(Photo credit: Martha Benedict) “La bohème aka The Hipsters,” Pacific Opera Project’s version of Puccini’s most famous opera, has become a regular holiday-season feature of Los Angeles’s opera calendar. This year’s production is the company’s fifth. Staged at the 1912-vintage Highland Park Ebell Club, POP updates “La bohème” to present-day Highland Park, which these days has a large population of {…}
Those who checked out our weekend recommendations from last weekend won’t be surprised with some of the choices that will show up on today’s list. But there are two other rare and unique opera experiences to be had. Here are our top five operas to see this weekend. Der Freischutz – Heartbeat Opera, New York Hearbeat Opera is undeniably one {…}
The Pacific Opera Project has announced the appointment of a new Executive and Development Director, Matt Cook. Cook recently held positions in development and production with Wild Up New Music ensemble and produced performances on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Fluxus Festival, the Ecstatic Music Festival in New York City, and lead partnerships with organizations such as the Martha Graham Dance {…}
The Pacific Opera Project closes its 2019 season with five performances of Puccini’s “La Bohème AKA ‘The Hipsters’” at The Highland Park Ebell Club. The production brings Puccini’s classic tale to present day Los Angeles and takes place in a loft apartment during a particularly cold SoCal winter. LA’s housing crisis comes to life on stage as the artist, poet, philosopher, {…}
The Pacific Opera Project has unveiled its 2020 season, which will include a wide range of unique opera experiences to celebrate the company’s 10-year anniversary. “I picked shows that will challenge and stretch us artistically and musically along with a few crowd favorites and one production we did in the early years I thought deserved to be seen by more {…}
(Photo: Martha Benedict) The 1912 Ebell Club in Los Angeles’ Highland Park has been the venue for a number of Pacific Opera Project performances. It’s a favorite venue for their popular show “La boheme: AKA: The Hipsters”. And its informal setting worked well for this intimate version of “The Mikado,” in which the audience was able to sit close at {…}
Pacific Opera Project has announced that it will revive its acclaimed 2013 production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta “The Mikado.” Josh Shaw will direct this exciting production, inspired by Tokyo’s hip Harajuku district. It will feature “eye-popping colors, intricate choreography, and zany antics,” along with Harajuku-style costumes designed by Maggie Green. Additionally, lyrics “originally written to take a jab at {…}
Pacific Opera Project’s “Madama Butterfly,” presented recently in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, was acclaimed for presenting Puccini’s opera in Japanese and English, the languages the characters would actually have spoken. But one of the other talking points around town was the “last-minute” assumption of the title role by Melbourne-born soprano, Janet Szepei Todd. OperaWire caught up with Janet at Cafe {…}
Twice on Saturday night at the opening of Pacific Opera Project’s “Madam Butterfly” at the Aratani Theatre in LA’s Little Tokyo I thought, “This could be the start of something big.” “Thought One” related to the production; “Thought Two” to a singer. But first, let’s discuss the elephant in the room. Cultural Appropriation? Puccini’s “Madam Butterfly” has excited controversy over {…}
The Pacific Opera Project is set to present an experimental version of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.” The company will present the first-ever true-to-story bilingual “Madama Butterfly” with a new libretto written by POP Artistic Director Josh Shaw and Opera in the Heights Artistic Director Eiki Isomura. The production will present Puccini’s story as if it actually happened and attempt to answer {…}
The Pacific Opera Project opened its 2019 season on March 2 with an ingenious production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” set in classic video games from the 1980s. The fairy-tale story that premiered in Vienna in 1791 has lent itself over time to innumerable adaptations, and is often used as a way to attract children to the opera hall. With {…}