by Gary Murphy
Photo: Opera League President Gary W. Murphy (right) with husband Jason La Padura (left) on the Stravinsky Terrace at Santa Fe Opera, August 2024.
Dear Opera League Members and Friends:
As much as I enjoy the cool embrace that autumn brings and the beginning of the new opera season, I am also somewhat melancholic to bid farewell to summer, a joyous time for vacations, family reunions and, for me, the opportunity to experience the performing arts wherever I travel.
When visiting my east coast family, I always manage to spend time in my hometown, New York City, where my first love, theater, always beckons. This year, I was profoundly lucky to snag a single ticket to one of the final Merrily We Roll Along performances, where I experienced that rare theatrical moment when everyone—the actors, musicians, audience, ushers—were all “in the moment,” and everything worked brilliantly.
I have been in love with that troublesome show ever since I saw it multiple times in 1981, as friends and I would get either discount tickets or discretely “second-act” it after our waiter shift at a nearby restaurant. How gratifying to see this Sondheim masterpiece finally getting a production worthy of its brilliance.
From the Big Apple to New Mexico, aptly nicknamed the Land of Enchantment, I returned to breathtakingly beautiful Santa Fe, where I discovered a powerful new opera, commissioned and presented by Santa Fe Opera. Composer Gregory Spears and librettist Tracy K. Smith’s The Righteous is a luminous meditation on faith and power that wrestles with flawed characters and their moral ambiguity. With its rich, lush score, The Righteous is a welcomed new opera that will continue to resonate with audiences.
By the by, be sure to pencil into your planner the week of August 11-18, 2025, when your very own Opera League is planning an epic week of opera in the high desert.
These two experiences reminded me of the shared passion we Opera League members have for the performing arts.
As you will see in the Fall 2024 BRAVO cover story, the Opera League welcomes five new Board Members who will help guide the League’s future.
In addition, I am pleased to welcome returning board member Fernando Sanchez as our new treasurer and vice president designate. Acting vice president Todd Calvin will also co-chair the 2025 Peter Hemmings Award Gala with our outgoing vice president, Diane Gray.
As you read this column, the Opera League’s fun-packed fall programming has already begun. Our annual Hollywood Bowl picnic and the final two quite illuminating PUCCINI100 talks with UCLA’s Dr. Kristi Brown Montesano all took place in September. As did our annual season kickoff cocktail party at Vespaio in downtown L.A. This year’s shindig was made extra flavorful with a silent auction of rare, special edition opera posters and prints, courtesy of a generous member donation.
Our gatherings program looks to expand this year as we incorporate it with our long-running Community Educators program. Collaborations with likeminded organizations such as Hispanics for LA Opera, the Wagner Society of Southern California and Pacific Opera Project will expand the events we offer as we bring new members into the Opera League fold.
Finally, we will launch our first end of year giving campaign which will help underwrite several of the League’s key educational programs, such as our ever-popular Overtures, those pre-performance lectures to which countless opera lovers look forward to before every LA Opera performance.
Looking ahead to the forthcoming season, I very much look forward to continuing our opera journey together.
Sincerely,
Gary W. Murphy
President & CEO