Livestreams for Tannhäuser concluded on October 27, we hope you enjoyed the performance.
LA Opera will be offering two livestreamed performances of Tannhäuser for audience members who are unable to attend an in-person performance, or prefer to watch from their home at this time. As these two performances will be livestreamed from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, they will not be able to be re-watched. Access to these performances is $30 per person.
If you are a current ticketholder and would like to exchange into one of our live broadcast performances of Tannhäuser, you can do so by either logging into your account or calling our box office at 213.972.8001 (Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm).
After escaping an erotic entrapment with the goddess Venus, Tannhäuser returns to the real world to pursue the virtuous love of a mortal woman. But in a momentary lapse of judgment, he shocks the town with a passionate affirmation of carnal delights... which definitely doesn't help him woo the innocent young woman heʼs smitten with.
Watch a sneak peek of Tannhäuser below:
Cast
- TANNHÄUSER
- Issachah Savage
- Elisabeth
- Sara Jakubiak
- Venus
- Yulia Matochkina
- Hermann
- Morris Robinson
- Wolfram
- Lucas Meachem
- Biterolf
- Philip Cokorinos
- Walther von der vogelwide
- Heinrich der schreiber
- Reinmar
- Patrick Blackwell
- Voice of Shepherd
- Erica Petrocelli
Issachah Savage
TANNHÄUSER

From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. LA Opera: Narraboth in Salome (2017, debut). Upcoming: title role in Tannhäuser (2021).
The profile of American tenor Issachah Savage was dramatically raised when he swept the boards at Seattle’s International Wagner Competition in 2014, taking the first prize, audience prize and orchestra favorite award. Formerly a member of San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Program, he performed a varied repertoire including scenes from Samson et Dalila, Lohengrin, Die Walküre and Parsifal. His performance of the last act of Verdi’s Otello, inspired the San Francisco Chronicle to write “From his opening notes — impeccably shaded and coiled with repressed fury — to the opera’s final explosion of grief and shame, Savage sang with a combination of power and finesse that is rare to observe.”
Operatic milestones of Issachah Savage’s recent seasons include his debut as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos at Seattle Opera under Lawrence Renes, his Metropolitan Opera debut as Don Riccardo in Ernani conducted by James Levine, his LA Opera debut as Narraboth in Salome, conducted by James Conlon, and his first Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Canadian Opera Company under Johannes Debus. At Austin Lyric Opera, he has appeared in two of Verdi’s most demanding roles, as Otello and as Radames in Aida, the latter role also marking his debut at Houston Grand Opera, under the baton of Antonino Fogliani. It was in the 2018/19 season that he made three major European debuts to great acclaim: as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos at Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse under Evan Rogister, as Siegmund in Die Walküre with Opéra National de Bordeaux conducted by Paul Daniel and as the High Priest of Neptune in Idomeneo in Peter Sellars’ acclaimed new staging for the 2019 Salzburg Festival, conducted by Theodore Currentzis.
In semi-staged opera performance, Savage has appeared with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as the Messenger in Aida, the Opera Orchestra of New York in Massenet’s La Navarraise, the National Philharmonic at Strathmore in the title role of Wagner’s Rienzi and with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra as Manrico in Il Trovatore under Sebastian Lang-Lessing. At both the Aspen Music Festival under Robert Spano and at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Jacques Lacombe, Savage again received critical acclaim as Verdi’s Radames.
Equally at home on the concert platform, Issachah Savage has a wide repertoire that includes mainstay works such as Beethove's Symphony No 9, Verdi's Requiem and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde alongside less-frequently performed pieces like Stravinsky's Pulcinella, Weill's Lost in the Stars and Gershwin's Blue Monday. Savage sang the world premieres of Wynton Marsalis’s All Rise under the late Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, and of Leslie Savoy Burr’s Egypt’s Night with Philadelphia’s Opera North. A much in demand concert soloist, Savage has performed under Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at both the Hollywood Bowl and New York’s David Geffen Hall, under Paul Daniel with the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, under Stephane Deneve and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, under Lawrence Renes and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and under Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to name but a few.
In addition to his great competition success in Seattle, Issachah Savage has received a number of prestigious awards, recognition and career grants from institutions including the Wagner Societies of New York, Washington DC and Northern California, the Licia Albanese International Puccini Foundation, the Olga Forrai and Gerda Lissner Foundations and he was honored in the early stages of his career development as the first ever "Scholar Artist" of the Marian Anderson Society of Philadelphia.
Current and future seasons include a return to Bordeaux for Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Paul Daniel, concert appearances with both the Dallas Symphony and Washington National Symphony Orchestras and his long-awaited and postponed role debut as Wagner’s Tannhäuser with LA Opera.
Sara Jakubiak
Elisabeth

From: Bay City, Michigan. LA Opera: Elisabeth in Tannhäuser (2021, debut).
Admired by the New York Times for her “plush-voiced, impressive soprano,” Sara Jakubiak has captivated audiences with her rich chameleon voice and committed performances. In 2018 she created the role of Heliane in Christof Loy’s universally hailed production of Das Wunder der Heliane at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Marc Albrecht conducting. Other recent highlights include Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under Kirill Petrenko at Bavarian State Opera, Agathe in Der Freischütz with Christian Thielemann at Semperoper Dresden and portrayals of Tatiana in Eugene Onegin and Marta in The Passenger in new productions at Oper Frankfurt. Other roles have included Marie in Wozzeck at English National Opera, Polina in The Gambler at Dutch National Opera, Marietta in Die tote Stadt at Hamburg State Opera, Elsa in Johannes Erath’s production of Lohengrin with costumes by Christian Lacroix at Graz Oper and Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with Zubin Mehta and the Israeli Philharmonic.
Her schedule for the 2020/21 season included both Venus and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and a revival of Das Wunder der Heliane with the Deutsche Oper Berlin (both cancelled, along with the originally planned 2020 production of Tannhäuser in Los Angeles). Still on the schedule (as of January 2021), she will perform the title role of Francesca da Rimini in a new Christof Loy production with the Deutsche Oper Berlin in March 2021. In June of 2021, she will make her Vienna State Opera debut as Elsa in Lohengrin.
Performances originally scheduled for the 2019/20 season included house debuts of Chrysothemis in a new production of Elektra by Christof Loy conducted by Antonio Pappano at Covent Garden and also in a Robert Carsen production conducted by Marc Albrecht at Palau de les Artes in Valencia, Weinberger’s Schwanda at the Komische Oper Berlin, and concert performances included Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Munich Philharmonic conducted by Francois Xavier Roth, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with the London Philharmonic with Edward Gardner, excerpts from Tannhauser as Elisabeth with the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Andris Nelsons and excerpts from Die Walküre as Sieglinde at the Verbier Festival with Gianandrea Noseda. She reprised Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Semperoper Dresden with Christian Thielemann.
During the 2018/19 season, Ms. Jakubiak sang Marietta in a new production of Die tote Stadt at the Komische Oper directed by Robert Carsen. She joined Kirill Petrenko in a reprise of her role as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with the Bavarian State Opera. She will sang Elsa in Theater Bonn’s new production of Lohengrin. Ms. Jakubiak sang Strauss’ Four Last Songs with Symphony Orchestra Vlaanderen with Dmitri Jurowski. Other concert performances included the U.S. premiere of Martinu’s Julietta with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Janácek’s Glagolotic Mass with Hallé Orchestra and Erwartung with Bergen Philharmonic, both with Edward Gardiner. She also made a studio recording of Erwartung with the Chandos label.
Ms. Jakubiak distinguished herself in a wide range of roles while a fest singer at Oper Frankfurt (2014–2018). These roles included Prima Donna in Ariadne auf Naxos, Marie in Die tote Stadt, Lina in Stiffelio, Polina in The Gambler, Marie in Der Diktator, Alice Ford in Falstaff, the Goose Girl in Königskinder and Freia in Das Rheingold. Earlier in her career she portrayed Dede in City Opera’s New York premiere production of A Quiet Place and premiered the role of Cathy in Minnesota Opera’s production of Bernard Hermann’s Wuthering Heights.
Ms Jakubiak can be seen on DVD as Agathe in Der Freischütz (Thielemann/Kohler) and a forthcoming Naxos Records release of Das Wunder der Heliane (Albrecht /Loy). She can be heard on the Grammy-nominated Chandos recording of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass (Gardiner/Bergen Philharmonic) and as Fiora in Montemezzi’s L’Amore dei Tre Re (Borowicz/Polish Radio Symphony).
Sara Jakubiak is of Polish and German decent and originally hails from Bay City, Michigan. She was a star fast-pitch softball player, competing in tournaments throughout the United States and won two State Championships. Sara holds master degrees from Yale University and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Yulia Matochkina
Venus

From: Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. LA Opera: Venus in Tannhäuser (2021, debut).
A leading soloist at Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, Yulia Matochkina has made a name for herself as one of Russia’s foremost mezzo-sopranos. Her extensive repertoire consists of nearly 50 operatic and concert roles, including Amneris in Aida, Eboli in Don Carlo, the Princess of Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur, Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust, Carmen, Didon in Les Troyens, Dalila in Samson et Dalila), Venus in Tannhäuser, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, Kundry in Parsifal, Polina in The Queen of Spades, Marfa in Khovanshchina, Lyubasha in The Tsar’s Bride and Clara d’Almanza in Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery as well as the mezzo and contralto parts in the Requiems of Mozart and Verdi, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Second and Eighth Symphonies and Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette.
Yulia Matochkina came to international prominence in 2015, when she won the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. She performs regularly at the Moscow Easter Festival and at St Petersburg’s Stars of the White Nights Festival and has also appeared at the Edinburgh and Verbier Festivals and at the BBC Proms in London. Guest engagements have additionally taken her to major international venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Teatre del Liceu and Auditori in Barcelona, the Munich Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Rome Opera, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre and the RAI Auditorium in Rome.
As a member of the Mariinsky company, Yulia Matochkina has toured Austria, Finland, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United States as well as Japan and China.
Morris Robinson
Hermann

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.
Lucas Meachem
Wolfram

From: Raleigh, North Carolina. LA Opera: Figaro in The Barber of Seville (2009, debut); Figaro in The Ghosts of Versailles (2015); Wolfram in Tannhäuser (2021); Count in The Marriage of Figaro (2023); title role in Don Giovanni (2023).
Grammy Award-winning baritone Lucas Meachem, one of the most accomplished, in-demand singers of the moment, continues to captivate audiences worldwide with his “earnest, appealing baritone” (The New York Times). The “rock star of opera” (Opera Pulse) began his 2022/23 season with performances as the title role in Don Giovanni at Ravinia Festival, followed by Escamillo in Carmen with Canadian Opera Company and Opéra National de Paris, Marcello in La Bohème with Bayerische Staatsoper, and Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro with LA Opera. Rounding out the season with a return to Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at San Francisco Opera, other highlights include Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at Dallas Opera, and guest soloist appearances with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Classical Tahoe and San Francisco Opera.
Celebrated by Opera News as a “masterful musician” with an “instrument of striking finish, smooth and solid throughout its range,” Meachem’s recent performances include Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at Royal Opera House, Marcello in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera, and the title role in Nabucco at Oper im Steinbruch. Additionally, Meachem’s Teatro alla Scala debut in Massenet’s Thaïs was acclaimed as the “most impressive performance of the evening” (Opera Online), with his portrayal of Athanaël, alongside Marina Rebeka’s Thaïs, described as “possibly one of the great duos experienced at La Scala in recent decades” (Beckmesser).
When Covid struck and performances were canceled abruptly, Meachem was one of the first classical musicians to live stream a recital from the opera stage, just days after lockdown on March 23, 2020. In a recent profile with Opera News, Meachem revealed that, in March 2020, he felt at loose ends. With debut performances of Rodrigo in Don Carlos at Dallas Opera indefinitely postponed, he and his wife, pianist Irina Meachem, arranged a live-streamed program from the Winspear Opera House. The concert, recorded on smartphones with just two other people in the room, amassed more than 25,000 views on Instagram and Facebook, setting the standard for digital performances over the pandemic. While theaters were dark, Meachem continued to perform on the physical and digital stage, singing his “signature role for good reason” (Opera News) as Figaro in San Francisco Opera’s The Barber of Seville for an innovative “drive-in” experience. Meachem then filmed a movie version of Pagliacci as the romantic lead Silvio with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, set within their own opera house.
Named the winner of San Francisco Opera’s inaugural “Emerging Star of the Year” Award in 2016, other notable performances in Meachem’s American career include marking his 50th role debut as Athanaël in Thaïs (Minnesota Opera), Chorèbe in Les Troyens, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Valentin in Faust at Chicago Lyric Opera; General Rayevsky in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, Silvio in Pagliacci, and Mercutio in Roméo and Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera; Don Giovanni with Chicago Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New Orleans Opera, and Cincinnati Opera; Germont in La Traviata at Washington National Opera; The Barber of Seville at San Diego Opera, Opera Colorado, Houston Grand Opera and LA Opera, where he also gave his Grammy Award-winning performance of Figaro in The Ghosts of Versailles.
A regular performer across Europe, Meachem has performed the title role in The Barber of Seville with the Vienna Staatsoper, Royal Opera House, and Den Norske Opera; the title role in Don Giovanni at Glyndebourne Festival and Semperoper Dresden; the title role in Britten’s Billy Budd at Opéra national de Paris; as Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro at Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and Royal Opera House; Wolfram von Eschenbach in Tannhäuser at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan under the baton of Seiji Ozawa; the title role in Eugene Onegin with Komische Oper Berlin and Opéra national de Montpellier; Zurga in The Pearl Fishers at Bilbao Opera; Escamillo in Carmen with Teatro Regio di Torino; and with the Teatro Real de Madrid in the world premiere of José Maria Sánchez-Verdú's El Viaje a Simorgh, Frank/Fritz in Die Tote Stadt, as well as Oreste in Iphigénie en Tauride.
Meachem’s first solo album, Shall We Gather, released in September 2021 under Rubicon Records and featuring his wife, Irina Meachem, at the piano, was praised by BBC Music Magazine as having “vibrant and committed performances,” with Meachem delivering “a heartbreakingly beautiful performance.” According to The New Yorker, the album of American songs is “a plea for togetherness in a divided country. Meachem’s voice—a substantial and propulsive lyric baritone with pillowy edges—records beautifully.”
In July 2020, the Meachems founded Perfect Day Music Foundation (PDMF). The foundation aims to represent inclusivity and diversity of people today by using classical music as a relevant medium to address current issues through a traditional art form. The Foundation’s annual competition, which utilizes social media in its application process to raise awareness for new compositions, centers around a yearly theme that highlights an important demographic of classical music.
Born in North Carolina, Lucas Meachem studied music at Appalachian State University, the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University before becoming an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera.
Learn more at LucasMeachem.com
Philip Cokorinos
Biterolf

From: New York City. LA Opera: Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohème (2007, debut; 2012; 2016); 19 productions to date including the Sacristan in Tosca (2013; 2017); Suleyman Pasha in The Ghosts of Versailles (2015), Bartolo in The Barber of Seville (2015); Biterolf in Tannhäuser (2021). Upcoming: Sacristan in Tosca (2022).
Hailed by Opera News for his “comedic high jinks” and “first-rate singing,” Philip Cokorinos was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1985. He went on to make his Met debut during the 1987/88 season. Since then, he appeared in more than 400 performances of 40 operas at the Met, including “Live from The Met” telecasts of Don Giovanni; the world premiere of The Ghosts of Versailles; and the Met premieres of Sly, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Gambler, and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk, to name a few. He appeared many times in their productions of the standard repertoire including Tosca, La Bohème, The Girl of the Golden West, La Traviata, Adriana Lecouvreur, La Rondine, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Macbeth, Manon, Don Carlo, Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Manon Lescaut, and The Marriage of Figaro, under the baton of Maestro James Levine. His recent appearances at this esteemed house include several Met Live in HD broadcasts including Manon, The Girl of the Golden West, The Nose, Werther, Manon Lescaut, The Marriage of Figaro, La Bohème and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
In the 2021/22 season, his Metropolitan Opera appearances include the Wigmaker in Ariadne auf Naxos. In the 2022/23 season, his appearances there include Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohème.
Mr. Cokorinos recently performed as the Second Nazarene in Salome with the Spoleto Festival USA and as the Grandfather in the U.S. premiere of Martinů’s Julietta with American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Elsewhere in recent seasons, he performed the title role in Don Pasquale with Opera Santa Barbara and Anchorage Opera; performed the roles of Archibaldo in L’Amore dei Tre Re and the Priest in La Campana Sommersa and debuted the role of Riolobo in Florencia en el Amazonas, all with New York City Opera; sang Daland in The Flying Dutchman with Lyric Opera of Kansas City; and added Swallow in Peter Grimes to his many roles with Chautauqua Opera, which include Méphistophélès in Faust, Oroveso in Norma, the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. With Opera Colorado, he sang Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola and the Sacristan in Tosca; with the Spoleto Festival USA, Coley in Flora and Capellio in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi; and with Central City Opera, Don Marco in The Saint of Bleecker Street, Pandolfe in Cendrillon, and his most frequently performed role: Leporello in Don Giovanni.
Additional North American engagements include Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette with Opera Carolina and Nashville Opera; Rocco in Fidelio with Palm Beach Opera; and Timur in Turandot with Florida Grand Opera. Canadian appearances include Banquo in Macbeth with Edmonton Opera and Basilio in The Barber of Seville with Calgary Opera and Opera Lyra Ottawa; Don Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte with Atlanta Opera, and multiple productions with Glimmerglass Opera, including Il Matrimonio Segreto, Le comte Ory, The Barber of Seville, and La Finta Giardiniera.
On the concert stage, Mr. Cokorinos’ notable symphonic appearances include Haydn’s Creation and Händel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall, and Herod in Berlioz’ L’Enfance du Christ telecast with NHK Symphony in Tokyo. He appeared in concert with the Minnesota Orchestra; Cincinnati May Festival; Spoleto Festival USA; Spokane Symphony; The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Jacksonville Symphony; The Little Orchestra Society of New York; and in several performances with Opera Orchestra of New York including Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Raimondo in Wagner’s Rienzi, Rochefort in Anna Bolena, Astarote in Armida, Cardinal de Brogni in La Juive, the Prefect in Linda di Chamounix, Capellio in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Sarastro in The Magic Flute, staged in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
His discography includes two works of Hector Berlioz with the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit: Herod in L’Enfance du Christ and Wagner in Huit Scenes de Faust, both released on DECCA. He can also be heard on the world-première recording of Stephen Paulus’ oratorio To Be Certain of the Dawn with the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vanska, and the Grammy Award-winning recording of Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles with LA Opera.
Walther von der vogelwide
Heinrich der schreiber
Patrick Blackwell
Reinmar

From: New York City, New York. LA Opera: Lt. Ratcliffe in Billy Budd (2014, debut); many subsequent appearances including Aye in Akhnaten (2016); Noah in Noah's Flood (2017); Krishna in Satyagraha (2018); Alcindoro in La Bohème (2019); Reinmar in Tannhäuser (2021); Suleiman in Omar (2022); Physician in Pelleas et Melisande (2023); Baron Douphol in La Traviata (2024).
Patrick Blackwell continues to expand his impressive repertoire in opera, oratorio and musical theater. His career has seen him engaged by many of the leading opera companies and orchestras of the U.S. and Europe, including appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Festival, Munich Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago and LA Opera. He trained at the Juilliard School and began his career as a young artist with the Santa Fe Opera, Houston Opera Studio, the Merola Opera Program with San Francisco Opera, Opera Music Theatre International with Jerome Hines and Aspen Opera.
In July 2023, he appears with the Opera Festival of Chicago in An Italian Soirée and as Leone in Verdi's Attila. His appearances for the 2023/24 season include a return to LA Opera as Baron Douphol in La Traviata and a debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Don Fernando in Fidelio.
He has appeared in concert with the Munich Philharmonic in Porgy and Bess conducted by Lorin Maazel and in the title role of Porgy on a European tour with NY Harlem Productions. His association with this piece is extensive, having appeared as Porgy and other roles with Utah Opera, the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Fresno Grand Opera, the Castleton Festival, conducted by Lorin Maazel, and on tour throughout the United States.
On the concert platform, Mr. Blackwell is highly sought after as the bass soloist in Verdi’s Requiem. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in the world premiere of Earnestine Rodgers Robinson’s Crucifixion in addition to performing works by Mozart at the Arts Festival in North Korea, the Fauré Requiem with the Fresno Philharmonic and Osride in Mose in Egitto by Rossini with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center.
In the United States, Mr. Blackwell’s operatic engagements have included Leporello in Don Giovanni, Colline in La Boheme, Zuniga in Carmen for New York City Opera, First Nazarene in Salome and Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro for Utah Opera, Sarastro in The Magic Flute for Fresno Grand Opera, Ferrando in Il Trovatore for Knoxville Opera, the King in Aïda and Melitone in La Forza del Destino for New Jersey State Opera and Tom in Un Ballo in Maschera for New Orleans Opera.
With Chicago Lyric Opera Mr. Blackwell’s roles have included Burnah in Amistad, Henry Davis in Street Scene, Cal in Regina and the Duke of Verona in Roméo et Juliette.
Recent engagements include Zuniga in Carmen with San Diego Opera and Méphistophélès in Faust with Valley Opera & Performing Arts.
Erica Petrocelli
Voice of Shepherd

From: East Greenwich, Rhode Island. LA Opera: roles including Mrs. Naidoo in Satyagraha (2018, debut); Musetta in La Bohème (2019); title role in Eurydice (2020); Shepherd in Tannhäuser (2021); Clorinda in Cinderella (2021); Donna Clara in The Dwarf (2024).
Erica Petrocelli was a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program from 2018 to 2020. Her additional company appearances include Annina in La Traviata (2019), the First Lady in The Magic Flute (2019) and both Thetis and Eurydice in Stefano Landi's The Death of Orpheus (2020).
She recently completed her tenure as a studio member with Opernhaus Zürich. Her engagements for the 2022/23 season include guest appearances with Opernhaus Zürich as Musetta in La Bohème and the First Lady in The Magic Flute, Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1: Jeremiah with James Conlon and the Baltimore Symphony, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the Ravinia Festival, also with James Conlon.
In the 2021/22 season, Ms. Petrocelli performed Pamina in The Magic Flute at Opera Theater of St. Louis, and also joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for Mozart’s Requiem. As a Studio member in Zürich, she performed Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Delia in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims, she also covered the title role in Arabella and Stella in The Tales of Hoffmann.
In the 2019/20 season, she made her principal debut at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, as Micaëla in Carmen.
Creative Team
- Conductor
- James Conlon
- Original production
- Ian Judge
- Director
- Louisa Muller
- Scenery and costumes
- Gottfried Pilz
- choreographer
- Aszure Barton
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. 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, the 2022 company premiere of Bach's St. Matthew Passion and a 2023 production of Verdi's Otello.
(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 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 450 performances of 67 different operas by more than 30 different composers. Highlights of his LA Opera tenure include conducting the company’s first Ring cycle; 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 2022/23 season, Mr. Conlon conducted two operas long absent from the company’s repertory, Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Verdi's Otello, along with a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.
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.
Ian Judge
Original production

Ian Judge first joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1975. His productions there include The Wizard of Oz, The Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour's Lost, Twelfth Night, A Christmas Carol, The Relapse, Troilus and Cressida and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Theatrical credits elsewhere include The Rivals and King Lear at the Old Vic; Banana Ridge, One For The Pot and Peter Pan at the Shaw Festival in Canada; Macbeth for the Sydney Theatre Company; and Henry VIII and Love for Love for Chichester Festival Theatre.
Opera repertoire includes Madama Butterfly, Tosca, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Carlo, Roméo et Juliette, Tannhäuser and The Stigmatized (LA Opera); The Tales of Hoffmann (Sydney, Houston, Opera Pacific); Faust, The Merry Widow, Cav/Pag, La Belle Vivette, Don Quixote, Mefistofele (English National Opera, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires); The Flying Dutchman, Simon Boccanegra (Royal Opera House Covent Garden); Simon Boccanegra (Washington, Dallas); Macbeth (Cologne) and Faust, Tosca, Macbeth, Boris Godunov, Acis and Galatea and Attila (Opera North); Norma (Scottish Opera, Buhnen Graz); La Bohème (Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg), The Mikado (Savoy Theatre), Salome (New York City Opera); Falstaff (Theatre du Châtelet in Paris); and Tannhäuser (Madrid).
Louisa Muller
Director

From: Westerly, Rhode Island. LA Opera: Don Carlo. (2018, debut). Upcoming: Tannhäuser (2021).
Heralded by Opera News for her “absorbing, provocative staging,” Louisa Muller made her European debut in 2019, directing a critically-acclaimed new production of The Turn of the Screw for Garsington Opera. In the 2019/20 season, she returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to direct Madama Butterfly, in addition to returning to the Metropolitan Opera roster for Akhnaten. Previously, she debuted with Minnesota Opera and LA Opera, for La Traviata and Don Carlo, respectively, and returned to the Metropolitan Opera for its revival of Don Giovanni. She also returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to stage the Rising Stars Concert.
She received rich critical acclaim for her 2017 staging of Das Rheingold with the New York Philharmonic, which the New York Times called “riveting…a remarkable evening of music theater” and named among its list of the Best Classical Music Performances of the year. Since 2015, she has been a frequent and beloved presence at Wolf Trap Opera, where she has directed new productions of Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles, called “a dazzling thing all around” by the Washington Post; The Rape of Lucretia, with the Washington Post again heralding her work as “an intense wallop of a well-sung production;” Tosca, praised as “searing summer verismo” by Washington Classical Review; and Roméo et Juliette, “the drama taut” and with “compelling stage pictures,” reported the Washington Post.
As a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s directing staff, Ms. Muller has helmed previous revivals of Don Giovanni as well as Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci and L'elisir d'amore. At the famed company, she has assisted directors such as David McVicar, Robert Lepage, Robert Carsen, Bartlett Sher, Michael Grandage, Stephen Wadsworth, Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier, John Copley, and Giancarlo del Monaco.
Previously she was a staff director at Houston Grand Opera, where she prepared alternate casts of La Bohème and Beatrice and Benedict and directed Theofanidis's The Refuge, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly at Miller Outdoor Theatre. She has also served on the directing staffs of Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Opera North (USA).
Invested in the dramatic training for singers, she has been a faculty member of the Scuola di Belcanto, Urbania and has worked regularly with the artists in the renowned Houston Grand Opera Studio. She has served as a guest dramatic coach at the National Opera Studio in London, Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artists’ Vocal Academy, Wolf Trap Opera Studio, Lawrence University, and the University of Texas at Brownsville, as well as directing opera scenes for the Santa Fe Opera Houston Grand Opera Studio, and Wolf Trap Opera Studio.
She holds degrees from Lawrence University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a citizen of the United States and Germany and makes her home in Vienna.
Gottfried Pilz
Scenery and costumes

From: Salzburg, Austria. LA Opera: The Queen of Spades (2001, debut); Bluebeard's Castle (2002); Gianni Schicchi (2002); Tannhäuser (2007). Upcoming: Tannhäuser (2021).
Gottfried Pilz has worked as a stage and costume designer for the opera houses of Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, London, New York and Moscow, collaborating with esteemed directors including John Dew (Les Huguenots at the Deutsche Oper Berlin), Götz Friedrich (the Ring cycle at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki), and William Friedkin (LA Opera's double bill of Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Gianni Schicchi).
In 1993 he made his directorial debut with The Queen of Spades at LA Opera. Subsequent productions include the German premiere of Saint François d'Assise at the Leipzig Opera, Die Walkure in St. Petersburg and In hora mortis / The Book with Seven Seals at the Bielefeld Theater. Other engagements have taken him to Madrid, the Salzburg Festival and the Metropolitan Opera. His set designs for the Bavarian State Opera in Munich include Slaughterhouse 5, The Prince of Homburg, Falstaff and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Aszure Barton
choreographer

From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. LA Opera: Tannhäuser (2021, debut).
Aszure Barton recently relocated to Los Angeles from New York City, where she was based for almost two decades. She received her formal dance training from Canada’s National Ballet School, where she helped originate the Stephen Godfrey Choreographic Showcase as a student.
She has now been creating dances for over 25 years and has collaborated with celebrated dance artists and companies including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Teatro alla Scala, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, English National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Nederlands Dans Theater, National Ballet of Canada, Martha Graham Dance Company, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Sydney Dance Company, Houston Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, among many others. Her works have been performed on countless international stages including the Palais Garnier (Paris), Mariinsky Theater (Moscow), The Kennedy Center (DC), The Alicia Alonso Grand Theater (Cuba), and Lincoln Center (NY).
She is the founder of Aszure Barton & Artists, an inter-disciplinary international dance project. Other choreography credits include the Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera directed by Scott Elliott, translated by Wallace Shawn, and starring Cyndi Lauper, Alan Cumming, Jim Dale, Nellie Mackay, and Ana Gasteyer; film and installation projects, and international outreach activities such as Kenya’s Earth Project: Healing the Rift at the Laikipia Nature Conservancy. Her choreography has been featured in numerous television projects, including the Sundance Channel’s Iconoclasts series with Alice Waters and Mikhail Baryshnikov. She has received accolades and honors including the prestigious Arts & Letters Award, joining the ranks of Oscar Peterson, Eugene Levy, Karen Kain, Paul Shaffer, Alex Trebek, Christopher Plummer, and Margaret Atwood. She was the first Martha Duffy resident artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and is an official ambassador of contemporary dance in Canada. As an educator, Barton is regularly invited to collaborate with and give workshops at universities and art institutions around the globe.
For more information, visit AszureBarton.com.

Synopsis

Synopsis
Act One
In the Venusberg, magical abode of Venus, the minnesinger Tannhäuser halfheartedly praises the goddess of beauty, who for more than a year has bestowed her love upon him. Venus promises greater revels when Tannhäuser asks for his freedom, but she curses his hopes of salvation when he longs for the simple pleasures and pains of earthly life. In response he calls on the Virgin Mary, and the Venusberg vanishes.
Tannhäuser finds himself near the castle of the Wartburg, where passing pilgrims inspire him to laud the wonders of God. Horns announce the Landgrave Hermann and his knights, who recognize their long-lost comrade and invite him to the castle. One of them, Wolfram von Eschenbach, reminds Tannhäuser that in the past his singing won the love of Elisabeth, the landgrave's beautiful niece. On hearing her name, Tannhäuser embraces and joins his companions.
Act Two
In the Hall of Song in the Wartburg, Elisabeth hails the place where she first heard Tannhäuser's voice. Wolfram reunites the happy pair, who sings God's praises. As guests arrive, the landgrave promises Elisabeth's hand to the winner of a contest of love songs. Wolfram delivers an idealized tribute to Elisabeth, whom he too has loved. Tannhäuser, his soul still possessed by Venus, counters with a frenzied hymn to the pleasures of worldly love. Everyone is shocked, but Elisabeth protects Tannhäuser from harm, securing her uncle’s pardon for her beloved on the condition that he make a pilgrimage to Rome to seek absolution.
Act Three
Several months later, Wolfram discovers Elisabeth at evening prayer before a shrine in the Wartburg valley. She searches among approaching pilgrims for Tannhäuser, but in vain. Broken, she prays to the Virgin to receive her soul in heaven. Wolfram, alone, asks the evening star to guide her on her way. Tannhäuser now staggers in wearily to relate that despite his abject penitence, the Pope decreed he could as soon be forgiven as the papal staff could break into flower. The desperate man calls to Venus, but she vanishes when Tannhäuser is reminded again by Wolfram of Elisabeth, whose funeral procession now nears. Tannhäuser collapses, dying, by her bier. A chorus of pilgrims enters, recounting a miracle: the Pope’s staff, which they bear forward, has blossomed.
Synopsis by John W. Freeman, reprinted courtesy of Opera News.
An LA Opera original production
Performed in German with English subtitles
Running time approx: 4 hours, with two intermissions
Get Livestream Access Below
-
AvailableOnline{{ performance.display_day }}{{ performance.display_month_clean }} {{ performance.display_date }}