My kickoff lecture for this terrific FREE series of public lectures from LA Opera Connects will look into the musical idiom commonly labeled “minimalism” and more specifically Philip Glass’s Ahknaten, the third opera in this “Portrait Trilogy”—operas about people that shifted the course of history. While the first two of these operas—Einstein on the Beach and Satyagraha—center on 20th-century figures (Einstein and Gandhi, respectively), Akhnaten takes us back Ancient Egypt, but with a sensibility that still rings as contemporary.

The “Exploring Opera” seminars also offers LAUSD teachers an opportunity for professional development and salary points.