Opera News“He has long been one of classical music’s most compelling advocates, but somewhere along the way, Conlon has fully assumed the mantle of the most accomplished music director currently on the podium of an American opera house.”
Los Angeles Times”In the pit, Conlon and the orchestra sounded terrific from beginning to end. Conlon’s reading was perfectly gauged, transparent and propulsive, and able to pounce on Verdi’s more dramatic pronouncements without undue heaviness. His taut collaboration with the singers was invisible to the ear. The L.A. Opera Chorus, prepared by Grant Gershon, sang with robust precision.”
Cincinnati Business Courier“… Conlon was an energized leader on the podium, alert to every detail of the score. It was a high-voltage performance that electrified from beginning to end.”
OperaNews“La Traviata was the first opera James Conlon conducted at Los Angeles Opera back in 2006. It featured three international stars in the cast, was filmed by Decca and signalled the start of a new era. Eighteen years later, Conlon is now the star. As LA Opera’s music director for half of the company’s existence, Conlon knows his orchestra-and Traviata-even better than before, and at the final performance of this run, on April 27, the playing of the prelude that reflected it. The mournful strings brimmed with tension, evoking the burning passions of the opera’s heroine as well as foreshadowing her demise.”
Los Angeles Daily News“There was, however, one individual who wove all these threads together, and that was James Conlon. The performance he conducted combined the soufflé lightness and melodious rapture of “Cosi fan tutte,” the magnitude of sense of humanity that pervades “The Magic Flute” and the grandeur of Mozart’s never-to-be-finished “Requiem.” No doubt, after these performances “La Clemenza di Tito” may receive a long overdue renaissance.”
San Francisco Classical Voice“The brightest star of this production has to be James Conlon. The illuminating performance he conducted combined the light, melodic rapture of Cosi fan tutte, the Masonic-inspired humanity of The Magic Flute, and the magnitude of the Requiem.”
James Conlon, internationally recognized as one of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, has cultivated a vast symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire. Since his 1974 debut with the New York Philharmonic, he has conducted virtually every major American and European symphony orchestra, and at many of the world’s leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera. Through worldwide touring, an extensive discography and filmography, numerous writings, television appearances, and guest speaking engagements, Conlon is one of classical music’s most recognized and prolific figures.
Conlon is Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera (since 2006). He will serve as Music Director of the company until his 20th season in 2026, at which time he will become Conductor Laureate. He was previously Principal Conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Torino, Italy (2016–20); Principal Conductor of the Paris Opera (1995–2004); General Music Director of the City of Cologne, Germany (1989–2003), simultaneously leading the Gürzenich Orchestra and the Cologne Opera; and Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (1983–91). Conlon was Music Director of the Ravinia Festival (2005–15), summer home of the Chicago Symphony, and is now Music Director Laureate of the Cincinnati May Festival―the oldest Choral Festival in the United States―where he was Music Director for 37 years (1979–2016), marking one of the longest tenures of any director of an American classical music institution. He also served as Artistic Advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (2021-2023). He has conducted over 270 performances at the Metropolitan Opera since his 1976 debut. He has also conducted at leading opera houses and festivals such as the Wiener Staatsoper, Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Mariinsky Theatre, Covent Garden, Chicago Lyric Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
As Music Director of LA Opera, Conlon has led more operas than any other conductor in company history—over 500 performances of more than 60 works. Highlights of his LA Opera tenure include the company’s first Ring cycle; initiating the groundbreaking Recovered Voices series, an ongoing commitment to staging masterpieces of 20th-century European opera suppressed by the Third Reich; spearheading Britten 100/LA, a city-wide celebration honoring the composer’s centennial; and conducting the west coast premiere of The Anonymous Lover by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a prominent Black composer in 18th-century France.
Conlon opens his 19th season at LA Opera conducting Puccini’s Madame Butterfly directed by Mario Gas, honoring the composer in the centennial year of his death. He leads Mozart’s Così fan tutte, directed by Shawna Lucey from Michael Cavanagh’s original production. The 2024-2025 season at LA Opera closes with Verdi’s Rigoletto directed by Tomer Zvulun, continuing Conlon’s multi-season focus on the works of the great Italian composer. To date, Conlon has conducted more than 500 international performances of Verdi’s repertoire.
Additional highlights of his season include a return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to lead an all-Mozart program, and a program of Mozart and Dvořák with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. He also returns to Switzerland’s Bern Symphony to conduct works by Messiaen, Franck, and Ravel, and he leads works by Martinů, Bruch, and Dvořák with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg at the Elbphilharmonie. Conlon continues to celebrate Puccini around the world, conducting a concert in Venice’s St. Mark’s Square presented by Teatro La Fenice titled “Tributes to Puccini from the World”; he also leads Tosca in Rome at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and conducts Verdi’s Requiem with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini and the Coro del Teatro Regio da Parma in Parma, Italy, where the composer was born.
Conlon is dedicated to bringing composers silenced by the Nazi regime to more widespread attention, often programming this lesser-known repertoire throughout Europe and North America. In 1999 he received the Vienna-based Zemlinsky Prize for his work bringing the composer’s music to a broader audience; in 2013 he was awarded the Roger E. Joseph Prize at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for his efforts to eradicate racial and religious prejudice and discrimination; and in 2007 he received the Crystal Globe Award from the Anti-Defamation League. His work on behalf of silenced composers led to the creation of The OREL Foundation, an invaluable resource on the topic for music lovers, students, musicians, and scholars; the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School; and a recent virtual TEDx Talk titled “Resurrecting Forbidden Music.”
Conlon is deeply invested in the role of music in civic life and the human experience. At LA Opera, his popular pre-performance talks, which he gives before every opera he conducts, blend musicology, literary studies, history, and social sciences to discuss the enduring power and relevance of opera and classical music. As of the 2023-2024 season, Conlon has given 336 talks for over 350,000 people. He also frequently collaborates with universities, museums, and other cultural institutions and works with scholars, practitioners, and community members across disciplines. He frequently appears throughout the country as a speaker on a variety of cultural and educational topics.
Conlon’s extensive discography and filmography spans the Bridge, Capriccio, Decca, EMI, Erato, and Sony Classical labels. His recordings of LA Opera productions have received four Grammy® Awards, two respectively for John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Additional highlights include an ECHO Klassik Award-winning recording cycle of operas and orchestral works by Alexander Zemlinsky; a CD/DVD release of works by Viktor Ullmann, which won the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik; and the world-premiere recording of Liszt’s oratorio St. Stanislaus.
Conlon holds four honorary doctorates, was one of the first five recipients of the Opera News Awards, and was distinguished by the New York Public Library as a Library Lion. He received a 2023 Cross of Honor for Science and Art (Österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst) from the Republic of Austria, and was named Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic. In 2024, he was honored with the Richard D. Colburn Award from the Colburn School for his exemplary contributions to classical music and the arts. He was also named Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and, in 2002, personally accepted France’s highest honor, the Legion d’Honneur, from then-President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac.
AUGUST 2024
