5 Highlights of Los Angeles Opera’s 2017/2018 Season

Photo Credit: Lynne Lane for the Houston Grand Opera

Opera loving Angelenos are in for a serious treat in the Los Angeles Opera’s 2017/2018 season. Planned by General Director Plácido Domingo in collaboration with Music Director James Conlon and President and CEO Christopher Koelsch, the season will include six mainstage productions presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and additional performances presented in four different venues through the company’s Off Grand initiative. The company will also present two concerts at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, including a gala celebration marking the 50th anniversary of Mr. Domingo’s first performance in Los Angeles. Here are five highlights of the 2017/2018 season, which will open on September 9, 2017, and will run through June 24, 2018.

1. Carmen (Sep 9–Oct 1, 2017; production new to L.A.) — Georges Bizet
   James Conlon conducts a cast led by Ana María Martínez as Carmen, featuring Alexander Vinogradov as Escamillo and Amanda Woodbury as Micaëla. The production is directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford, winner of Tony, Emmy and Olivier Awards.
2. Candide (Jan 27–Feb 18, 2018; company premiere) — Leonard Bernstein
   In celebration of Bernstein’s 100th birthday, James Conlon conducts one of the composer’s finest stage works, in a production by Francesca Zambello. The cast includes Jack Swanson as Candide and Erin Morley as Cunegonde.
3. Plácido Domingo 50th Anniversary Concert (Nov 17, 2017)
   On November 17, 1967, a young singer on tour with the New York City Opera took to the stage of the new Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. In the subsequent five decades, Plácido Domingo has made a profound impact on the cultural life of Los Angeles—as a singer, conductor and champion of the arts. Fifty years to the day since that remarkable debut, Plácido Domingo headlines a gala concert, joined by a legion of special guest artists and James Conlon conducting the LA Opera Orchestra, in a musical celebration of Domingo’s incomparable artistic legacy.
4. Audra McDonald in Concert (May 20, 2018)
   Unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and an actress, Audra McDonald—winner of an Emmy Award, two Grammy Awards and a record-setting six Tony Awards—returns to Los Angeles in concert with the LA Opera Orchestra.
5. La Belle et la Bête (Oct 28–31, 2017; company premiere) — Philip Glass
   Jean Cocteau’s cinematic masterpiece is recast with an enchanting soundtrack by composer Philip Glass, who replaced the film’s original music and dialogue with nothing less than a classical opera. As the film plays on the screen, a quartet of vocal soloists perform live in synchronization with the film actors, as Michael Riesman conducts the Philip Glass Ensemble.