Events

Join us at The Wallis on Saturday, April 11 at 4:00-6:00 PM PT for the official kickoff event of OperaFest LA. This special afternoon will feature a panel conversation with one representative from each participating company, offering insight into the works presented during the festival and the artistic vision behind them. The event will also include preview performances from partners’ OperaFest LA presentations, offering a first glimpse of the bold range of music and storytelling that defines this year’s festival.

LBO celebrates the release of the first commercial recording of Anthony Davis’s Pulitzer Prize–winning opera The Central Park Five, a landmark work the company commissioned and premiered in 2019 and remounted in 2022.

Widely acclaimed following its premiere, the opera has since been produced around the country and recognized for its musical and cultural impact. This new album documents the original LBO commission and highlights the company’s ongoing commitment to developing bold new American operas.

The release will follow a spring gala celebration featuring live performance and reflection with artists and the creative team. Event details are available down below.

The Industry’s Listening Parties blend live performances with recorded work and speculative conversation centered on the future of opera as a multidisciplinary art form. These curated yet casual evenings have featured artists that include black futurist Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), Aaron Turner from the post-metal band Sumac, composer and percussionist Guillermo E. Brown, extreme vocalist Carmina Escobar, scholar Michael Ned Holte, and mixed-media practitioner Matana Roberts. Composer Veronika Krausas (Hopscotch, Ghost Opera, The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth) directs, composes for, and produces multi-media events that incorporate her works with dance, acrobatics, and video. In April, she curates an evening of her past and current productions, featuring live performances and archival footage of projects influenced by tarot, circus arts, Shakespeare, and the ghost realm.

For fans of classic comedy, dashing disguises, Shakespearean twists, and good old Italian opera, Falstaff is a can’t-miss hoot. Sir John Falstaff is a bumbling knight short on cash, so he hatches a scheme to marry rich. Too bad he happened to send both (married) targets the same love letter. Now Alice Ford and Meg Page are set on teaching Falstaff a lesson, and it's not long before quite a few angry villagers join in. Verdi’s laugh-out-loud romp through merry old England delivers delightful music, witty schemes, and even a surprise dip in the River Thames!

The USC Thornton Opera Program and USC Thornton Symphony present The Turn of the Screw, an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, based on the 1898 novella by Henry James. Sung in English, the production is conducted by Brent McMunn and directed and designed by Ken Cazan, with costumes by Elena Flores and lighting by David Jacques.

Tickets are available through the USC Ticket Office online, by calling 213-740-4672, or at the theater box office below

Incubator program Original Vision presents new operas in-development with mentorship by O-Lan Jones and Fahad Siadat. Jones is one of “the Luminaries” in “Tim Burton: Life in the Line,” and was called “an uncategorizable legend,” by the press. Siadat was named a “downright utopian artist and thinker” by the LA Times. 

The fifth Original Vision presents works by Samara Rice, Brian Sonia-Wallace, O-Lan Jones, Murphy Severtson, and George Landau-Pincus. Time Is the Enemy follows a terminally-ill man whose estranged wife’s work on a time machine catapults him into an interdimensional plane where future and past collide. MINE vents the epic day-to-day thoughts and feelings of Imogene, teased out into music, speech, and movement, where old friends, lovers, enemies, worries, and passions take hold. Carcinize! begins with a female pilot’s crash-landing onto a deserted island. While a crash is often an ending, here it is the beginning, as the crabs and the pilot become one and many. 

Stage direction by Jones and Livia Reiner. Music Direction by Siadat. 

Over a remarkable 20 years as LA Opera’s Music Director, James Conlon has made tremendous contributions to the musical life of Los Angeles. Now, join us in celebrating his legacy with a special one-night-only concert devoted to his favorite composers. Operatic superstars and an array of special guests join the LA Opera Orchestra for an evening of Mozart, Verdi, and Wagner on Friday, April 24. Following the concert, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion stage transforms into a celebratory gala honoring Maestro Conlon. Join us for an unforgettable tribute to a transformative tenure. Gala tickets sold separately.

Incubator program Original Vision presents new operas in-development with mentorship by O-Lan Jones and Fahad Siadat. Jones is one of “the Luminaries” in “Tim Burton: Life in the Line,” and was called “an uncategorizable legend,” by the press. Siadat was named a “downright utopian artist and thinker” by the LA Times. 

The fifth Original Vision presents works by Samara Rice, Brian Sonia-Wallace, O-Lan Jones, Murphy Severtson, and George Landau-Pincus. Time Is the Enemy follows a terminally-ill man whose estranged wife’s work on a time machine catapults him into an interdimensional plane where future and past collide. MINE vents the epic day-to-day thoughts and feelings of Imogene, teased out into music, speech, and movement, where old friends, lovers, enemies, worries, and passions take hold. Carcinize! begins with a female pilot’s crash-landing onto a deserted island. While a crash is often an ending, here it is the beginning, as the crabs and the pilot become one and many. 

Stage direction by Jones and Livia Reiner. Music Direction by Siadat. 

One family, a rowdy boatload of animals, and a storm that will change the world as they know it. Maestro James Conlon conducts a cast of hundreds in the family-friendly one-act opera Noah’s Flood. LA Opera's professional artists will collaborate with over 300 amateur musicians—all ages, all skill levels, and drawn from across LA County—to present two free performances of Benjamin Britten's beloved opera at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, located in downtown LA. Reserve your complimentary seats for a charming tale of family, faith, and perseverance.

The Industry’s Listening Parties blend live performances with recorded work and speculative conversation centered on the future of opera as a multidisciplinary art form. These curated yet casual evenings have featured artists that include black futurist Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), Aaron Turner from the post-metal band Sumac, composer and percussionist Guillermo E. Brown, extreme vocalist Carmina Escobar, scholar Michael Ned Holte, and mixed-media practitioner Matana Roberts.  Invisible Cities, the first opera by Grammy-winning composer Chris Cerrone, was staged by The Industry in Union Station in its world premiere in 2014. Currently a member of The Industry’s artistic advisory group, Cerrone has since become known for work characterized by a subtle handling of timbre and resonance, a deep literary fluency, and a flair for multimedia collaborations. In May he presents works that center the voice, including selections from his opera In A Grove and the Roomful of Teeth commission Friday’s Saints.

Hysteria is a new opera by composer Molly Pease and librettist Divya Maus that transforms the historic diagnosis of “female hysteria” into a story of reclamation and empowerment. Merging haunting vocal textures, experimental soundscapes, and deeply human storytelling, the work examines how emotion, identity, and the body intersect under systems of control. Pease’s evocative score blurs boundaries between classical, electronic, and improvisational music, while Maus’ libretto reimagines “madness” as resistance and release. Hysteria invites audiences into an immersive, transformative experience that confronts cultural taboos and celebrates the power of self-expression.

French sensation Les Talens Lyriques are back with the best of Baroque. Conductor and founder Christophe Rousset leads the acclaimed Paris-based chamber ensemble, known worldwide for their revivals of music history’s great masterpieces. Join us Sunday, May 24 for Handelian Heroes, a cornucopia of musical delights starring countertenor Key'mon Murrah in his first LA Opera appearance since 2023’s acclaimed The Last Dream of Frida and Diego. The Colburn School’s Zipper Hall steps back in time to the 18th century with works by Handel, including selections from Ariodante and Julius Caesar in Egypt.

Jodie Landau has always felt like he was constructing, curating, and codifying his identity. Labels and definitions provided comfort to Jodie and those around him—but also felt limiting in their imperfection. Centered around autobiographical stories of Laudau’s childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, Performance of Self takes us on a relatable, emotional, funny, and deeply personal journey about love, sex, queerness, gender, family, online dating, boy bands, and the boxes we don’t quite fit in. Fusing memoir, concert, cabaret, and music-theatre, the debut solo show from the GRAMMY™ Award-nominated vocalist, composer, and percussionist, features original chamber rock compositions written and performed by Laudau, backed by a six-piece band of contemporary music all-stars.

Jodie Landau has always felt like he was constructing, curating, and codifying his identity. Labels and definitions provided comfort to Jodie and those around him—but also felt limiting in their imperfection. Centered around autobiographical stories of Laudau’s childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, Performance of Self takes us on a relatable, emotional, funny, and deeply personal journey about love, sex, queerness, gender, family, online dating, boy bands, and the boxes we don’t quite fit in. Fusing memoir, concert, cabaret, and music-theatre, the debut solo show from the GRAMMY™ Award-nominated vocalist, composer, and percussionist, features original chamber rock compositions written and performed by Laudau, backed by a six-piece band of contemporary music all-stars.

LA Opera’s acclaimed production of The Magic Flute is not just an opera; it's where live action meets hand-drawn animation — no wonder it’s the most seen opera adaptation in the world. Follow two unlikely heroes on a quest to save a princess, featuring Mozart's catchy score and dazzling hand-drawn animations. Armed with enchanted bells and (you guessed it) a magic flute, Prince Tamino sets off to rescue his lady love, the Princess Pamina—only to find that things aren’t what they seem, and the Queen of the Night who sent him on his quest just might be plotting his doom instead.