by admin | May 18, 2023
As 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 a 16-year self-imposed withdrawal from opera composition. We will... 
by admin | Mar 5, 2023
The 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 Symbolist play of Maurice... 
by admin | Feb 13, 2023
The 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 some of the essential influences on Puccini’s... 
by Kristi | Oct 5, 2022
Tosca: 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 consider opera’s central conflict between celebrated diva... 
by Kristi | Oct 5, 2022
Rhiannon 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 opera and the musical styles of Omar’s co-composers....