Brian Lauritzen interviews the stars of Roméo et Juliette. Tenor Vittorio Grigolo discusses the critical importance of preparation, luck and timing, and why the audience is always right, and soprano Nino Machaidze, who learned the role of Juliette for the Salzburg Festival in one month, explains why it's her ideal role.
Music Director James Conlon discusses Mozart's ongoing examination of the battle of the sexes throughout his "Da Ponte" trilogy, why Beethoven was appalled by Così fan tutte, and the mischievous implications of the opera's setting in Naples.
Music Director James Conlon discusses Tchaikovsky's place in the Russian operatic tradition, how he adapted one of Russia's greatest literary masterpieces for the operatic stage, and why Eugene Onegin is one of the few operatic tragedies that doesn't have a villain. "Tchaikovsky was profoundly aware that he was setting one of the great masterpieces of Russian literature, if not the greatest. The results are compelling.he pours out his heart through the human voice and the orchestra."
Music Director James Conlon conducts The Turn of the Screw, a suspenseful chiller that launches a multi-season celebration of Britten operas leading up to the composer's centenary in 2013. "This is a first-rate ghost story.a real masterpiece from all points of view."
Music Director James Conlon relishes the opportunity to conduct a little-known masterpiece that he has cherished for decades: Rossini's The Turk in Italy. After years of neglect, this charming comedy has reclaimed its rightful place in the repertory to delight audiences with its sophisticated wit and dazzling music.
With Rigoletto returning to the LA Opera stage for the first time in ten years, Music Director James Conlon relishes the opportunity to conduct Verdi's mid-career masterpiece. He discusses the work's powerful humanity and its strikingly unusual portrayal of an outsider as a sympathetic protagonist.
For his first post-Ring performances, James Conlon returns to the LA Opera podium with an earlier Wagnerian masterpiece, and he's excited to continue the Company's Wagner tradition: "There are moments in the Ring where you can look back and say, yes, Lohengrin is in there."
Bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch, who stars as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, speaks to Brian Lauritzen about keeping in vocal shape, comparisons with the vocal greats of the past, working with conductor Plácido Domingo, and returning to LA Opera (after his Company debut in The Fly) in a mainstream leading role. "I never fully understood why people assume that giving Mozart to young voices is a good idea, because it's hard!"
Composer Daniel Catán speaks to Brian Lauritzen about his fourth opera, Il Postino, which has its world premiere at LA Opera, the poetry of Pablo Neruda, and why he makes his home in Los Angeles. "At the beginning, I didn't know enough about opera. It seemed like an extraordinary thing to go and watch. The thing is, opera soon made a calling. I realized, very early on, that whenever I thought of characters and was setting words, composition came much easier to me. So I discovered that I had a dramatic vein in my blood that I then chose to develop; I identified as an operatic composer."
James Conlon, LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director, talks to Brian Lauritzen about Franz Schreker's The Stigmatized (Die Gezeichneten), which receives its long overdue American premiere this season. "This is a man who wrote eight major operas, three of which were so successful in his time that they could be considered among the most successful operas written in the late teens and twenties, alongside Strauss. The work is not about the political context. It was written as an opera to be played and performed."
Brian Lauritzen interviews the stars of 
Music Director 
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Bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch, who stars as Figaro in 
Composer Daniel Catán speaks to Brian Lauritzen about his fourth opera, 
James Conlon, LA Opera's Richard Seaver Music Director, talks to Brian Lauritzen about Franz Schreker's The Stigmatized (Die Gezeichneten), which receives its long overdue American premiere this season. "This is a man who wrote eight major operas, three of which were so successful in his time that they could be considered among the most successful operas written in the late teens and twenties, alongside Strauss. The work is not about the political context. It was written as an opera to be played and performed." 
