← LA Opera Podcasts: Behind the Curtain
LA Opera Podcasts: Behind the Curtain
20 Years with Maestro Conlon: James Conlon's Legacy
00:38:10
Lost and recovered voices. Contemporary composers…
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- [00:03]
A
Welcome to behind the Curtain, LA Opera's official podcast. Each week we dive deep into the creative process with the artists, creatives and scholars who bring opera to life. Get ready to decode the drama, dissect the music and hear the heart behind the high notes. From backstage laughs to history making moments, every opera starts with a story. On this special episode of behind the Curtain, we discuss lost and recovered voices, contemporary composers and community opera as Maestro James Conlan rounds out his final season as Music Director with LA Opera. This is also one of the last episodes of our podcast season as the opera season sings to a close. We'll bring you some episodes from the Vault this summer before starting up again with new episodes for our 2627 season in the fall. But first, enjoy this fascinating exploration of 20th century music with the Maestro and join us with all of Los Angeles in thanking him for an incredible 20 years as Richard Seaver, Music Director of LA Opera. What a legacy. Thank you Maestro, from all of us.
- [01:15]
B
Hello and welcome to 20 Years with Maestro Conlon. I'm Gayle Eichenthal. On this, the culminating episode of our special podcast series, we'll look back at Maestro Conlon's extensive work with 20th century repertoire, the music of Benjamin Britten, and his groundbreaking Recovered Voices series here at LA Opera. And that's that multi year initiative that introduced Los Angeles Opera audiences to neglected and lost Masterworks of 20th century opera composers out of Europe suppressed by the Nazi regime. Recovered voices, as we mentioned on a recent podcast, has led to a major ongoing initiative at the Colburn School, the Ziering Conlan center for Exiled and Suppressed Composers. We'll touch on that too. And we'll talk about Maestro Conlan's overall advocacy over these years for music education and community engagement. LA Opera connects one of the leading such organizations in the country. Lots of ground to cover on the grand finale of 20 years with Maestro Conlon. Greetings, Maestro.
- [02:26]
C
Great to be with you, Gail. Thank you so much.
- [02:28]
B
I want to start back with Recovered Voices, really a signal initiative of your tenure and something that meant so much to Los Angeles in particular and opera audiences in general. You've of course, shared this repertoire all over the country and all over the world. May I ask, when did you first discover this treasure trove that had been left out of the standard repertoire? Was there a particular composer or experience?
- [02:59]
C
The door towards this whole subject opened up to me in the early 1990s, right at the beginning of what was to become a 13 year long tenure at the Cologne Opera. Well, I shouldn't say Just the Cologne Opera, as general music director of the city, because I was also the orchestra's conductor, I had only the vaguest of notions that there was music that was composed and suppressed by the Nazis. And thanks to those years, thanks to the seriousness of the German music public, I became familiar with it, fell in love first with Alexander Zemlinsky, which then led me on to Franz Schaeger, to Victor Ullman, to Erwin Schulhoff, and eventually to the whole subject of the music that we don't know and has been neglected primarily because it lost its place. And how tragic that is, of course, for the individuals, but also tragic for us, because as a civilization, we've lost a piece of a puzzle of which we have the other parts. And it's a multifaceted story. It's the story of immigration. It's the story of murder and genocide. It's the story of sometimes just not having your chance at the right moment when during your lifetime. So all of that has added up to a vast, vast supply of music that would keep everybody busy for years if we were doing nothing else but that. Now, we're not meant to be doing only that. But what I think we are called upon to do is to make that a part of the larger picture, because that's where that music was born. It's born out of the same tradition as, let's say, Mozart, Mentzls and Brahms, Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler, right through into the 20th century, right up until the 1930s and the 1940s. So I was very happy at the time. I had already been active really over 10 years. I mean, 12 or 13 years, mostly in Europe, but also when I came back to the United States, introducing it on symphonic concerts. But I hadn't done any opera in America until I had the opportunity with Los Angeles Opera. And I'm very grateful that Los Angeles Opera had the courage to do it. The term recovered voices was created by Los Angeles Opera, but we had the great advocacy of Marilyn Searing, whose generosity and heroism did vision is largely responsible for being able to have funded that project. So eventually I spread out a little bit to the Colburn School and now the next period. Part of what I will do in the next period of my life is to concentrate a lot more on that. It's been renamed. It's now music Restored at the Colburn School. The Orel foundation, which still is a website called devoted to the idea that if people don't know anything about something, they can't possibly take an interest in it, which I actually created back I don't know about 2004, 2005, it's still up there, but it has been gifted to the Colburn School. And the Colburn School now has the management of that, which I will do together in tandem with them. And we will be expanding that. It's there as a, as a resource. You know, people came to me after Kantz and said, I love this music. Why do I know nothing about it? I said, well, first of all, you don't know anything about it because the Nazis suppressed it. Second of all, for very complex historical reasons, it remained unplayed after the war for a long time. A lot of it. And third of all, there's very little written in English now. There was a lot at the time written in German. Now fortunately there's more being written in English. But the Internet is a far quicker way, as we know, to reach more people. And so the presence of that, and we still call it Orel foundation, although it's not a foundation at all. It's a spokesperson or spokes, spokesman, spokeswoman for this issue. And it's online and anybody can go on it, I assure you. You can read for months. I haven't read everything on it myself. I mean, there's so much on it.
- [07:34]
B
I think one of the remarkable aspects of that project and why it's so memorable and continues to be so important was that you treated those works not as historical curiosities, but with the respect of repertory pieces worthy of standing besides Wagner and Strauss and Berg and the composers you just named. It brought instant stature to this music.
- [08:02]
C
Well, they deserve the stature because they're born of the same family. These are not people from the moon. These are, you know, largely Germanic because of course that's where the focus of the Nazi suppression was. But it includes out all over Europe, Italy, parts of Russian music as well. And of course we know oh so much in, in the United States to the emigration of largely Jewish, German speaking emigres who came and were the musicologists, they were the teachers, they were the musicians. We owe a lot. And I don't think we recognize that sufficiently because I think we could congratulate ourselves maybe a little bit too often on how wonderful our orchestras are and our opera companies and conservatories. All true, all true, all true. But we forget that we grew up in the 20th century because of two catastrophes. We were the beneficiaries of those catastrophes in terms of the human intelligence and knowledge that came with them here to the United States and no place more than Southern California.
- [09:13]
B
Absolutely, yeah. Talk about a few highlights. For our audience who may not know, you have widely recorded some of these works. The Dwarf one, a Grand Prix du Disque, some years ago. What about nine Zemlinsky recordings with the Cologne Orchestra? And on and on. And there are videos of LA Opera performances. But for you personally, what were some of the highlights of that era?
- [09:41]
C
Well, I was fortunate enough to have been able to record a great deal with EMI at the time in Germany, in Cologne. And, of course, I concentrated a lot on that because my attitude was, the world doesn't need another Brahms or Beethoven cycle. They need music that they don't know. And so that's how it thrived. And when I came to LA Opera, one of the first conversations I had with Placido, when he invited me, I said, well, look, if I come there, I want two things. I want to make it a house that is capable of doing Wagner. He said, well, no problem. Don't you want to do the Ring? I said, of course I want to do the Ring, but that was one purpose. And the other one, I revealed this subject to him. He said, well, I have to admit, I don't know anything about it, but if you say it's good and we should do it, we're going to do it. And so I was very grateful for that advocacy. The productions that stand out are particularly Zemlinski, the Dwarf, Der Zwerk, the American premiere of an opera by Victor Ullmann called the Broken Jug, which we played as a double bill. The first, not just the American, premiere of Franz Schaecher's opera, which we call the Stigmatized. It has its German name is Die Gezeischneten, which is a little complicated and hard to translate. But not just the first Gezeichneten, the first opera at all of Franz Schaeger to be staged. Well, that's incredible. Franz Schraker was one of the most successful composers of his time. He had a period between 1910 or so and the mid-1920s. He was eventually, you know, put down, eliminated by the Nazis. He died, if you call having a stroke a natural death. But it was after being fired from his position as the head of the in Berlin, having had so much pressure put on him that he had a stroke. I mean, so that's indirectly, indirectly a part of murder. So incredibly popular, respected composer, never been produced on the stage in America. So those were high points. Walter Braunfels, a more conservative individual, but a very, very important German composer who I knew more about because he had been in cologne in the 50s and 60s. These are important composers. They should be done. We did some of those productions and I'm very proud that we did them.
- [12:13]
B
A highlight for me was your very first sort of introduction to the repertoire, A night of small excerpts of the operas that you were going to present and the other extended works. And I remember sitting with a friend who's an opera broadcaster and just looking at each other when you just started conducting the first work. Our jaws had dropped and it was the whole night of sheer. And I encourage our listeners to check out your recordings of this music. It's not difficult, it's just gorgeous and deserves a place.
- [12:51]
C
Well, thank you for your advocacy. It's much appreciated.
- [12:55]
B
For those of us who are die hard Benjamin britten fans, the Britain 100 LA festival in 2013 and 2014 was also a huge highlight of your tenure and also, in a way, functioned as a kind of resurrection of music too often neglected. We feel Louisiana Opera brought in many other partner organizations. It was a whole countywide festival showcasing Britain in his centenary year. You presented all kinds of works with kids all around the county. Noah's Flood, which you did in early May, and Billy Budd, culminating with Billy Budd. Talk about your love of Benjamin Britten.
- [13:36]
C
It goes back to my teen years. It started with Peter Grimes, but it was also very much fostered by having seen Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears twice in concert in New York with one of unforgettable lieder recitals. One was the complete Winterreise and the other one was Schumann's Dichter Liebe together with Britain Songs. Totally amazing. The first revelation was Britten's ability at the keyboard. I mean, he was one of the most amazing pianists. Astounding. And Peter Peer's really charismatic presence. And so I was a big fan already as a teenager. And little by little, I didn't have a lot of opportunities at first to conduct some of those operas. Of course, symphonic music, yes. Choral music. I conducted the War Requiem for the first time when I was 29. The first opportunity I got. Certain works like the cantata Misericordium I did when I was 24 or 25. I mean, I was already, you know, bathing in Britain, but opportunities to do the operas weren't forthcoming that much. And so what I tried to do with the Britain Festival were several things. One was, first of all, bear in mind that his centennial is also the bicentennial of Verdi and Wagner, and that's pretty busy. What were you going to do in 213? I mean, obviously we were going to do Verdi and Wagner But I didn't want Britain to get ignored. So rather than to try to do everything in one year, I talked about, let's start early and do as much as we can before and build up to it. And so we did the Turn of the Screw. And so we did Albert Herring. I did the Rape of Lucretia with our young artists, but with the Colburn Orchestra.
- [15:31]
B
I still have goosebumps from that performance, by the way.
- [15:34]
C
Thank you. And Billy Budd, of course, was a finale to that. But the actual concentration around November of 2013 was the part that I think was really special for me because thanks to a lot of people's cooperation, I was able to work with high schools. You know, yourself, I think you're a son. San performance is Santa Monica. I spent an entire Day on November 22, which was his birthday, going from one locale to another conducting, culminating that evening in St. James Episcopal Church with a UCLA orchestra. And a few days later, to this day, one of the best Britain War Requiems that I felt that I led with the Colburn Orchestra with five choruses at Disney hall, that was a highlight. So it was all based on. We were trying to do what we had done already with the Wagner Festival in a certain way. Slightly more circumspect, slightly less glossy, because the personality of Benjamin Britton was very reticent and not glossy. And so to do it with that kind of love and respect, I felt was important. But to expose many young people to his music because he was also a great educator, which is the point about Noah's Flood. I brought it here in my first season because I had done it before, and I said, this would be great. Is there a cathedral? And I said, maestro, right across the street. So I went over and looked. I said, well, this would be unbelievable. And we did it. That's been one of the greatest satisfactions for me, that that took root and is now part of the scenery.
- [17:28]
B
It's magical. It's amateur singers, professional singers from LA Opera, young artists, kids, all different ages. Packed. The cathedral's packed. What an incredible thing to gift to Los Angeles, that tradition.
- [17:45]
C
Well, I hope it holds. I believe it will. And one of the great satisfactions, as I go around the world, mostly in America, this happens. Meister, I actually sang in Noah's Flood at the cathedral. I find some lawyer or doctor or a musician. I met a recording engineer at UC USC recently who said, meister, I played cello. And that gives me a lot of satisfaction.
- [18:08]
B
During the course of this series, we have gone deep into your work. In 19th century Italian opera, German opera. But you've also been closely associated over your career with Russian opera. Not so much here, of course. Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, very memorably, but Shostakovich and Mussorgsky. This is repertoire that I gather is very close to you.
- [18:34]
C
Very. And it is a great regret of mine that we didn't do any here. Of course, as most things are, it's an economic factor. Mussorgsky is my first love of Russian music and I became deeply obsessed first with Boris Godinov as a teenager. It turned out to be the first opera I conducted as a 21 year old in the Spoleto Festival. Are you kidding? In Italy? No, I'm not kidding. That's a true fact, which I took as an omen of something because I loved it so much. But then I subsequently did two series at the Metropolitan Opera in the 80s, Covent Garden, twice at the Paris Opera, once when I was just a guest and once when I was music director. And it's coming back next season in Italy. And so it's a lifelong. A lifelong love. Later on I became familiar with and fell in love with Khwanchina, never as well known as Boris Kudunov, but equally profound, and had a run at the Paris Opera. Several in Vienna, did it in St. Petersburg, Russia, Florence. I would do it again in a moment if I had an opportunity. The problem for modern life, long, enormous chorus, enormous casts. And so in times of economic distress,
- [20:05]
B
it's hard, isn't it hard to cast also Russian language, the demands of the part of Boris.
- [20:12]
C
Well, sure. And of course I had the advantage in a lot of those situations, not so much in America, but in Europe, of having Russian casts, which of course makes a big difference. Of course, one very special case is Shostakovich, with whom I'm obsessed, maybe more at my age than ever. And his. We can't say it's his only opera, because it isn't, but it's his only major opera, which is Lady Macbeth of Tsensk. This is the opera that got him into trouble with Stalin and with Pravda, and began all of the unfortunately decades long conflicts and problems with the regime. It's absolutely one of the greatest 20th century operas. Massive orchestra, massive cast. Yes, expensive to do. Never managed to get it done here. I did two series of it at the Metropolitan Opera, including the first time for the metropolitan opera in 1994, repeated it in 2014. I've done it in Europe several places. It is an opera that everybody should know and do I Eventually created my own symphonic suite and I've done it all over the place. It's a 45 minute suite. Why did I do that? Because I realized that except for the rarity of somebody going to the opera house and seeing it on those rare occasions that it's done in an opera house, people are missing some of the greatest orchestral music that Shostakovich wrote. Young Shostakovich, the angry young man, period. This suite I've taken everywhere. It's a work that cannot be ignored, should not be ignored. And I hope that fate will have it that LA Opera eventually will do those operas.
- [22:00]
B
You've also delved deeply into Czech composers. Very recently were involved in a performance at the Wilshire Ewelt Theater. You have recorded the music of Boislaw Martinu. These Janacek, these composers close to your heart too.
- [22:15]
C
Yes. It started of course with Dvorak, but it moved on eventually into Janacek, Martinu in particular. And by the way, we just recorded at the Colburn School, it's not online yet, the work of the young Czech woman, Vizoslava Kapralova, who died at the age of 25. Student of MartinU, who was an extraordinary talent. Her music is getting a lot of attention now, which is late and deserved, but later than it should have been. So these are some of the composers I love Martineau, he wrote massives, massive amount of music. I haven't done any of the operas, to my regret, but I have done a lot of the orchestra music. And as far as Janacek is concerned, we did Janufe here early in my years. I did it on two other occasions, but we never got to do Katyakabanova, which I would have loved to have done. Or the Cunning Little Vixen, or even the Macropolis case. There are great operas by Janacek and they all deserve the same amount of attention we give to so many other things.
- [23:20]
B
Yes, that's a great point for those listening who are not familiar with these works that are too rarely performed, but have absolutely stunning, ravishing music.
- [23:30]
C
We have the advantage of the radio when they give it. Well, we have at your fingertips on YouTube and the Internet. So if you're curious, you just go on.
- [23:41]
B
Absolutely. You have spent so much time during the past 20 years. It's more than educating, engaging audiences with opera. I've always felt, you know, far beyond what was probably in your contract. I don't know, I can't imagine that Domingo insisted you do pre concert talks before every opera. That's very rarely asked of conductors. But you obviously have taken this on as a passion to spread the joy of opera. And you seem inexhaustible in this work.
- [24:15]
C
It all developed naturally, as you know. I've enjoyed that aspect of this job very much, partially because there is such a willing audience. I'm convinced, judging by the enthusiasm and the size of the crowds who show up an hour before the performance to hear the talks, that people really want context. I mean, people who've never heard an opera, people who might be hearing that opera for the first time, or seasoned opera goers who've heard it many times, they all seem to be getting something out of it. And I try to calculate my talks in such a way that it doesn't exclude anybody, includes everybody, makes everybody feel that it's great to be curious and that there's so much to know that's around the opera and that people soak that up means people want the meaning, they want the experience, they want to hear the operas, but they also want the meaning. And that's very important to me because it's all about the meaning.
- [25:20]
B
It really inspires the richest experience as a listener. And we are all very grateful for those hours that you spent doing those pre concert talks. And you've done much more in the way of community engagement from the community opera productions that we've just been talking about. The mentoring of up and coming talent with the Domingo Colborne Stein Young Artists Program, which started when you started, and your work with schools such as Colburn and usc, Thornton and UCLA and LAXA and many more. I get the feeling that in a way you see yourself as an ambassador, not just a conductor.
- [25:58]
C
Well, use any word you like. Classical music changed my life when I was 11 years old. It has given my life a certain meaning that could not be replaced. And it has motivated me through passion all of my life. What I say to a lot of young people is, you know, find what your passion is and then do it because you'll never get tired of it and it's not work, then you're doing something hopefully useful. And it's also fun and it's also part of your enjoyment of life. So I never give. People ask me, well, don't you get sick of a certain opera? Okay, so I just conducted the 66th performance of Falstaff. That makes Falstaff the leading Verdi opera I've conducted as of the other nights. Am I sick of it? Not one bit. Nor would I ever become that, because classical music renews itself on renewed hearing and the same for conducting it. It's not that you find new Things you do, but you are constantly reinvigorated by Gibbs energy. People say, where do you get the energy to do it? I said, the energy comes from music. It doesn't come from me. I'm just there conduit. As soon as the music starts, I'm gone. You know, it's total immersion for however long the piece is heard.
- [27:27]
B
I don't think I've ever heard the magic of music described so vividly. It was amazing. I have a suspicion there may be fledgling opera singers listening to these podcasts and looking for tips, looking for inspiration. What do you think the most important criteria are to, to excel as an opera singer, to break through?
- [27:51]
C
Well, the first tip is you and I, and they have nothing to do with it. Nature's gift is primary. Some people are born with voices and others are not. If you are attracted to that and you have a voice, you have to try to understand the nature of your voice, where it's meant to be, where it is most natural, and then cultivate that. And I would not like to limit this conversation to opera singers. I would like to say singers, period. Because I think that something that is very important in our, perhaps in our future in the United States is that there are many voices that are appropriate for singing opera, but there are many voices that are more appropriate for singing oratorio and song literature. And that's part of what one needs to decide and be attracted to now. At the same time, the general public has lost its connection to the song literature. And that is a tragedy because I'm going to say especially German song, which we call German lieder, but especially that, but not exclusively at all. French, Italian, Anglo, Saxon, American. There is so much song literature that can fill up not just an evening, but fill your soul and fill your heart in live performance. There is so much need for that that there's a place for a lot of people who might be excluded. If you don't have a voice like Brynhilde, you can't sing Brunhilde. If you can't sing Aida, or if you can't sing Otello, or if you can't sing, you know what, there's things you can sing and you should cultivate that. And might I add that I would not prognosticate anything about the future, but. But I think I can safely say that we will continue to have economic challenges to classical music indefinitely. And opera is a prime target because it is the most expensive of all of the performing arts. And therefore I fear for the economic well being of opera in A certain way that can be totally avoided by cultivating an audience and a cadre of young singers who can do song literature. Every city and town in this country has a hall that is appropriate to do song recital. And what does it cost? It costs you a piano, the lights, a technician, a pianist and one singer. In our case, you have to have a staff and all. But it's nothing. It's infinitesimal compared to the opera and it is just as soul fulfilling. When I was. I hate to talk this way, but it's the way when I was a kid in New York city in the 1960s, I could go to Carnegie hall and hear Dietrich Fischer Disguise. I could hear Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, I could hear later years, Janet Baker. There were Lieder recitals, songs, German songs, but also all songs that would fill up Carnegie Hall. That's almost unheard of today because for complicated reason it has fallen out, not because of the quality of the music. And I just described this unforgettable concert by Benjamin Britton and Peter Pierce. These are things that stand out from my childhood and that's out there and can be cultivated around the whole country. And it needs to be done. So I think a lot more emphasis needs to be spent on the song literature for providing the public with something that is more readily available to them at a more economic level for everybody, producer and consumer, and to give opportunities to many singers who for one reason or the other may. May not be exact fit for the operatic stage to have a productive and a meaningful life.
- [32:28]
B
For those listening who are not already art song fans, I want to just repeat the two song cycles you mentioned earlier that you heard Peter Piers sing. Die Liebe by Schumann and Winterize of Schubert. And there are a couple of songs in each one that if that composer had written nothing else, they would be among the greatest composers of all time. Do you agree?
- [32:53]
C
100% agreed. And very fortunately the Schubert year is coming and we're going to, I hope, hear a lot of Schubert and I hope in particular a lot of Schubert's songs called Schubert Leader. That's what people say. Well, I don't know what that means, Schubert leader. All it means is songs. And he wrote a thousand, you know. So
- [33:16]
B
you certainly saw some challenges in the last 20 years here in La Covid. Of course, the financial challenges of any major opera company, as you've mentioned, but it seems that you have helped create an opera town here.
- [33:32]
C
It's nice of you to say. I don't know how much credit I should take for any of it. But I have done what I've loved, and I have tried to provide for every audience that comes through these doors. I. A musical standard that they know they can count on. To the degree that that has helped, I'm delighted the impact of COVID has been negative. But, you know, I think that's everybody. That's everybody in the world. That's everybody in our country. We have come back from it. I think, you know that. I think it's. We're past it, but some of the. Some of the scars are still there. But I think the most important thing is that people begin to understand that they can make classical music a regular part of their life. And as long as we can try to keep ticket prices down from getting too high so that nobody is excluded on the basis of cost, we have a fighting chance. Making it easy for people to make it a habit to come to the opera, to the symphony, to piano recitals, to song recitals, whatever it is, make it easy for people, don't make it hard for them.
- [34:50]
B
How do you think LA has changed in general as a cultural center in the last 20 years? Do you see changes? Do you feel changes?
- [34:59]
C
Difficult to answer that question because I don't see it from the outside, I see it from the inside. And it's like saying, well, how. And you look in the mirror, how have you changed? Well, only if you look at an old photograph or something, you know, so many people may say, you know, it's astounding you haven't changed over the years. Of course I have. That's nonsense. You know, everybody changes. I think those changes are taking place. Certainly there is so much more going on in classical music in 2026 that was going on in 2006, where. Which was already infinitely more than was going on 20 years before that. I think that's all a great thing. Louisiana Opera is 40 years old this year. The presence downtown of the Los Angeles Opera, right aside the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which is right aside the Colburn School, I think that's a great thing, and I hope that bodes well for the future.
- [35:56]
B
This being the culminating podcast of our series, do you have a message to LA Opera audiences?
- [36:06]
C
My message to LA opera audiences is the same as everybody else. Classical music, all music, really. But I'm going to just say classical, because I advocate for it, is a spiritual force. It is an enriching experience on all levels, and everybody can partake in it. It is not an elite art form. It is not only for special people or, even worse, people who think they're special. It's for everybody. Nobody is excluded. Start as early as you can. Start your children as early as you can. Help with your grandchildren. Make it a habit, because if you get infected with the love of classical music, it will never, never go away.
- [36:55]
B
And on that note, thank you so much for this series. It's been a real joy.
- [37:01]
C
It's my pleasure and joy. Thank you, Gail this has been the
- [37:05]
B
concluding episode of 20 Years of L A Opera with Maestro Conlan, our podcast miniseries in the culminating season of James Conlon as Music Director of LA Opera prior to his becoming Conductor Laureate. He has no not retiring as he assures us he will be conducting all over the world and hopefully back here as well. Thank you for joining us on behind the Curtain. I'm Gayle Eichenthal.
- [37:33]
A
Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe to behind the Curtain wherever you listen to podcasts and share this episode with your friends on your favorite social media. Did you know that as a nonprofit, LA Opera relies on charitable donations from arts lovers just like you? Learn more about how your support brings our stage to life@laopera.org donate we can't wait to see you at the Opera.