The Colombian-American conductor will remain with the company through 2028

(Los Angeles) March 3, 2025 — LA Opera continues to refine its rich artistic profile and shape its future with the announcement that Lina González-Granados has renewed her contract as Resident Conductor, a position she has held since 2022. The three-year extension, following her original three-year contract that concludes this summer, extend her affiliation with the company through the end of the 2027/28 season.

"I'm deeply honored to continue as LA Opera's Resident Conductor, making music with the extraordinary artists of the orchestra and chorus," said Lina González-Granados. "Our work has never been more important than at this moment. I look with immense pride at all that we have achieved, from interpretations of classic works like Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, to new works like Gabriela Lena Frank's El último sueño de Frida y Diego, the world premiere of Joel Thompson's Fire and Blue Sky and the upcoming company premiere of Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar. It is a privilege to continue our mission to expand the art form and to reach ever wider audiences."

In addition to the works noted above, she has conducted LA Opera performances that include Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, the world premiere of Academy Award-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla's soundtrack score for the 1931 Spanish-language film Dracula and the world premiere of Joel Thompson's orchestral suite from his opera The Snowy Day.

Her upcoming LA Opera appearances including Coming Home: Angel Blue in Concert on March 15 and next season's production of La Bohème.

"From the first moment she stepped on the podium for Lucia di Lammermoor in 2022, Lina forged a palpable connection with our audiences," said Christopher Koelsch, the company's president and CEO. "That phenomenon has only grown throughout her leadership in a diverse range of projects, from the music of Benjamin Britten to Gabriela Lena Frank, and I have every confidence she will continue to demonstrate insight, intelligence and energy in her upcoming leadership of Coming Home with Angel Blue and Ainadamar. Further, her commitment to the development of the future of the art form through community outreach, her work with our young artists, and her commitment to new compositional voices have helped the company—and the field—advance its vision for a continuously vibrant environment for creative expression."

Click here to download photos of Lina González-Granados.

About Lina González-Granados
Praised for her “rich, heartfelt orchestral sound” (Chicago Sun-Times), “rhythmic vitality” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “raw power” (Los Angeles Times), Colombian American conductor Lina González-Granados has distinguished herself nationally and internationally as a singular talent. Her spectacular interpretations of the symphonic and operatic repertoire, as well as her dedication to highlighting new and unknown works by Latin American composers, have earned her international recognition. She was named one of Bloomberg Línea’s 100 Influential Latinos of 2022. She is also the recipient of the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the third prize and ECHO Special Award (European Concert Hall Organization) of La Maestra Competition, and the 2020 and 2021 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award.

After winning the Fourth Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition, she was named the Solti Conducting Apprentice, and served as the assistant to Maestro Riccardo Muti from 2020 through 2023. She has previously held positions as the Inaugural Conducting Fellow of the Philadelphia Orchestra as well as the Conducting fellow of the Seattle Symphony.

Her 2024/25 season started with an extensive tour across Colombia with Filarmónica Joven de Colombia, followed by debuts with the Minnesota Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony, New Jersey Symphony and Dublin's National Symphony Orchestra Symphonies and Ottawa's National Arts Centre Orchestra. Earlier this year, she conducted the finale of the Sphinx Competition and returned to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and San Antonio Philharmonic. She will return to LA Opera in the spring to conduct Ainadamar.

Recent highlights elsewhere include debuts with Opera Philadelphia, the Orchestre Metropolitain in Montréal, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra in Denmark, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia.

About LA Opera
Los Angeles is a city of enormous diversity and creativity, and LA Opera is dedicated to reflecting that vibrancy by redefining what opera can be. Through imaginative new productions, world premiere commissions, and inventive performances that preserve foundational works while making them feel fresh and compelling, LA Opera has become one of America’s most exciting and ambitious opera companies.

In addition to its mainstage performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the company explores unusual repertoire each season through the LA Opera Off Grand initiative, featuring performances in a variety of venues throughout Los Angeles. The LA Opera Connects initiative offers a robust variety of educational programming and community engagement offerings that reaches people throughout every corner of Los Angeles County. Learn more at LAOpera.org.

LA Opera Media Contact
Marlene Meraz
Director of Communications
mmeraz@laopera.org
213.972.7554

LA Opera is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the greater Los Angeles community.