Public Musicology for Educators
Latest Past Events
Exploring Opera: Mozart’s ”The Magic Flute” (LA Opera virtual seminar)
ZoomI return to familiar stomping grounds—in terms of my research area—for this session of "Exploring Opera," where I will offer an in-depth exploration of one of my fave characters: The Find out more »
Moderator / LA Phil: Invited Rehearsals
BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert HallThe Invited Rehearsal provides young musicians and their instructors with a rare glimpse of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the orchestra prepares for a concert. As part of the experience, these student Find out more »
Exploring Opera: Arts, Culture, Creativity & Health (LA Opera Connects virtual seminar)
ZoomFor this special-topics session of "Exploring Opera"—a free, virtual seminar series open to the public—I will discuss the human experience of listening, looking specifically at three listening experiences: 1) Sound/Noise/Music/Silence; Find out more »
Exploring Opera: Verdi’s “Falstaff” (LA Opera virtual seminar)
ZoomVerdi's long journey to his final opera—his only successful comic work—is a lesson in perseverance and reinvention. He was 80 years old when Falstaff premiered at La Scala in Milan, Italy—the same Find out more »
Exploring Opera: “Opera in the Classroom” (LA Opera virtual public seminar)
ZoomPart of the LAO’s “Exploring Operas” seminars, this particular event aims to educate—and inspire—K-12 teachers about ways to incorporate opera into their lesson plans. Topic forthcoming ASAP! “Opera in the Find out more »
Exploring Opera: “Akhnaten” (LA Opera virtual public seminar)
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 Find out more »
Moderator / LA Phil: Invited Rehearsals
BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert HallThe Invited Rehearsal provides young musicians and their instructors with a rare glimpse of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the orchestra prepares for a concert. As part of the experience, Find out more »
Exploring Opera: “La Bohème” (LA Opera virtual seminar)
ZoomWhat fun to share insights about Puccini's most popular opera as part of Los Angeles Opera's "Exploring Opera" virtual seminars, open to all opera lovers! My presentation will focus on Find out more »
Opera for Educators: Verdi’s “Rigoletto”
ZoomLA Opera's production of Rigoletto, starring powerhouse baritone Quinn Kelsey in the title role, promises to be a thoroughly gripping season ender! And I will kickoff the "Opera for Educators" Find out more »
LA Opera Connects / Opera for Educators: Golijov’s “Ainadamar”
ZoomFor this exciting session of the "Opera for Educators" seminars, I will familiarize participants with the eclectic and deeply dramatic musical style of Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov. The many influences Find out more »
Opera for Educators: Mozart’s Così fan tutte
ZoomSo excited to be in my special wheelhouse for this seminar: Mozart opera! My presentation will focus on the gender politics behind this comic opera with its problematic accusation that Find out more »
Opera for Educators: Madama Butterfly
ZoomMy introductory lecture for this particular seminar sets up a day of exploration and critique critique Puccini's Madama Butterfly—of one of the most popular, and also thematically challenging, works of Find out more »
Opera for Educators: Puccini’s “Turandot”
ZoomMy presentation for this special Turandot seminar—an initiative of LA Opera Connects—will set the opera in the context of Puccini's Italy and highlight significant stylistic elements in the composer's final Find out more »
Opera for Educators: Verdi’s “La traviata”
ZoomIn this "Opera for Educators" seminar—offered by LA Opera Connects—I'll be talking about the role of production in creating new meanings of older works such as La traviata, Verdi's most enduringly Find out more »
Opera for Educators: Zemlinsky’s “The Dwarf” and Still’s “Highway 1, USA”
ZoomLos Angeles Opera presents a double feature of neglected one-act operas : Alexander Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg (The Dwarf, 1922) and William Grant Still's Highway 1, USA, which was first completed in Find out more »
Opera for Educators: El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego
ZoomMy contribution to this Los Angeles Opera Connects seminar for K-12 educators and opera lovers will be an exploration of composer Gabriela Lena Frank and her relationship to Hispanic and Find out more »
Opera for Educators: The Barber of Seville
ZoomLove sharing the multifaceted world of opera with K-12 teachers and opera lovers! For this "Opera for Educators" seminar, I will be discussing Rossini's perfect "recipe" for comic opera, the Find out more »
Opera for Educators / Otello
ZoomAs part of this seminar for local educators and operas lovers, I will speak about the historical context for Verdi's final dramatic opera, Otello (1887), which the composer completed after Find out more »
Opera for Educators / Pelléas et Mélisande
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesThe Los Angeles Opera is staging Debussy's only complete opera, Pélleas et Mélisande. A masterful response to the stylistic gauntlet thrown down by Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Debussy's Pélleas sets to music the Find out more »
Opera for Educators: Le nozze di Figaro
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesCalling teachers and opera lovers! The "Opera for Educators" seminars bring together experts in music, history, and opera production and performance for a day of learning and enjoyment. Dr. Brown-Montesano Find out more »
Opera for Educators / Tosca
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesTosca: Puccini's ultimate prima donna! This Opera for Educators session is open to the public, not just educators! Dr. Brown-Montesano will delve into the aesthetics of Italian “verismo” (“realism”) and Find out more »
Opera for Educators / Rhiannon Gidden’s Omar
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesRhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels bring their new opera—Omar—to Los Angeles. This presentation is open to the public, not just educators! Co-presentation with Dr. Tiffany Kuo on the sounds of contemporary Find out more »
St. Matthew Passion / Opera for Educators
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesAs prep for Bach's St. Matthew Passion and LA Opera's innovative presentation (complete with choreography), K-12 educators participate in a special half-day seminar. I am one several guest lecturers, and—speaking educator Find out more »
LA Opera for Educators / Women of Don Giovanni
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesDon Giovanni. This infamous rake poses interesting challenges for audiences in the #MeToo era. And certainly K-12 educators are conscious of those issues as they introduce this Mozart classic to Find out more »