Yesterday afternoon I heard all the singers in the Los Angeles Opera’s young artist program.  Unlike many of the other similar programs around the country, the Los Angles program really draws on singers from around the world rather focusing just on Americans, and this group had representatives from Russia, Korea and Mexico, as well as from the United States.

I was delighted that the most polished singer yesterday was Amanda Woodbury, a soprano who has twice placed second in the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, and who was invited to join the LA Opera ensemble by Joshua Winograde, who oversees the program, after hearing her as a judge for the Dallas competition.  Her residency in Los Angeles comes to an end soon, but she has grown tremendously under the program, and is being rewarded with a performance of “Micaëla” in their current production of CARMEN later this week.  She is certainly someone to keep an “ear” on.

Last night’s performance of CARMEN starred Brandon Jovanovich as “Don Jose”, who leaves the run in Los Angeles on Sunday to begin rehearsals on Monday in Dallas for the same role.  It will be interesting to see how he approaches this role in what will be a very different production in Dallas. Read more →