The official opening of the Social Season always commences with the Opening of the L.A. Opera, and this year it was a return to the gaiety, glory, and grandeur of the 1920’s. Marta Domingo took us back to the world of the flappers in directing and designing the season-opening of Verdi’s La Traviata.
Of course, her husband, Placido Domingo, the world’s most revered tenor (and now also baritone) starred in the lavish production, along with gorgeous Russian soprano Nino Machaidze as Violetta, and Mexican tenor Arturo Chacon-Cruz as her lover, Alfredo. A magical cast for a magical evening.
Speaking of Placido Domingo, we were pleased to learn that he has extended his contract as the company’s general director through the end of 2018/19. As Marc Stern, Chairman of the Board of Directors stated: “Domingo has transformed L.A. into a world class operatic capital.” We were also pleased to note that every seat in the Music Center was occupied by an enthusiastic audience.
Kudos to the hard working publicity staff, headed by Gary Murphy, for a herculean job in promoting our L.A. Opera. With free concerts at such venues as the City of Hope, live broadcast of the Opera at the Beach, sponsored by outgoing county supervisor, Zev Yaroslavsky (who conducted the national anthem at the opening of La Traviata), pre-opera talks about the operas, and soirees in the spirit all over town, grand opera in L.A. has developed from a dream to reality.
Some of the celebrities and VIPs attending the performance were Stana Katic (Castle), Emmy Rossum (Shameless), L.A. Opera President, Christopher Koelsch, opera supporters Carol Colburn Grigor, Claude and Alfred Mann, and production underwriters Milan Panic and Barbara Teichert.
With over 500 guests at the ball following the performance, the opera tabulated $1.5 million in proceeds. For info on upcoming events and performances of such operas as The Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro, Bluebeard’s Castle & Florencia en el Amazonas (our favorite by recently deceased Daniel Catan) check out their website at www.laopera.org.
