OperaFest LA
Magdalene
Presented by Beth Morrison Projects
REDCAT
631 W 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90012
- June 4, 8:00 p.m.
- June 5, 8:00 p.m.
- June 7, 8:00 p.m.
- June 8, 8:00 p.m.
Composed by Leila Adu, Ruby Kato Attwood, Danielle Birrittella, Sheena Birrittella, Christina Courtin, Gabrielle Herbst, Molly Joyce, Emma O'Halloran, Tanner Porter, Kamla Sankara, Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir, Annika Scolofsky, and Gyda Valtýsdóttir, with additional music by Ellen Reid.
Libretto by Marie Howe
Music Directed by Mila Henry
Directed by Zoe Aja Moore
Magdalene is a chamber opera: a wild meditation on transformation and desire scored by the collective voices of fourteen women. Set to Marie Howe’s Magdalene poems, the opera invites an audience into the interior world of Mary Magdalene — enlarging her to cross time and space, she appears as a woman alive now, who strives to heal the unyielding split between the sacred and the sexual. Encountering her life in flashes – wandering through a hotel, lighting birthday candles, making love in the ocean – Magdalene finds transcendence in the mundane to finally become the subject of her own story.
Fire and Blue Sky
Presented by LA Opera
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
- June 6, 7:30 p.m.
Composed by Joel Thompson
Libretto by Imani Tolliver
Conducted by Lina González-Granados
Every family has secrets. This family is grappling with the fallout.
Russell is just a regular kid growing up beneath the shade of Miami palms, but everything changes when a family secret is inadvertently revealed. Join us for this heartfelt journey that follows a mother and son as they move past their pain and toward hope and healing.
Tenor Russell Thomas bares his remarkable story in the world premiere of Fire and Blue Sky from Emmy-winning composer Joel Thompson and celebrated LA poet Imani Tolliver. Deborah Nansteel joins Thomas as his mother. Featuring the LA Opera Orchestra under the baton of Lina González-Granados.
The concert will also feature an orchestral suite from Joel Thompson's opera The Snowy Day.
Turandot
Presented by LA Opera
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
- June 2, 2:00 p.m.
- June 5, 7:30 p.m.
- June 8, 7:30 p.m.
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni
Conducted by James Conlon
Directed by Garnett Bruce
Scenery by David Hockney
Costumes by Ian Falconer
Original Lighting Design by Thomas J. Munn
Chorus Jeremy Frank
Choreography by Kitty McNamee
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.
Renée Fleming in Recital
Presented by LA Opera
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
- June 15, 7:30 p.m.
Don't miss an unforgettable evening with a living legend. The iconic soprano closes out the season with an enchanting evening of arias and songs by Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and more! This is your chance to savor the exquisite voice and peerless artistry of this longtime audience favorite, treasured for her unforgettable LA Opera appearances in La Traviata, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Light in the Piazza, as well as numerous concerts and recitals.
Ipsa Dixit
Presented by Long Beach Opera
Art Theatre of Long Beach
2025 E. 4th Street, Long Beach, CA 90814
- June 1, 7:30 p.m.
- June 8, 7:30 p.m.
- June 9, 2:30 p.m.
Composed by Kate Soper
Libretto by Kate Soper
Directed by James Darrah
Music Directed by Christopher Rountree
Premiered in New York in December 2016 and a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Music, Ipsa Dixit by Kate Soper is not your typical opera. Dubbed a "philosophy-opera" by The New Yorker, it's set to make its dazzling return in a brand-new production at the Art Theatre in Long Beach during the first two weekends of June. Directed by James Darrah, the production will feature the Martha Graham Dance company and LBO soloists.
Ipsa Dixit is an artistic revelation, a profound exploration of the intricate dance between ideas, expression, and language. Composed over six years, it's a bold fusion of sound and thought, delivered in six striking movements that weave seamlessly into a mesmerizing ninety-minute whole.
The Merry Widow
Presented by Mission Opera
Canyon High School Performing Arts Center
19300 W. Nadal Street, Canyon Country, CA 91351
- June 7, 7:30 p.m.
- June 8, 7:30 p.m.
Music by Franz Lehár
Libretto/Dialogue/Concept by Joshua Wentz
Directed by Joshua Wentz
Join Mission Opera for an OPERA America exclusive performance of Franz Lehár's completely new and reimagined masterpiece, set in London 1989,The Merry Widow: Madonna!The show is in English and will feature a wide variety of dancing, including vogue, classic Viennese waltzing, the can-can, and a men’s kick line. The show will have you roaring with laughter at the comedic dialogue, as you take a trip down memory lane remembering the fashion and the culture of the glamorous 80’s, as the British Crown and Rock Stars like Elton John, Freddie Mercury, and George Michael desperately try to hold on to power
Mission Opera incorporates modern technology, such as multimedia designs and an interactive LED screen that enhances our unique set design. Our singers and dancers will thrill and delight audiences, as they are transported into the nostalgic world of 1980s glam rock.
Synopsis
The show opens in Buckingham Palace where UK Royalty and Rock Stars are in crisis, realizing the Americans have taken over the pop culture world and theBritish Invasioncould be over. Prince Charles and Princess Diana have arranged another Live Aid event to encourage British pop stars to reach new heights and achieve asecondBritish Invasion. The path becomes clear when the American Madonna agrees to come and perform. The only way to stay on top is if one of the British glam rock stars woos her to wed so that she will declare British citizenship and put the Crown back on top.
Prince Charles battles with the flirting Princess Diana as he works to protect the royal image, but George Michael’s mix tape and new song he wrote to her makes it hard for her to stay faithful. Meanwhile, Elton John can’t stop partying at the Roxy with the glamorous young dancing girls (and boys) long enough to court Madonna and try to convince her to become British. Will Boy George or Freddie Mercury have better luck?
Selected Lands from Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands
Presented by Overtone Industries
Teatro Frida Kahlo
2332 4th St, Los Angeles, CA 90057
- June 7, 7:00 p.m.
Directed by O-Lan Jones
Music Directed by David O
Synopsis
Tom and Sue, a couple nearing the end of their lives, are victims of Identity Theft at the deepest levels. They visit the Social Services office to remedy this and are catapulted into the Lands of their childhood, adolescence and adulthood, separately and then together. These lands hold the Indigenous Dances of pivotal moments in each of their lives. Tom and Sue are not spectators in these Lands, they are immediately part of the dance that holds the life of that particular time. After their arduous journey through the 21 different lands, they find themselves together again in The Land With An Answer For Everything – our own world. This celebrates how memories are held in our bodies and feelings, rather than the mental narrative people fall back on to describe their lives. It was written by 21 librettists and 11 composers.
Madama Butterfly 蝶々夫人
Presented by Pacific Opera Project
Aratani Theatre
244 San Pedro St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
- June 1, 7:00 p.m.
- June 2, 3:00 p.m.
- June 7, 8:00 p.m.
Music by G. Puccini
Japanese and English libretto by Eiki Isomura and Josh Shaw.
Original Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
Directed by Josh Shaw
Costume Design by Sueko Oshimoto of SK Kimono
Set Design by Josh Shaw
Conducted by Eiki Isomura
Chorus Master Naoko Suga
With a new libretto by Josh Shaw (Pacific Opera Project) and Eiki Isomura (Opera in the Heights), Pacific Opera Project presents one of the world’s most popular operas as you’ve never heard it before – in Japanese and English. How would a young American Naval officer and a fifteen-year-old Japanese woman communicate? Certainly not in Italian. See this heartbreaking story in a whole new light at the beautiful and intimate Aratani Theatre at the Japanese American Cultural Community Center in Little Tokyo, located less than one mile from the Opera Conference headquarters at the Omni Hotel. Sumptuously and authentically costumed by Sueko Oshimoto of SK Kimono, this groundbreaking production features a cast of primarily Japanese and Japanese-American singers and LA’s largest Japanese choir, The South Bay Singers, led by Naoko Suga. Presented with supertitles in both Japanese and English.
Minute to Midnight
Presented by Synchromy
Wende Museum
10808 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230
- June 2, 2:00 p.m.
Composed by Dante De Silva
Libretto by Alan Olejniczak
Minute to Midnight, a comedic opera, takes audiences inside a surreal portrait of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Inside a fictionalized Situation Room, we witness the tensions between John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, and Nikita Khrushchev. In reality, these leaders’ transmissions took hours to reach each other. Minute to Midnight compresses these conversations, putting the characters in each other's presence. The fictionalized Situation Room heightens the absurdity of this conflict and war while grounding the opera in a contemporary conversation: How can we continue to have dialogue through difference and find common ground today?
This workshop concert will showcase an unstaged version of the opera. Audience members will have the chance to offer feedback via a questionnaire, during a feedback session, or during the reception that follows the event.
The Double HD Screening
Presented by Synchromy
The Colburn School, Mayman Hall
200 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
- June 8, 2:00 p.m.
Composed by Vera Ivanova
Libretto by Sarah LaBrie
The Double questions how our outward depiction of ourselves impacts our perceptions of reality. The opera’s troubled hero believes that his digital social profile, created by him, is acting independently in an attempt to take over his life. Ultimately, the audience is left asking if he really is losing his mind, or if he can see a reality we all have missed.
My Wings Burned Off
Presented by Synchromy
The Colburn School, Mayman Hall
200 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
- June 8, 3:30 p.m.
Composed by Jason Barabba
Libretto by June Carryl
Conducted by Renee Baker
My Wings Burned Off tells the story of Oluwatoyin Salau, an organizer in the Black Lives Matter movement, who was assaulted and murdered in June 2020. Told from Oluwatoyin's perspective, this one-woman operatic monodrama for soprano and twelve strings is based on June Carryl's play The Life and Death Of.
