James Conlon is set to become Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Opera in 2026.

Conlon announced that the 2025-26 season will be his final one at the helm of the organization marking his 20th anniversary in the position of music director and his 40th with the company.

“The long, productive relationship that I have shared with LA Opera and the greater Los Angeles community has been a source of enormous professional fulfillment, and I have decided to make the 2025-2026 season my last as music director,” Conlon said in an official press statement. “Twenty years with the company marks an extraordinary personal milestone. I am moving on to a new phase of my professional activities and am grateful to the board and to [LA Opera President and CEO] Christopher [Koelsch] for their understanding.

“One of the greatest satisfactions has been working with the musicians of the LA Opera Orchestra. I am deeply grateful to them for their dedication, hard work and support. I am confident that they will be in very good hands with the next generation of leadership.”

Conlon became the company’s second music director in 2006 and has conducted 68 operas by 32 different composers across 460 performances (and counting). He also launched the “Recovered Voices” initiative which commits to staging neglected works of composers suppressed by the Third Reich. He also initiated the annual Community Opera and has worked to bring opera into the local community.

His recordings of LA Opera productions of “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” and “The Ghost of Versailles received two Grammy Awards each. He also holds four honorary doctorates among numerous awards from several international institutions including the French Minister of Culture and Italian Republic.

In addition to his work with LA Opera, Conlon has held prominent positions as conductor of such organizations as the Paris Opera, Cologne Opera, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Ravinia Festival, and Cincinnati May Festival, among many others.