A Trojan princess, captive of the Cretans, struggles between her hatred for enemies and her love for their prince. The latter's father, King Idomeneo, will be put to the test by Neptune himself.

At twenty-five, Mozart, finally independent, writes with Idomeneo his true masterpiece, where the traditional opera seria becomes a human tragedy marked with the unique seal of his genius. For this new production in which a cast as young as it is prestigious and the choir the elements shine, director Satoshi Miyagi imagines, from one war to another, the encounter between ancient Greece and modern Japan.

Ian will sing the title role.

After his disastrous trip to Mannheim and Paris, Mozart, forced by his uncompromising father Leopold to return to Salzburg to resume his activities with the archbishop, is desperate. During the trip, he has achieved nothing professionally, he has lost his mother in Paris and has suffered the most cruel breakup in love of his life by Aloysia Weber. When Mozart was commissioned to write a new opera seria for Munich for the carnival of 1781, the theme and libretto imposed on him bore many similarities to his own situation. The legend of Idomenee, her son Idamante and his love affairs inspired him to write an opera deeply invested, with an exceptional vocal quality and a very high level of orchestral writing. By taking great liberties with the ageing genre of the opera seria, Mozart masterfully learns from Gluck’s reformation, which tended towards more tension and truth in the course of the action.

The composer knew Munich well and this commission was an opportunity not only to settle accounts with those who had made him suffer, but also to distance himself from the archbishop who would soon congeal him, opening the way to a brand-new life in Vienna…

Ian will sing the title role.

Chawa remembers how much Adahm desired her when their love was new, but Adahm’s tired and fully occupied with struggling for sheer existence. His son Kajin refuses to work »by the sweat of his bow«; giving in to his inner urges and wandering through the wilderness in search of a woman. Chabel, on the other hand, is looking for »salvation« by praying to a benevolent God, to whom he makes a sacrifice. Both desire their mother in different ways. When Kajin surprises Chawa and Chabel in ecstatic union one night, he slays his brother. He sees a vision of the future: the "future of humanity".

Rudi Stephan finished his opera in 1914. It was performed for the first time in 1920 in Frankfurt, by which time the composer had been dead for five years – a soldier who fell at the front. An unconventional voice silenced before he could develop the promise in the few works he wrote. Music critic Paul Bekker wrote: »A new individual musical voice has emerged here of surprisingly substantial tonality whose peculiarities, even if initially disconcerting, bear the stamp of the familiar, but not contrived.« Like Franz Schreker, some of whose operas also received their world premieres in Frankfurt before the world war, Rudi Stephan remained true to tonality while exploring the colours of a large orchestra in an until then unheard of way. In continually new upsurges, his symphonically influenced music gains tremendous expressivity elevating the text, which is charged with erotic urgency - based on a play by Otto Borngräber, which was banned after its premiere in 1912 - to a level that reveals a genuine operatic composer. Come and discover an almost forgotten, exciting work.

Ian Koziara will sing the role of Chabel.

The composer Fritz is trying to hunt down a mysterious »distant sound«; until he's found this artistic ideal he feels unworthy of Grete’s love. He leaves her and goes out into the world. After overcoming her initial decision to kill herself, Grete leaves home too. They meet again in a demimonde establishment in Venice; but when Fritz realises that Grete’s working as a high-class courtesan, he spurns her again ...

Franz Schreker‘s opera was an overnight success when it received its world premiere in Frankfurt 111 years ago. Now it’s back in Damiano Michieletto’s wonderful production: a deeply psychological intimate work with extravagant theatricality and a logical concept create a place for Schreker’s evocative music.

Ian Koziara will sing the role of Fritz.

The opera that announced the young Mozart’s genius to the world returns to the Met stage, with acclaimed maestro Manfred Honeck making a notable company debut on the podium. A distinguished cast of leading Mozarteans comes together to bring the moving drama and dazzling arias to life, with tenor Michael Spyres in the title role of the ancient Cretan king, alongside mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey as the noble prince Idamante and soprano Ying Fang as his conflicted beloved, Ilia. Soprano Federica Lombardi is the jealous Elettra, who loses her senses in a mad scene of virtuosic rage.

Ian Koziara will cover the title role.

The titular character of Carmen is at once familiar and inscrutable — an outsider who acknowledges no law but her own. Her fiery, irresistible song serves both to draw people in and keep them at arm’s length. While her uncompromising pursuit of freedom and love has a price, she is willing to pay it.

In French with projected English titles.

New co-production with Minnesota Opera.

About this Performance

Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, is close to LA Phil Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel’s heart. Dudamel wrote, “The transcendent, transformative power of human expression is fundamental to my understanding of art, and Fidelio is the most vivid, compelling dramatization of that principle. Not only in its musical language but thematically and symbolically, the composer dramatizes aspects of his personal condition, connecting those struggles to universal themes.” The condition Beethoven was contending with at the time he wrote Fidelio was hearing loss. The composer was clinically Deaf for more than half his life. In April, the LA Phil will present a new semi-staged production of Fidelio that illuminates the connection between the personal and the universal power of human expression. Co-directed by Alberto Arvelo and Joaquín Solano and produced in collaboration with Los Angeles’ acclaimed Tony Award®-winning Deaf West Theatre, Fidelio will draw on both the expressive power of American Sign Language (ASL) and Beethoven’s music. Entirely performed by Deaf actors as well as sung by hearing performers, the production is intended for both Deaf and hearing audiences.

Concerts in the Thursday 2 subscription series are generously supported by the Otis Booth Foundation.

The LA Phil's Humanities Programs are generously supported by Linda and David Shaheen. 

Leonore: Christiane Libor

Florestan: Ian Koziara

Opening night of the Winter Season

Fidelio, originally titled Leonore, oder Der Triumph der ehelichen Liebe (Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with the work premiering at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on 20 November 1805. The following year, Stephan von Breuning helped shorten the work from three acts to two. After further work on the libretto by Georg Friedrich Treitschke, a final version was performed at the Kärntnertortheater on 23 May 1814. By convention, both of the first two versions are referred to as Leonore.

Leonore: Tamara Wilson

Florestan: Ian Koziara

Gods and Mortals celebrates the work of Richard Wagner with selections from some of his most popular operas, including The Ring Cycle and Tannhäuser, as well as some of his lesser-known works like Die Feen (The Fairies).

“At a time when the world can feel strikingly small — confined to a bedroom and a laptop — Wagner’s grand works remind us of feeling larger-than-life. His fascination with mythology and the natural world will propel us as we take the Festival outdoors.” — Francesca Zambello

The staged concert will star Eric Owens, Alexandria Shiner and Ian Koziara. Gods and Mortals is conducted by Joseph Colaneri and directed by Francesca Zambello.

Nestled in the mountains of western Austria, Brigitte Fassbaender directs a new production of Wagner’s timeless classic.

Ian Koziara will sing the role of Loge.

Experience a reimagining of the final chapter of Wagner's epic Ring cycle in the Chicago premiere of Twilight: Gods. From the safety of your own vehicle, you'll be immersed in a series of live performances, videos, and installations brought to life by singers, small instrumental groups, and actors as you drive through the parking garage. With new English texts written by Yuval Sharon and poetic transitions written and performed by Chicago interdisciplinary artist avery r. young, each of the discrete scenes is linked together and recontextualized, making this story unique to its time and place.

During this unique performance, guests will drive through the performance and stay inside the safety of their own car for the duration of the show. Only one ticket is required per car with no limit on the number of people within each car. Each ticket sold will have an assigned entry time. Cars must have a working radio to hear the performance. No walk-ins will be allowed. Limit one ticket per purchase.

• Running Time: Approximately 70 minutes

• Location: Millennium Lakeside Parking Garage, 5 S. Columbus Drive, Chicago, IL 60601

Ian will cover the role of Siegfried.

DER TRAUMGÖRGE / GÖRGE THE DREAMER

ALEXANDER ZEMLINSKY (1871-1942)

Opera in 2 acts with an epilogue 
Libretto by Leo Feld
First performed October 11 1980, Nürnberg Opera House

Sung in German with German & English surtitles
Introductory talks (in German) in the Holzfoyer 30 mins before performances begin

If fairy stories turned into reality … Dream or nightmare?

Vienna enjoyed a cultural ascendency of epochal significance at the turn of the 20th century. Sigmund Freud’s pioneering analysis of dreams and interpretations of the unconscious world inspired literature, theatre and music. Görge, the lead figure in Zemlinsky’s opera, processes his fears and fate in his dreams too. He lives in a world of books and falls in love with a dream princess. He’s supposed to be marrying Grete, a down to earth young woman, who wishes he was more realistic, but Görge wants to make his love story come true and flees. He ends up as a boozer in a village, an outsider again. He realises that his dream princess is Gertraud, a notorious arsonist and witch. With her he can »listen to his fairy story, dream, and more«.

The central themes in the opera, rejection and hate of the unknown run like a red thread through Alexander Zemlinsky’s life: He lived through the first pogrom against Jewish artists. One of its prominent victims was the court opera director Gustav Mahler, who commissioned the work. Zemlinsky's ill-fated love for Alma Schindler, troubles and sorrows were poured into his third opera. The world premiere was cancelled when Mahler was sacked, and not performed for the first time until 1980, the highlight of a Zemlinsky Renaissance in Nürnberg. His highly romantic and expressive music sometimes brings Wagner, Mahler and Humperdinck to mind, but is highly original and inspired. Zemlinsky‘s score sparkles with brilliant ideas and sophisticated harmonies, which reflect moments in a story about outsiderhood, distorted fairy tale worlds and alternative ways of life.

Wagner’s rarely performed Die Feen rounds out the season’s mainstage roster in a new production directed by Francesca Zambello and conducted by Joseph Colaneri. Die Feen is generously sponsored by Elizabeth M. and Jean-Marie R. Eveillard.

An otherworldly romance full of fairies, demons and princes, Die Feen brings fantasy and whimsy to the stage. Despite all odds, a mortal prince and a high-ranking fairy begin a romance that causes chaos and suspicion across their different worlds. The score and libretto elucidates the promise of Wagner’s future compositions, showing signs of what would later become his signature sound.

“The seeds of the many great operas to come are sowed in this work,” Colaneri said. “In it we hear Wagner’s Italian bel canto based melodic exuberance and his pioneering development of the dramatic lyric voices that form the central core of his operatic style. The opera is at once personal in its expressive solo vocal passages and flamboyant in its many stirring and soaring ensembles.”

The production runs July 16 through August 21, 2020.

Ian Koziara will sing the role of Arindal for all performances.

Superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel will conduct a semi-staged, touring production of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio.

14 Apr 2020: Palau Barcelona

17 Apr 2020: Teatro Real Madrid

22 Apr 2020 Konzerthaus Dortmund

24 Apr 2020 Luxembourg

Ian Koziara will sing the role of Florestan

Tchaikovsky’s broodingly romantic thriller is a tour de force for a great tenor. He plays the terrifyingly obsessed Gherman, an unhappy soldier desperate to know a secret hidden by a mysterious old countess—the mystery of winning at cards. The tension turns truly unnerving as Gherman’s obsession begins to overwhelm him. It leads to devastation both for him and for the countess’s granddaughter, Lisa, whom Gherman loves. Tchaikovsky’s music is the height of Russian romanticism in its melancholy soulfulness, its white-hot passion, and the sweeping grandeur of its orchestra—a masterpiece from the genius who gave the world Eugene Onegin and Swan Lake.

Ian will cover the role of Tchekalinsky.

Performances will take place on February 15th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, and March 1st.

DER FERNE KLANG / THE DISTANT SOUND

FRANZ SCHREKER 1878-1934

Opera in three acts
Libretto by the composer
First performed August 18 1912, Opera House, Frankfurt am Main

Sung in German with German and English surtitles. ca. 2hrs 45mins, including one interval
Introduction, in German, in the Holzfoyer half an hour before performances begin

Is it the journey itself we are searching for? The search for the blue flower, the symbol of romanticism, was a dream of eternal wandering to a goal beyond the horizon. Fulfilment cannot be found in the outside world, or art, but only in the soul. The search for the distant, metaphysical sound in Franz Schreker's first evening-long opera was the musical pendant for such constant longing. It is only at the end, marked by death, as distant bells begin to ring, that the lead figure in the work, the composer Fritz, believes he can hear the sound that, until now, had always eluded him - within him. This is also the moment when Eros is granted a last embrace and artistic redemption. »Can you hear the sound?/ It never leaves me / I'll hold on to it tightly, / and will never leave you.«

Michael Gielen, former music director at Oper Frankfurt, triggered off a Schreker renaissance in 1979. Schreker's deeply psychological motivated portrayal of research into aesthetic authenticity in the spirit of music goes hand in hand with a tragedy influenced by naturalism, trashy literature, and a disillusional drama of a female victim. »Virgin Margareta«, who is deserted by Fritz, searching for inspiration in art, and gambled away by her father, transforms herself into Greta, a high class prostitute who ends up as a whore on the streets. When the curtain falls, she is alone.

CAST

Conductor

Sebastian Weigle

Director

Damiano Michieletto

Set Designer

Paolo Fantin fettFilm

Costume Designer

Klaus Bruns

Video

Roland Horvath

Lighting Designer

Alessandro Carletti

Chorus Master

Tilman Michael

Dramaturge

Norbert Abels

Old Graumann

Magnús Baldvinsson

His Wife

Barbara Zechmeister

Grete Graumann

Jennifer Holloway

Fritz

Ian Koziara

Landlord of "The Swan"

Anthony Robin Schneider

A Bad Actor

Iurii Samoilov

Dr. Vigelius

Dietrich Volle

A Old Woman

Nadine Secunde

Mizi

Juanita Lascarro

Milli

Julia Dawson

Mary

Julia Moorman *

Spanish Woman

Kelsey Lauritano *

The Graf

Gordon Bintner

The Baron

Iain MacNeil *

The Chevalier

Theo Lebow

Rudolf

Sebastian Geyer

The Barmaid

Bianca Andrew *

A Dubious Individual

Hans-Jürgen Lazar

A Policeman

Anatolii Suprun *

Wolf Trap Opera and Washington Concert Opera collaborate on Frank Martin’s rare modern retelling of the Tristan and Isolde love story. Tickets for both performances will be sold exclusively through Wolf Trap.

Ian Koziara will sing the role of Tristan.

These performances do not take place at Lisner Auditorium and tickets cannot be purchased as part of  a Washington Concert Opera 2018-19 season subscription. However, WCO subscribers will receive a special discount and early access to tickets very soon. Stay tuned!

Performances are:

February 9, 7:30PM

February 10, 3:00PM

Now a holiday tradition, Julie Taymor’s beloved production of Mozart’s enchanting fairy tale returns in its abridged, English-language version for families. Soprano Erin Morley, last seen at the Met as a brilliant Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, is the empowered Pamina, and tenor Ben Bliss is the valiant Tamino. Baritone Nathan Gunn is the comic birdcatcher Papageno, and soprano Kathryn Lewek reprises her hair-raising rendition of the malevolent Queen of the Night. Harry Bicket conducts.

Ian will be performing the role of First Armored Man for all performances. Blurb taken from the Metropolitan Opera's website.

Composer Nico Muhly unveils his second new opera for the Met with this gripping reimagining of Winston Graham’s novel, set in the 1950s, about a beautiful, mysterious young woman who assumes multiple identities. Director Michael Mayer and his creative team have devised a fast-moving, cinematic world for this exhilarating story of denial and deceit, which also inspired a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the enigmatic Marnie, and baritone Christopher Maltman is the man who pursues her—with disastrous results. Robert Spano conducts.

Ian will be performing the role of Derek for all performances.

Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek sings Puccini’s gun-slinging heroine in this romantic epic of the Wild West, with the heralded return of tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the role of the outlaw she loves. Tenor Yusif Eyvazov also sings some performances. Baritone Željko Lučić is the vigilante sheriff Jack Rance, and Marco Armiliato conducts.

Ian will be performing the role of The Pony Express Rider for all performances. Blurb taken from The Metropolitan Opera's website.

After ten long years of battle, Idomeneo is finally returning home from the Trojan War. During the perilous journey, he pledges to sacrifice the first living thing he sees in return for a safe voyage. In horror, he realizes that the first person he meets is his son, Idamante. Idomeneo struggles to escape his vow, but his vengeful god seeks revenge. Written when Mozart was just 24 years old, Idomeneo is considered his first great opera.

For June 22 & 27: Free pre-show talk 6:30 pm
For June 24 & 30: Free pre-show talk 2 pm

IDOMENEO, RÈ DI CRETAMusic by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Giambattista Varesco

CAST

in order of vocal appearance
Idomeneo, King of Crete - Ian Koziara
Ilia, a Trojan princess - Madison Leonard
Idamante, Idomeneo’s son - Megan Mikailovna Samarin
Elettra, Princess in exile - Yelena Dyachek
Arbace, the King’s advisor - Duke Kim
High Priest - Senhica Clee
A Voice - Cory McGee
Men and Women of Crete and Troy - Wolf Trap Opera Studio

CREATIVE TEAM

Conductor - Geoffrey McDonald
Director - Omer Ben Seadia
Scenic Designer - Ryan Howell
Costume Designer - Amanda Seymour
Lighting Designer - Robert H. Grimes
Wig & Makeup Designer - Anne Nesmith
Chorusmaster - David Hanlon