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Quinn Kelsey shines as Verdi’s court jester as Tomer Zvulun's production opens in Los Angeles. 

 Michael Cavanagh's sleek new production, designed by Erhard Rom and conducted by James Conlon, transforms the 18th-century opera into a Broadway musical, score by Mozart.

Angela Meade and Russell Thomas provide the vocal fireworks in LA Opera's staging of David Hockney's beloved production designs. 

Shawna Lucey's production from San Francisco Opera misses the mark as it premieres to a packed Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. 

Lorena Maza's vibrant production of Gabriela Lena Frank's 2021 opera about Frida Kahlo and her relationship with Diego Rivera reaches Los Angeles.

Lucas Meachem’s portrayal suggests a paraphrase of what another Hollywood Don Juan, Errol Flynn in 1949, said to his Leporello in excusing his escapades. “My dear friend, there’s a little bit of Don Giovanni in every man, and since I am Don Giovanni, there must be more of it in me!” 

Francisco Negrín gives his singers little help in a dark, boxy new staging, put together at frantic, last minute speed. 

Angela Meade fills in for an indisposed soprano in Los Angeles Opera’s company debut of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux.

Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice enjoys its world premiere at LA Opera. 

Barrie Kosky's stark, spare La bohème gave it a rare spark of humanity focused on Marina Costa-Jackson's haunting Mimì, whose existence became the central focus even when she wasn't singing.

As Zaharia inhabited her role, the opera became almost entirely about her, to the extent that one wanted to watch her every movement and hear her every syllable.

Any parallels between Rome in the first century under Emperor Titus and the United States two millennia later under Emperor Trump were lost in a Tinseltown graphic novel sweep.

Susan Graham had all the fun every mezzo-soprano witch, who can sing the role and disguise herself – when necessary – to look the part, deserves. 

After appearances in London and New York, Phelim McDermott's bold and imaginative production of Philip Glass’ Satyagraha arrives in Los Angeles.

With a potent cast and excellent dancing, this is a sophisticated take on Gluck's opera. 

Whether it’s half an opera, three quarters an operetta, or a musical and a half, Francesca Zambello’s team put together a production that was easy to fall in love with. 

Monstyrska dominates as Abigaille, Domingo brings his unique baritenor style to the title role, Thaddeus Strassberger creates a riot of colour and antiquarian style.

The casting was something special. Each of the principals was fun to watch, magnificent to listen to, believable in every gesture, look and touch. 

BalletNOW returns to the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center in Los Angeles. The production features dancers from six different major ballet companies, but fails to impress.

TCHAIKOVSKY, PRO ET CONTRA is a ballet by Boris Eifman that beautifully examines how Tchaikovsky's internal struggles inspired his amazing music that inspires still.

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa has created a masterpiece with her A Streetcar Named Desire for Scottish Ballet.

Los Angeles Opera's Tales of Hoffmann survives multiple cast changes to look and sound fabulous, but it drags dramatically.

In Los Angeles, Patricia Racette was an impressive Salome but the orchestra was, as it should, the main character.

Mozart's intoxicating harem opera taken captive by the non-singing despot.

On Saturday night, nine androgynous, saucy, rambunctious dancing witches with thick, three-foot tails and exuberant tassels, whose heritage included the Wizard of Oz and the Lion King, stole the show. 

Angela Meade is the standout on opening night of Los Angeles Opera's Norma.

American composer Jake Heggie makes his Los Angeles Opera debut in this powerful performance of his 2010 opera, Moby-Dick.

Towering architectural sets, expansive multifaceted dancing, and an detailed playing from an exceptional orchestra deliver an emotional performance in Alexei Ratmansky's Russian adaptation of Prokofiev's Cinderella for Mariinsky Ballet.  

Zeffirelli excess and Woody Allen wit: Los Angeles Opera's season opens with a double bill of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

Roberto Bolle and Herman Cornejo bring their shared gala program, BalletNow to Los Angeles. With a cast of twenty dancers, BalletNow is an innovative split bill that features European and Latin American stars. Two works feature Bolle dancing in interactive film sequences. 

Director Trevore Ross emphasized the silly and the madcap in Beaumarchais’ hectic plot to The Barber of Seville. The audience loved it. 

A triumph for Los Angeles Opera's new production of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles.

Where is the line? Where does the stage end and the audience begin? This is what Australian director Barrie Kosky probes in his production pairing Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle.

Australian Ballet takes Graeme Murphy's multifaceted <em>Swan Lake</em> to LA. A mad Odette, a baroness Von Rothbart as the prince's mistress and a pleasing blend of classical and contmeporary features.

Matthew Richard Martinez reviews Los Angeles Opera's season-opening performance of Verdi's La traviata starring Plácido Domingo, Nino Machaidze, and Arturo Chacón-Cruz.

“It is not his trial, it is mine, mine. It is I whom the devil awaits.” Richard Croft's Vere leads an outstanding cast in LA Opera's revival of Billy Budd.

In the bicentenary anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi, tributes are aplenty. On Saturday evening, Los Angeles Opera presented a new production of the Italian master’s final work, Falstaff, though that wasn’t all.

Of the “ABCs” of opera (Aida, Bohème, and Carmen), Bizet’s masterpiece is the one that has made the transition to pop culture ubiquity. Surely even the most oblivious of listeners are able to whistle along to the “Habanera” and “Toreador Song”. Furthermore, the melodramatic story of exoticism, lust and rejection is one of the most popular of operatic tales.

While the term “Eurotrash” gets thrown around more often than it should, it is one that has unfortunately become synonymous with many of the Wagner opera productions that take a non-traditional approach. As opera-goers go, I tend to sympathize with the directors and find that this approach can work fantastically well in bringing Wagner’s logistically impossible scenarios to life.

Almost any singer with Plácido Domingo’s résumé would be happily retired from the stage at age 71, but Domingo is obviously not any singer. With over 140 roles performed, the Spanish tenor’s legacy is unparalleled, and that legacy is still growing.

What makes for a good performance of Don Giovanni? Some have called it the greatest drama in opera, and with music by Mozart at the height of his compositional powers, its status as a masterpiece of Classical music is undisputed. Los Angeles Opera’s opening night production had elements both outstanding and troubled.

After the success of Benjamin Britten’s opera The Rape of Lucretia, Britten and director/librettist Eric Crozier discussed future operatic projects. The composer wanted his next opera to be a comedy and insisted that it be set in England. When Crozier suggested adapting Guy de Maupassant’s La Rosier de Madame Husson, Britten knew he was on to something good. Indeed, it was an ideal choice.