Bravos and Bows on a 'Grand' Scale

Plácido Domingo and Nino Machaidze

The Center presented LA Opera in a concert performance of Jules Massenet’s Thaïs on May 27. This is the third time the Center has brought the LA Opera cast, chorus and orchestra to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall to perform one of the company’s works being presented in fully-staged productions at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The cast starred the legendary Plácido Domingo as Athanaël and Nino Machaidze in the title role.

Final bows and standing ovation.

A number of Center guests applauded and welcomed the cast at a party held in the concert hall Donor Lounge.

Center Chairman Larry Higby and wife Dee 
with Plácido Domingo and his wife Marta.

LA Opera President Christopher Koelsch, performance 
underwriter Paul Musco and Center President Terry Dwyer.

All photos by Nick Koon.

Fine Falstaff Heads to the Center

A scene from LA Opera's 2005 production of Falstaff 
Photo by Robert Millard

The reviews are in for LA Opera’s new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff. The OC Register’s Tim Mangan wrote of Verdi’s comic masterpiece and this production's star, “In no other opera does the orchestra play more of a crucial part than in Falstaff. The orchestra’s music is delicious, mercurial, boisterous, hilarious, ingenious. … Italian baritone Roberto Frontali was the marvelous Falstaff, easily negotiating the poles of pompous self-regard and wounded ego, and nimbly, rhythmically barking his lines in a rich but penetrating voice.” 

Roberto Frontali as Falstaff. Photo by Marc Vanappelghem 
Courtesy of Opera de Lausanne

Mangan added good news for Center audiences – “Orange County will fortunately have the opportunity to hear it when the company brings Falstaff, in concert performance and no fat suit, to Segerstrom Concert Hall on Nov. 26. I think I’ll go.” The Center welcomes Mr. Mangan and all fans of opera, Verdi and the Bard.

Verdi’s Uplifting Operatic Farewell Comes to the Center

Roberto Frontali as Falstaff. Photo by Marc Vanappelghem, 
courtesy of Opera de Lausanne

On November 26, Giuseppe Verdi’s comic masterpiece and final opera will be heard in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall during a concert performance of LA Opera’s fully staged production. Thomas May, a regular contributor to LA Opera’s programs has prepared a fascinating scan of this brilliant opus that many critics consider his finest work. May writes, “Whoever laughs last, laughs best—or, in the more elegant formulation by Arrigo Boito, author of Falstaff’s libretto: Ma ride ben chi ride / La risata finale … It’s quintessential Verdi, incorporating myriad references to his own artistic past; and yet, far from repeating himself, the composer responds to the drama with a remarkably innovative attitude. This trait can still surprise opera lovers accustomed to the more obviously lyrical style of the blockbusters from earlier in his career. A prominent example of its novelty is the unusual (for Verdi) degree of integration of voices and orchestra, which some even describe as symphonic.” It’s an operatic tour de force and final opera by Italy’s greatest composer. 

To read May’s complete story and to purchase tickets, click here.

A scene from LA Opera's 2005 production of Falstaff
Photo by Robert Millard.

A scene from LA Opera's 2005 production of Falstaff
Photo by Robert Millard

Celebrating Giuseppe Verdi at 200 with Falstaff

Giuseppe Verdi, the man many consider the father of Italian opera, would have celebrated his 200 birthday on October 10. While he could not be with us in person, opera and music fans around the world have been commemorating the occasion with special concerts and performances of his works. 

Roberto Frontali as Falstaff © Marc Vanappelghem
Courtesy of Opera de Lausanne

Verdi had a tremendous influence on the evolution of opera, in particular, infusing it with profound emotional theatricality. The Washington Post music critic and opera-enthusiast Anne Midgette raved, “For me, Verdi has always made perfect sense. Something about his work accords with my sense of how life works, and how stories can be told and experienced.” He said of himself, "I adore art... when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear." It is likely that countless people who have heard his music and watched his operas have said the same thing about their experiences with his notes. 

His final opera, Falstaff, will be presented in concert version at the Center on November 26. Based on Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, Part I, many critics have called it his finest work. This comic masterpiece, the crowning glory of his magnificent career, will be performed by LA Opera, conducted by LA Opera Music Director James Conlon and star Italian baritone Roberto Frontali. 

To learn more about Falstaff, please visit www.SCFTA.org.

Verdi Rules in Concert Hall

© Doug Gifford

Segerstrom Center presented the inaugural LA Opera Off Grand on October 1 with a special concert performance of Verdi’s The Two Foscari in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. The performance featured the same cast as in LA Opera’s fully-staged production, with Plácido Domingo starring as Francesco Foscari and James Conlon conducting the LA Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

During the post-performance cast party hosted by South Coast Plaza at Marche Moderne, Center President Terry Dwyer said, “Through the years, there have been many wonderful performances at the Center by both Plácido and his marvelous company, and it is always a pleasure to welcome them back.”

Center Offered Free Screening of New Opera Starring Plácido Domingo

The Center’s Arts Plaza was filled with 2,500 people last night for a screening of the world premiere production of LA Opera’s Il Postino starring Plácido Domingo as Pablo Neruda and Charles Castronovo in the title role. Domingo greeted the crowed before the broadcast and introduced the cast members who joined them for the showing. The Center’s Arts Plaza is turning into a happening place, as it continues to pack in crowds to its Summer Movie Mondays and just last week, 20,000 people attended three performances by dance company Project Bandaloop.

Pictured above: LA Opera President Carol Harvey (center), Placido Domingo (right) and Center President Terry Dwyer (left)