“James Conlon, retiring after the 2024/25 season as L.A. Opera’s Music Director of 20 years, conducted Butterfly powerfully and accompanied the singers delicately, bringing out the score’s impressionist colors in the Humming Chorus, the love duet, and the letter duet (Puccini had clearly heard Debussy’s La Mer and Pelléas et Melisande.)   He conducts Italian opera as if he spoke the language fluently, feeling the weights and colors and meanings of words that should inflect the music.  The stage-pit balance was also ideal; I could hear every plucked string in the love duet and every word in the stormy act three trio.” – Classical Voice

“All this transpires over the orchestra with James Conlon leading zealously at the helm – a conductor as at home with Puccini as anyone.” – Daily Trojan

“Conlon drew out the delicate shadings and intense drama of Puccini’s music and kept the action focused.” – Seen and Heard International