Tradition: Why? Why not? Do we really have to choose? Originally published December 2020. Tradition. Do we observe it? Some of us do. Do we disdain it? Others do. Are we enslaved by it? I hope not. Must we abolish it? I say no. Why do we need it? I’m not sure what the answer is, but based on the evidence, it seems we do. The fact is we needn’t {…}

Several years ago, I wrote a program note for La Bohème, the opening production of LA Opera’s 2019/20 season, comparing and contrasting Puccini’s opera with Verdi’s La Traviata.    Both works owe their genesis to Paris of the 1840s and share a common theme. But the resemblance stops there. Each distinctive work, by the two greatest {…}

A Place for Us: James Conlon on “West Side Story“ …Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.  From forth the fatal loins of these two foes  A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.  (Prologue,   Romeo and Juliet,   William Shakespeare)  While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed {…}

TURANDOT: Enigmas, Mysteries and Contradictions James Conlon’s pre-performance talk on Puccini’s Turandot. Listen to the full podcast here.Winston Churchill’s famous 1939 remark describing Russia might excellently serve as a description for this opera: “It is a riddle, wrapped in a {…}