It has been a long intermission for L.A. Opera, fraught with unforeseen bumps in the road due to the Pandemic, but the beat goes on with this Saturday’s gala opening of Verdi’s hummable, old warhorse, ”Il Trovatore,” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
The first glitch was the news that the ship from Monaco carrying the production’s scenery was embargoed on the ocean due to coronavirus-related delays. The L.A. Opera officials immediately connected with the European design team, and within hours, a 45-member crew scrambled to replicate the set, pyrotechnic elements and lighting structures.
“Building an elaborate set from scratch within 10 days was a Herculean task. Thankfully our team was up to it,” company CEO Christopher Koelsch said.
For the past several years, as an overture to the gala opening night, longtime benefactors Carol and Warner Henry had opened their beautiful terraces overlooking Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco for their annual Pie ‘n Burger Labor Day burger bash to fete artists and major donors to L.A. Opera.
Although Warner passed away last year, Carol, who has chaired L.A. Opera’s Executive Committee since 2005, decided, to carry on the tradition and host the bash in their home one last time before she begins to downsize her lifestyle.
There have been significant changes in the opera’s hierarchy during the 18-month hiatus. Carol will remain as chair of the executive committee, a post she has occupied since 2005, but after 30 years of board service — 20 as chair — Marc Stern has stepped down and passed the torch to Keith Leonard, an executive in the biotechnology industry and a devoted opera board member since 2015.
“While working alongside Keith, it quickly became clear that he would make an outstanding chair and the board agreed,” Stern said. “Now I’m looking forward to supporting Keith and watching as the LA Opera continues to thrive and grow.”
As honorary chair, Stern will remain an active voting member. He and his wife Eva are the largest donors in accumulative gifts to The Music Center and its resident companies after the Disney family.
In compliance with COVID-19 restrictions plus a tight rehearsal schedule, cast members were not among the guests this year, but the event drew a substantial turnout of board members and donors, including Koelsch, Annette and Keith Leonard, Marc Stern, Alice Coulombe, Alyce Williamson, Todd Calvin, Susan Graham Allan Edmiston, Patrick Harrigan, Charles Souw, Adele and Gordon Binder, Paul Bennett, Ellen and Jim Strauss, Michelle and Rupert Hemmings, Jennifer Diener, Geoff Emery, Tim Johnson, Ann and Robert Ronus, Joan and Arnold Seidel, Marc Stern, Nancy and Barry Sanders, Monica and Trevor Roper, Janet Ciriello and Diane and Peter Gray.
Not presented by L.A. Opera since 2004, “Il Trovatore,” famed for its “Anvil Chorus,” will feature Chinese soprano Guanqun Yu, tenors Limmie Pulliam and Gregory Kunde, mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce- Davis and baritone Morris Robinson.
The cast also includes two members of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artists Program, soprano Tiffany Townsend and tenor Anthony Ciaramitaro, as well as tenor Orson Van Gay II. World-renowned Verdi master James Conlon will conduct all six performances through Oct. 10.
We are told that masks will be required at all times for all patrons and visitors regardless of vaccination status in all indoor spaces.
pattdiroll@charter.net