Los Angeles Opera Celebrates Their 25th With a Stellar Line-up for 2010/2011

 

The Los Angeles Opera today announced their 2010-11 season and it's hotter than the blinding California sun...brb...gotta put on our Chanel sunglasses. Ok. General Director Plácido Domingo knows how to give the Angelenos the biggest bang for their buck and he's lined-up a sweet season.

Next season will launch the world premiere of a Los Angeles Opera commission, Il Postino (The Postman, based on the "dreams do come true" 1994 film), which will open the season on September 23, 2010. Previously delayed, Mexican composer Daniel Catán's Spanish-language opera and libretto was supposed to open this past season starring Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon as the title role of Mario Puoppolo (obviously, it never happened). A year later, tenor Charles Castronovo will sing the timid postman with an additionally talented cast: Placido Domingo sings the role of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda; Chilean soprano Cristina Gallardo-Domâs will sing Matilde Neruda; and Spanish mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola-Herrera is Donna Rosa.
 
While he's not jetting around Europe making great music, Music Director James Conlon will conduct four of the six opero productions.The season ends on March 30, 2011, and in addition to the mixture of old favorites and enticing new works, it will also offer three recitals (a veritable sausagefest with René Pape, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Jonas Kaufmann in his L.A. Opera debut) and a birthday party gala to celebrate their big 25th in April 2011 (fun fact: Otello opened the season back in 1986). 

The rest of the line-up includes Mozart's Nozze with Daniel Okulitch as Figaro & Bo Skovhus as the Count; Wagner's Lohengrin with Ben Heppner & Soile Isokoski in the seventh Wagner opera conducted by Conlon for the Los Angeles Opera; Verdi's Rigoletto, conducted by Conlon who's currently in Milan conducting a sold-out run of Verdi's masterpiece at La Scala; Rossini's Il Turco in Italia in Christof Loy's production that made the rounds in Europe; and Britten's The Turn of the Screw, last heard in 1991 at the L.A. Opera, which will begin a four-year program to celebrate the 1913 centenary of Britten's birth.

Comments

[Casual Opera Fan]

I read that Cristina Gallardo-Domas had retired due to a serious arthritis condition.

I hope this announcement means that she is well enough to resume her career!

[Donna Anna]

I'm glad Il Postino will get its premier. We'll get the production (in Cincinnati). Castronovo was here in Florencia two seasons ago and was fabulous. Let's see if we get anyone else in the cast. It's a fine season--en bocca al lupo a tuti.

[David Dollinger]

Why not Kaufmann for Lohengrin instead of Heppner?

[Soubrette]

Castronovo was SO wonderful as Don Ottavio in 2007. Can't wait to see him in this.

[Maggy]

Too bad! I was hoping to see Rolando create this role. As a Rolando fan'when he is on stage',I feel sad for me and somehow for him. (He did talk about this creation, didn't he?)

[walter]

Thank goodness I don't live in L.A. or Washington DC.

[siris]

Thanks for the alert, OC!! Things look very interesting esp the recitals - though I really don't care about Britten + another Nozze revival. Also not sure Nino Machaidze has enough resources+personality for Fiorilla...