Sean Panikkar
Tenor Sean Panikkar has been lauded by   Opera News    for his ability “to position himself as one of the stars of his generation… His voice is unassailable—firm, sturdy and clear, and he employs it with maximum dramatic versatility.” Born in Pennsylvania, Panikkar is the son of Sri Lankan immigrants. He began his vocal studies in high school under the Juilliard-trained soprano Li Ping Liu. After high school, he attended the University of Michigan, where he initially double majored in civil engineering and vocal performance before focusing solely on music. This led him to partake in the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program in 2004 where he eventually was selected for the Adler Fellowship Program, SFO's resident artist program, in 2005 and 2006.  

Panikkar’s training and his devotion to the art form has led him to perform on some of the most prestigious stages and festivals in the world such as the Royal Albert Hall, Metropolitan Opera, Salzburg Festival (one of the biggest festivals for classical music), English National Opera and Milan’s historic Teatro alla Scala. Couple this with a plethora of awards and competition wins, and it’s easy to see why Panikkar has become a standout singer of his generation. We had the pleasure of having Panikkar on our stage when he starred as    Ghandi in Phillip Glass’   Satyagraha   in 2018, to which he had to say “As the first brown person to sing Gandhi, it brought an extra level of emotion to some of the oppressive scenes that doesn’t necessarily come across quite as powerfully when a white singer is doing it.” 

Linda Cho
Breaking away from musicians for just a bit, we’d be remiss not to mention the exceptionally talented Linda Cho. Cho is a Korean-born Tony Award-winning costume designer whose brilliance provided the costumes for our productions of, most recently,  The Dwarf, as well as  The Broken Jug,  The Birds   and the spectacular   The Ghosts of Versailles.   Her Broadway designs include   The Great Gatsby,   the 2024 revival of   Doubt,  Anastasia   and the show that won her the Tony,   A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.   The U.S. isn’t the only country lucky enough to experience her talent as she has extensively worked internationally with companies in Europe, Asia and South America. With costumes as luscious and striking as hers, it’s no wonder the rest of the world wants to see them too. Even when we close our eyes, we can see her striking and vibrant designs.  

Kent Nagano
Last, but in no way least, on our list is our former principal conductor and music director, Kent Nagano. Born in Berkeley, California, Nagano is a Japanese American conductor who studied music at University of California, Santa Cruz and San Francisco State University. Nagano showed immense talent early in his studies and career, which led him to becoming the music director for the Berkley Symphony in 1978. He would also become the music director for the Ojai Music Festival, Opera National de Lyon and here at LA Opera. He started off in LA Opera as a principal conductor in 2001, then became music director in 2003 and won major acclaim for his brilliant interpretations.   While he enjoyed major success in LA, Nagano is not one to stay in one place too long and he stepped down as music director in 2006.  

His career has remained prosperous throughout the years as he was a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival and served as music director at Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Bavarian State Opera. He currently holds the music director position at Hamburg State Opera but will be concluding his tenure there after the 2024-25 season. Wherever Nagano chooses to go next, he’ll have no shortage of musical brilliance to bring to their table.