L.A. Opera future proves bright, predicts Domingo
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 11, 2000 9:00 p.m.
 UCLA Performing Arts Plácido
Domingo, newly named Artistic Director of the L.A. Opera,
recently discussed his ambitions for the opera company. Under his
and Kent Nagano’s direction, the L.A. Opera will hold one world
premiere each season starting with the 2002-2003 season. Domingo’s
plans include collaborations with several international opera
companies, including the Kirov Opera of Russia.
By John Mangum
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
As if two operas and a series of concerts weren’t enough,
Los Angeles Opera’s season started with even greater fanfare
than usual this year.
Plácido Domingo, world-renowned tenor, conductor and, more
recently, artistic administrator, announced the company’s
future plans at a recent press conference.
These plans include strengthening the roster of conductors who
lead the L.A. Opera Orchestra, commissioning new operas from major
composers, forging a relationship between the opera and
Russia’s world-famous Kirov Opera and ““ the icing on
the cake ““ a new production of German composer Richard
Wagner’s monumental four-night, 15-hour cycle of operas,
“The Ring of the Niebelungen.”
Domingo became Artistic Director of L.A. Opera after General
Director Peter Hemmings retired at the end of the 1999-2000 season.
Hemmings laid a rock-solid foundation for opera in Los Angeles (he
guided the opera since it was founded a decade and a half ago) and
Domingo has made it clear that he intends to build some pretty
astounding things on that foundation.
“It is very important to me that we solidify this
company’s reputation for presenting ambitious, artistically
challenging works,” Domingo said at the press conference,
which was held at the Los Angeles County Performing Arts
Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where the opera holds its
performances.
“In formulating my plans for the company, one of my main
concerns was to strengthen the conductorial component, which is why
I invited Kent Nagano to join us as principal conductor,” he
continued.
Nagano, a California native with an established international
career, served as Music Director of the National Opera of Lyon,
France, where he gained a reputation for adventurous repertoire and
turned that company into one of the best in the world.
LOS ANGELES OPERA Ambitious plans are in the
working for the next few seasons at the Los Angeles Opera in part
due to Placido Domingo’s recent take over as Artistic Director and
his drive to perform artistically challenging pieces.
2001-2002 Principal Conductor Kent Nagano conducts
four productions. 2002-2003 Industrial Light and
Magic – produced "Ring" cycle begins in May. World premiere opera
by Luciano Berio. 2003-2004 Conclusion of "Ring"
cycle in May. World premiere opera by Deborah Dratell.
SOURCE: Press Conference with Placido Domingo and LA Opera
Executive Director Ian Whit-Thomson
Nagano will begin his appointment at the L.A. Opera during the
2001-2002 season, during which he will conduct four works,
including Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and
Puccini’s “Turandot.” He will also lead the
German Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, of which he is currently music
director, in the first Los Angeles concert performances of Arnold
Schoenberg’s opera “Moses and Aron” in honor of
the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death.
Nagano, according to Domingo, has already influenced the
company’s direction. The two have placed a stronger emphasis
on creating new works, which comes as no surprise to anyone
familiar with Nagano’s interest in 20th-century opera.
“Kent and I have decided that each season, starting with
the 2002-2003 season, we will have one world premiere,”
Domingo said. “Kent and I are also excited about
commissioning new works of modern operatic music that will be
performed in smaller venues in Los Angeles.”
In keeping with this, L.A. Opera has commissioned new works from
eminent Italian composer Luciano Berio (for the 2002-2003 season)
and from Deborah Dratell, who is currently composer-in-residence at
New York City Opera (for the 2003-2004 season).
Dratell’s opera will be entitled “Nicholas and
Alexandra” and will presumably take as its subject the lives
of the last Czar and Czarina of Russia.
Russia figures into Domingo’s future plans in more ways
than one. He plans to collaborate closely with the Kirov Opera, one
of the world’s foremost companies, and its conductor, Valery
Gergiev.
Domingo has performed at the Kirov, as well, which is in the
Russian capital of St. Petersburg, and he sang Wagner in three
revelatory concerts last month with the Kirov Orchestra and Gergiev
at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
“I am proud to announce significant artistic
collaborations with major international companies that will be
taking place over the next three seasons,” Domingo said.
“Particularly with the Kirov Opera and its renowned
conductor, my good friend Valery Gergiev.”
“Having worked closely with Valery, I can say with
certainty that we have developed a rich and fulfilling artistic
association that is both challenging and rewarding,” he
continued.
Gergiev will conduct next season’s opening production of
Tchaikovsky’s “Queen of Spades” and will return
during the 2003-2004 season to conduct the same composer’s
“Eugene Onegin” and Prokofiev’s “Love for
Three Oranges.”
Co-productions (which are shared between companies to keep costs
low and bring the productions to a wider audience) include
Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffmann” and
Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov,” both slated for
2002-2003.
Finally, L.A. Opera will tackle Wagner’s colossal Ring
cycle, the Mt. Everest of opera, between May 2003 and May 2004. The
cycle takes its subject from Norse mythology and follows the rise
and fall of the gods over four nights. L.A. Opera’s plans to
mount a production of it make a strong, positive statement about
the company’s permanence and its position
internationally.
“Many companies have established their reputations based
on the Ring cycle,” Domingo said. “With a production
designed by Industrial Light and Magic, a company founded by George
Lucas, and the motion picture industry’s leading special
effects studio, I am confident that this will be an exciting Ring
cycle for the new millennium.”
It also promises to be a strikingly individual production,
something in line with the course Domingo has charted for L.A.
Opera.
OPERA: For information about the current season or Los Angeles
Opera’s future plans, visit their Web site at www.laopera.org or call (213)
972-8001.
