and Turandot (Lyric Opera of Chicago), both of which had sets by David Hockney. He designed sets and costumes for New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. He designed many covers for The New Yorker and was the author and illustrator of all the titles in the bestselling Olivia series: Olivia, Olivia Saves the Circus, Olivia...and the Missing Toy, and Olivia Forms a Band.
Thomas J. Munn
Original Lighting Design

From: New Britain, Connecticut. LA Opera: Samson et Dalila (1999, debut); Turandot (2024).
Thomas J. Munn (1944-2022) was Resident Lighting Designer for the San Francisco Opera for over 20 years. In 1975 he was invited to design the lighting for Verdi's Macbeth for the Netherlands Opera. That production brought him to the attention to Kurt Herbert Adler, who invited him to join the San Francisco Opera production team. Tom designed the lighting for 285 productions for the company as well as dozens of productions for companies around the world.
In 2003, he was appointed Professor of Theatre and Dance at UC Davis, where he co-created the MFA program in theatre design. He took great joy in working with his students, sharing with them his love of the live performing arts, and passing on the traditions of his craft. He retired as professor emeritus in 2014.
Insatiably curious and even more energetic, Tom enthusiastically embraced new technologies in the theater. He developed innovative ways to use projections and was instrumental in installing some of the earliest computerized lighting systems. When the Opera House was renovated following the 1989 earthquake, he was an integral part of the design of the new theatrical lighting system. He also served as the lighting consultant for the 2006 renovation of the historic St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco.
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)

Read the synopsis

Synopsis
Act One
The drama unfolds in a legendary Peking, China. Princess Turandot will only marry a man who can solve her three riddles; all who fail must die. Many heroes have perished trying to win her hand. The kingdom has gathered to witness the execution of the latest to fail, the Prince of Persia. Timur, the deposed King of the Tartars, old and blind, hides among the crowd with his servant girl Liù. Timur falls when the crowd surges forward to see the Prince. Timur’s son Calaf, recognizing his father, helps the old man to his feet. The crowd cries out for blood, calling on the moon to rise, for that is the moment of execution. But when the Prince appears, he is pale, handsome, and barely more than a boy. The crowd takes pity on him and begs Turandot to have mercy on him. Turandot appears to signal the execution and Calaf is captivated by her heavenly beauty. Timur and Liù try to impress upon him that pursuing his infatuation will only end badly as the Prince of Persia is executed, but Calaf will hear none of it. Calaf rushes to strike the gong, thereby declaring his intention to pursue Turandot, but Ping, Pang and Pong, the Emperor’s ministers, intervene. They warn him that striking the gong leads to certain death, and Timur and Liù echo their entreaties while the ghosts of Turandot’s executed suitors egg Calaf on. Liù cannot bear Calaf’s obstinate, destructive resolve (“Signore, ascolta!”). Calaf tries to comfort her (“Non piangere, Liù”), but Liù only foresees certain death. He rushes forward and strikes the gong three times.
Act Two
Scene One
Ping, Pang, and Pong sit in a pavilion on the grounds of the palace recalling the countless executions they’ve seen since the birth of Princess Turandot. Thirteen men have already died this year, and the ministers are ready to make Calaf the 14th name on that list. They dream of the day when the executions will end, but preparations are already underway for Calaf.
Scene Two
Eight wise men appear in the square carrying scrolls with the answers to the three riddles (“Gravi, enormi ed impotenti”). The ancient Emperor, enthroned in venerable majesty, begs Calaf to leave, but the Tartar prince will not yield. Turandot recounts the story of Princess Lou-Ling, her ancestor, dragged away by invading Tartars (“In questa reggia”). Hatred for the man who killed her lives on in Turandot’s heart, and no man shall ever possess her. Turandot then speaks the riddles. Calaf answers each one correctly, but Turandot refuses to become his wife. He tells her that if she can discover his name before dawn, he will let her have him executed.
Act Three
The heralds announce that by order of Princess Turandot, tonight no man shall sleep. Death will be the penalty if the stranger’s name is not known by dawn. Calaf vows to only reveal his name to Turandot once daylight has broken (“Nessun dorma!”). Ping, Pang, and Pong try to wrench the secret from Calaf, but he refuses all of their attempts to elicit his name. Soldiers bring in Timur and Liù, and Turandot enters to interrogate them. Liù declares that she alone knows the stranger’s name. The soldiers try to torture it out of her, but she grabs one of their daggers and stabs herself, declaring that by her sacrifice, the princess will come to love the stranger. Timur follows Liù’s body as the people lift it and carry it away. Calaf indignantly kisses Turandot, trying to thaw the princess of ice (“Principessa di morte!”). Dawn breaks, and with it, Turandot’s resolve. When the crowd asks if she knows the stranger’s name, she replies, looking into Calaf’s eyes, “His name is love!” Spared death, the populace celebrates their happiness.
Sung in Italian with English subtitles
Running time: two hours and 55 minutes, including two intermissions
Production from San Francisco Opera
Single Tickets Available Later in 2023
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