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LA Opera’s 2012-2013 Season

September 15- October 9 2012: I due Foscari
September 22- October 14 2012: Don Giovanni
November 17- December 9 2012: Madama Butterfly
March 9-30 2013: Der fliegende Holländer
March 23- April 13 2013: Cenerentola
May 18- June 8 2013: Tosca

Plácido Domingo stars in I due Foscari. Oksana Dyka sings Butterfly with Brandon Jovanovich as Pinkerton and Eric Owens as Sharpless. Jay Hunter Morris is Erik in Der fliegende Holländer. Kate Lindsey and Ketevan Kemoklidze share the title role of Cenerentola. Sondra Radvanovsky is Tosca. Again, the Recovered Voices program seems to still be on hiatus.

2012-2013 Season | Official Site

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24 responses to “LA Opera’s 2012-2013 Season”

  1. Henry Holland Avatar
    Henry Holland

    Damn I can’t wait until that ego maniac Domingo leaves Los Angeles Opera, it can’t happen a moment too soon.
    Domingo: “I’m looking for tenor parts and some new baritone parts,” said Domingo, 71. “I’m also looking for parts closer to my age. All the young lovers tend to be tenors.”
    Oh just retire already, you scabby old rat bag (tm Basil Fawlty) or piss off back to Spain.
    So, the Britten cycle gets the usual incompetent LAO treatment, as does the Recovered Voices project: “But the new season won’t feature any Britten operas on the main stage. The company said it was a question of balance and finding operas more popular with audiences”
    The incompetence implied in that statement is staggering. When you planned the Britten cycle, did you think it was going to be huge box office, especially after doing two chamber operas in the barn called the Dot? You’re just finding out NOW that his operas are a niche thing? Unreal.
    So, they start the Recovered Voices Project and the Britten Cycle with a huge amount of back-patting and press releases and then drown them like Jenufa’s baby through incompetence.
    Gah, die LA Opera, just die. Can we re-animate Peter Hemmings? Please?

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  2. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I’m so sad about the Recovered Voices project, and it is disappointing about the Britten cycle. 2 Puccini operas in a 6 opera season is certainly not exciting for me, but I do hope they get more people to attend.

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  3. Patrick Avatar
    Patrick

    On the other hand: Philadelphia is doing three contemporary* operas out of five!
    (If you want to classify Britten as contemporary.)

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  4. Henry Holland Avatar
    Henry Holland

    Here’s the problem, OT: they’ve scheduled Butterfly, Tosca, Don G and Marriage of Figaro so frequently that there’s not much of an audience left that HASN’T seen them. I think that each of those has been done at least 5 times in 26 seasons!
    There’s also two offensive statements in the LA Times press announcement.
    http://tinyurl.com/6qw62oc
    Domingo: “I’m looking for tenor parts and some new baritone parts,” said Domingo, 71. “I’m also looking for parts closer to my age. All the young lovers tend to be tenors.”
    Translation: I’m going to use a valuable production slot in LA so that I can learn a new role to earn big bucks at the Met and in Europe with.
    Seriously, is anyone outside of hardcore Verdians clamoring for “I Due Foscari”? It’s so cynical, it’s almost laughable.
    Then there’s the “question of balance” part of the quote above. They programmed 3 Puccini operas about 4 years ago and 2 for this season and they have the nerve to use that as an excuse not to program the rest of the Britten cycle or the long promised “Die Tote Stadt”?!?
    I mean, people may complain about Gelb or Glockley, but damn! the people running LA Opera since Peter Hemmings left in 2001 have been flat out incompetent.
    Oh well, at least Amsterdam is doing Schreker’s great “Der Schatzgraber” this season! 🙂

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  5. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    It is a stark contrast.

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  6. Henry Holland Avatar
    Henry Holland

    [looks OP site] Holy crap! “Owen Wingrave”!!! The one Britten opera I haven’t seen a production of yet = road trip. Plus Ades’ fab “Powder Her Face”.
    sigh

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  7. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I’m confounded by the season, but I am so often. I might just have to go to Amsterdam.

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  8. Silverlakejim Avatar
    Silverlakejim

    Feeling your hurt. Dull, boring and wildly unimaginative. The worst LA Opera season yet.

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  9. CruzSF Avatar
    CruzSF

    I’d like to see I Due Foscari, but am having a hard time getting excited about seeing Domingo as papa Foscari. I liked him in Cyrano (the only time I’ve seen him live) but am not eager to see him in a baritone role.
    Other than that, the season looks pretty tame/standard. Is this the year of Don Giovanni? SF, West Bay Opera, SF Conservatory of Music, nearby Cinnabar Opera, have all done it this year (SFO this season but last year). I’m traveling abroad next month and the opera there will be Don Giovanni as well (won’t stop me from seeing it, I admit).

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  10. Ricky SA Avatar
    Ricky SA

    I do not really understand the anger about Domingo as I Due Foscari. He has had a big success as Simon Boccanegra at La Scala, Covent Garden, Metropolitan and in Berlin, so assuming that he will be up to singing the elder Foscari is not totally far fetched (notwithstanding that some might not like him in baritone roles).
    But I do agree that the other operas seem too tame. I understand focusing on popular operas but this is a bit too much. Why not at least a concert performance of a Britten opera or something from the recovered voices series?
    On the other hand, the casting is not bad. Poplavskaya should be interesting, likewise seeing Owens as Sharpless. Angela Meade should be a good Donna Anna. i could also mention Elisabeth Matos, Jay Hunter Morris etc.

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  11. Ricky SA Avatar
    Ricky SA

    About I Due Foscari, I just listened to a recording. I like it. According to Gramophone “I due Foscari is a taut, closely knit musicdrama, possibly Verdi’s most consistently inspired score before Macbeth, one in which he was stretching his musical idiom towards the great middle-period operas. The noble father/ daughter-in-law duet in the first act has more than a few pm-echoes of the equivalent Violetta/ Germont scene in La Traviata; Franccsco’s appeal to the Senate in the work’s finale is reminiscent of Rigoletto’s to the courtiers; and the whole piece is shot through with the same kind of intimations of nearby Venetian waters as is Simon Boccanegra.”
    So, I cannot really agree with Henry Holland’s “Seriously, is anyone outside of hardcore Verdians clamoring for “I Due Foscari”? It’s so cynical, it’s almost laughable.” Which also strikes me as cynical, almost laugable, when at the same time clamouring for more unusual repertory than the usual warhorses otherwise being presented by LAO.

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  12. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    Don Giovanni has been around during the past 5 years (is there a cycle to these sorts of things)? Cosi Fan Tutti was hot this season and is spilling into next.
    Now, if someone besides the Canadian Opera Company would have the you know whats to do La Clemenza di Tito . . .

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  13. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I found he sounded very much like a tenor in Iphigenia at the Met, so I share your concern. Nonetheless, it is quite likely I will hear him in both this and Simon Boccanegra.
    Don Giovanni is one of my favorite operas, but even I am a little disturbed by how much it is being performed. Are you going to Paris?

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  14. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    The casting is strong. I would rather hear Radvanovsky than either of the two sopranos cast for SF Opera’s Tosca next season.

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  15. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I am curious about it, but also skeptical. In any case, I’m sure to attend.

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  16. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    Exactly. Probably do have to head up to hear COC next season.

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  17. Mary Orcutt Avatar
    Mary Orcutt

    Aw, come on Henry…Hemmings was great, but Domingo really does try to bring cutting edge stuff to LA. Don’t be so harsh! We are lucky we have a great opera in LA (or anywhere for that matter). I think it’s nice he’s bringing Foscari to LA. I’m sure no one has ever seen it unless they commute to Naples. We need some different stuff. When you’re sitting there in Il Postino or Romeo, think of the beauty you witness and be glad Domingo can bring in the talent. People listen to him. Cheer up and listen to some arias!

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  18. CruzSF Avatar
    CruzSF

    Yes, I AM going to Paris! Not for the opera, but by happy accident, Opera de Paris’s well-regarded (in some quarters) production of Don G is being revived during my stay. It’ll be my first opportunity to hear Mattei, Petibon, and Gens live and in person. I couldn’t pass up the chance.

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  19. Henry Holland Avatar
    Henry Holland

    “Domingo really does try to bring cutting edge stuff to LA”
    Are you serious? Rare does not = cutting edge. Name one thing he’s done since he took over that even remotely compares to Hemmings doing Prokofiev’s “The Fiery Angel” or the world premiere of Aulis Sallinen’s “Kullervo”. If you think that “Nicolas & Alexandar” or “Grendel” or shudder “The Fly” or “Il Postino” (lovely as it is) are “cutting edge”, I don’t know what to tell you.
    And I am cheery, I’m housesitting for a friend and his two cats are great fun to play with. 🙂

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  20. Henry Holland Avatar
    Henry Holland

    Really? That’s your defense? Citing a Gramophone bit that uses the argument that “I Due Foscari” is the best of the “galley years” (i.e. damning with faint praise) and that Verdi used the best bits later in better operas? Wow.
    You misunderstood. What’s I considered cynical is Domingo AGAIN using his position as head of LAO to get a vanity project done, so he can learn a new role before taking it on the road. If you disagree, oh well…..

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  21. Brendan Avatar
    Brendan

    Like many of the posters here, I’m pretty disappointed with the upcoming season.
    I hate to sound negative, but the company has really gone downhill. It’s almost depressing to look at a random season for Los Angeles Opera several years ago (and even during James Conlon’s first season as music director) as opposed to what they’re doing now. I know that the Ring cycle really hurt them financially — and personally I wish they’d jettisoned the project after seeing what Achim Freyer came up with. But it’s sad that Los Angeles Opera used to be knocking on the door of San Francisco, Chicago, and The Met as one of the top five important opera companies in the United States only to completely run aground. A shame.

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  22. Lilacrobin Avatar
    Lilacrobin

    Me too….sigh…
    ♥ Robin ♥

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  23. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    That’s excellent! Curious about Mattei’s Don, he’s quite good.

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  24. The Opera Tattler Avatar
    The Opera Tattler

    I really hope LA Opera can get it together. At least the company was able to make an early $7-million payment on that county loan. It is too bad that Ring was such a loss.

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