LA Opera
Latest Past Events
Pre-performance Lecture: LA Opera’s “Romeo and Juliet”
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesAh, star-cross'd lovers! I'll be giving the pre-performance talk for LA Opera's production of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. I'll delve into the particular history and aesthetic traditions of French opera, Find out more »
Pre-performance Lecture: LA Opera’s “Romeo and Juliet”
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesAh, star-cross'd lovers! I'll be giving the pre-performance talk for LA Opera's production of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. I'll delve into the particular history and aesthetic traditions of French opera, Find out more »
Pre-performance Lecture: LA Opera’s “Romeo and Juliet”
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesAh, star-cross’d lovers! I’ll be giving the pre-performance talk for LA Opera‘s production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. I’ll delve into the particular history and aesthetic traditions of French opera, I’ll spotlight some Find out more »
Pre-performance Lecture: LA Opera’s “Romeo and Juliet”
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesAh, star-cross'd lovers! I'll be giving the pre-performance talk for LA Opera's production of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. I'll delve into the particular history and aesthetic traditions of French opera, Find out more »
Opera for Educators/LA Opera Connects: Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette”
ZoomEver notice that French-language opera doesn't get the same time in the programming spotlight as Italian-language opera? No fair! I will dive into the rich history of French opera and 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: Opera Overview
ZoomThe kick-off seminar for LAUSD teachers and other opera-curious people! We open with an overview of the art form, and my talk will look at the three "pillars" of opera—the Find out more »
Opera League of Los Angeles: Seminar on “La Bohème,” “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly” (Puccini100 celebration)
I continue my seminar series with for the Opera League of Los Angeles celebrating the centennial of Puccini's death. This second lecture looks at Puccini's "triple crown" of popular works: Find out more »
Opera League of Los Angeles: Seminar on Puccini’s Early Works (Puccini100 celebration)
I'm delighted to lead this 4-part seminar series, a deep dive journey into the world of this consummate Italian opera composer as the music world honors the 100th anniversary 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 »
Pre-performance Lecture: LA Opera’s “La Traviata”
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesI will be giving the pre-performance lecture on one of the most popular opera in the canonic repertoire, Verdi's La traviata! This new production by Shawna Lucey (General Director and 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 »
Pre-performance Lectures: LA Opera’s “The Barber of Seville” (all performances)
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesJoin me for a delectable exploration of Rossini's winning musical style in this lecture which I have crafted in the manner of a gourmet recipe. (Rossini was a renowned gourmand 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 »
Pre-performance Lectures: LA Opera’s “Tosca” (all performances)
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesThe Los Angeles Opera presents Puccini's immortal Tosca—a suspenseful political drama and love story centered on the fictional diva and force of nature, Floria Tosca. Dr. Brown-Montesano will delve into 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 »
Final Pre-Concert Lecture / Lucia di Lammermoor
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesLucia is trapped in an impossible situation. Her abusive brother hates the man she loves. Worse, he's forcing her to marry someone else in a last-ditch effort to shore up 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 »
Pre-Concert Lectures / Lucia di Lammermoor
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 135 North Grand Avenue, Los AngelesLucia is trapped in an impossible situation. Her abusive brother hates the man she loves. Worse, he's forcing her to marry someone else in a last-ditch effort to shore up Find out more »
Podcast / Female Leads in Opera
PodcastIn this episode of Los Angeles Opera's podcast series, Dr. Kristi Brown-Montesano discusses the multifaceted female leads in the company's 2022-2023 season: Lucia, Tosca, Desdemona, Susanna, Mélisande. Season and single tickets available Find out more »
Free LAO Zoom Class / How to Build an Opera
ZoomThis Week's Topic - How to Build an Opera: from Overture to Scene For this final session, we will look at the how Rossini and Wagner put their operas together—their Find out more »
Free LAO Zoom Class / Bel Canto Dramedy
ZoomThis Week's Topic - Bel Canto “Dramedy”: Mixed Musical Styles in Cenerentola By the time he wrote Cenerentola, Rossini had already mastered a wildly successful comic style and had proven Find out more »
Free LAO Zoom Class / Musical Artist as Hero
ZoomThis Week's Topic - The Musical Artist as German Hero: Romanticism, Myth, and Wagner’s Tannhäuser This week we will delve into the two medieval stories that Wagner combined for his Find out more »
LAO Podcast / Stravinsky’s Oedipus
PodcastIn this Behind the Curtain conversation, musicologist Dr. Kristi Brown Montesano and Dr. Arianne Helou, a dramaturg and French studies scholar, discuss "Oedipus Rex," composed by Igor Stravinsky to a Find out more »
Zoom Course / Interwar Period Musical Culture
ZoomDr. Kristi Brown-Montesano will guide LA Opera Board members through an exploration of music from the interwar period (1919—1939), an era that witnessed an astonishing variety of aesthetic and stylistic Find out more »