Ainadamar

From: La Plata, Argentina. LA Opera: Ainadamar (2025).

Osvaldo Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, Argentina. Born to a piano teacher mother and physician father, Golijov was raised surrounded by classical chamber music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla. His blending of genres and seamless integration of voices speak volumes about his approach and style, a musical language that can only be termed “Golijovian.”

Since the early 1990s, Golijov has enjoyed collaborations with some of the world’s leading chamber music ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet and the St. Lawrence String Quartet; in addition to relationships with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, and Robert Spano; and orchestras including the Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago symphony orchestras. In 2000, the premiere of Golijov's La Pasión según San Marcos (St. Mark Passion) took the music world by storm. The Boston Globe called it "the first indisputably great composition of the 21st century.” Golijov has also received acclaim for other groundbreaking works such as his opera Ainadamar and the clarinet quintet The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, as well as music he has written for the films of Francis Ford Coppola.

In recent years, members of the Silkroad Ensemble have toured Golijov’s Falling Out of Time, including a 2022 performance at Carnegie Hall. The 80-minute song cycle, based on the novel by David Grossman, is available on In a Circle Records. The recording was nominated for a Latin Grammy and met with widespread critical acclaim. The Guardian called the work “a Kindertotenlieder for our fragile present.”

Other recent works include Ever Yours for string octet, premiered by St. Lawrence String Quartet and Telegraph Quartet, and Um Dia Bom for string quartet Brooklyn Rider. He is currently composing a new work for violin and orchestra to be premiered by Johnny Gandelsman and The Knights, and the soundtrack for a new Coppola film, Megalopolis.

This fall, Welsh National Opera presents a new critically acclaimed production of Ainadamar by Olivier Award-winning choreographer and director Deborah Colker, co-produced by Detroit Opera, Opera Ventures, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera.

Golijov served as the Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall during the 2012/13 season. He is Composer-In-Residence at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he has taught since 1991.

From: Los Angeles, California. LA Opera: The Fly (2008); Ainadamar (2025).

David Henry Hwang’s stage work includes the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Aida, Flower Drum Song (2002 revival) and Disney’s Tarzan. His screenplays include M. Butterfly and he is currently penning the live-action feature musical remake of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame as well as an Anna May Wong biopic to star actress Gemma Chan. For television, he was a writer and consulting producer for the Golden Globe-winning television series The Affair and is now creating two television series, Billion Dollar Whale for Westward/SKG and another for Netflix. Called America’s most-produced living opera librettist, he has written 13 libretti, including five with composer Philip Glass. He also co-wrote the Gold Record “Solo” with the late pop music icon Prince.

Hwang is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee, a three-time OBIE Award winner, a Grammy Award winner who has been twice nominated, and a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. A professor at Columbia University School of the Arts, Hwang is a Trustee of the American Theatre Wing, where he served as Chair, and sits on the Council of the Dramatist Guild. Recent honors include his 2022 induction onto the Lucille Lortel Playwrights’ Sidewalk and his 2021 induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His newest musical, Soft Power, a collaboration with composer Jeanine Tesori, opened in New York at the Public Theatre, where it received a 2020 Grammy nomination for best musical theater album and was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

In 2016, the David Henry Hwang Society was founded by William C. Boles (Rollins College), Martha Johnson (University of Minnesota), and Esther Kim Lee (University of Maryland). The DHH Society is devoted to the scholarly examination of plays by David Henry Hwang.

Learn more at DavidHenryHwang.com.

From: Cali, Colombia. LA Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor (2022, debut); The Rape of Lucretia (2023); The Last Dream of Frida and Diego (2023); Fire and Blue Sky (2025); Dracula: The Spanish Version (2024); Romeo and Juliet (2024); Angel Blue concert (2025); Ainadamar (2025). She became Resident Conductor in 2022.

Praised for her “rich, heartfelt orchestral sound” (Chicago Sun-Times), “rhythmic vitality” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “raw power” (Los Angeles Times), Colombian-American Lina González-Granados has distinguished herself nationally and internationally as a singularly-talented young conductor. Her powerful 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, most recently being named part 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, as well as the 2020 and 2021 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award.

After winning the Fourth Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition, Lina was named the Solti Conducting Apprentice, and served as the assistant to Maestro Riccardo Muti, from February 2020 through June 2023. In 2022, she was appointed Resident Conductor by the LA Opera, a post she will hold through June 2025. She has also previously held positions as the Inaugural Conducting Fellow of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Conducting fellow of the Seattle Symphony.

Lina’s 2023/24 season had her leading performances across the globe, including debuts with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, I Musici de Montreal, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, New World Symphony, Euskadio Orkestra, and the San Antonio Philharmonic. She also returned to LA Opera to conduct several performances, including El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, by Grammy Award-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, as well as the world premiere of Joel Thompson's orchestral song cycle Fire and Blue Sky. Lina also returned to Chicago to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Learn more at LinaGonzalezGranados.com.

Read a feature article about her here.

Read the LA Times review of her 2022 LA Philharmonic debut here.

From: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. LA Opera: Ainadamar (2025, debut).

Brazilian director and choreographer Deborah Colker studied classical piano and played volleyball before beginning dance in 1979, when she was a dancer in the Coringa group (led by the Uruguayan dancer and choreographer Graciela Figueroa, one of the precursors of contemporary dance in Brazil) for eight years. From 1984 to 1994, she was movement director for dozens of theatrical presentations, working with the most important stage directors in Brazil, in addition to working in cinema and advertising.

In 1994, she founded her own company, which in its almost 30 years of existence has traveled to more than 50 countries in all corners of the world. The Companhia de Dança Deborah Colker has gather public and critical acclaim, and has won numerous awards.

In 2001, she won the Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in dance. She was the first woman to create and direct a show for Cirque du Soleil, entitled Ovo. She was the director of movement for the opening of the 2016 Rio Olympics and has created performances for theaters in Europe. In 2018, she won the Prix Benois de la Danse for the show Cão Sem Plumas.

From: Coventry, England. LA Opera: Ainadamar (2025, debut).

Jon Bausor is a multi award winning international stage designer and creative director. He studied fine art at Exeter College of Art and music at Oxford University before training on the Motley Theatre Design Course in London. On graduation he was a finalist in the Linbury Prize for Stage Design.

Jon designed the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London and the kinetic sculpture to light the flame for the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Over the last 17 years Jon has designed extensively in dance, opera and theatre for companies worldwide including The Royal Opera House, National Theatre, London, National Theatres of Scotland and Wales, Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Toho Stage, Japan, both Finnish and Norwegian National Ballets and for many Broadway and West End stages. He is an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Recent theater design includes Bat Out of Hell, the Meatloaf musical (London/Germany/New York/Toronto; nominated, Best Design, What's on Stage awards); Tree with Idris Elba (Manchester International Festival/Young Vic); True West (West End); Knight's Tale (Imperial Theatre/Toho Stage, Tokyo); Fatherland (with the band Underworld and Frantic Assembly for Manchester International Festival); The Band: The Take That Musical (UK Tour); The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic/Trafalgar Studios; winner Best Design UK Theatre awards); The James Plays (National Theatre/National Theatre of Scotland/world tour); Kursk (Sound and Fury/Young Vic/Sydney Opera House; nominated, Best Design, Evening Standard awards); Ghost Stories (West End/Toronto/Moscow); Peter Pan, The Lord of the Flies (Evening Standard award nomination for Best Design- Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Mametz (National Theatre of Wales; winner, Best Design, UK Theatre awards; winner Welsh Theatre awards); You For Me For You (Royal Court- nominated Best Design Evening Standard awards); I Am Yusuf (Shebbahurr, Palestine/Young Vic, London), Water (Filter/ Lyric/ BAM); Lionboy (Complicité), and Plough and the Stars (Abbey Theatre, Dublin/Melbourne/New York/Boston).

His stage design work is currently exhibited in the V&A Museum In London as part of World Stages.

He proudly serves on the board of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design.

From: Dublin, Ireland. LA Opera: Ainadamar (2025, debut).

Born in Ireland, Paul Keogan studied drama at Trinity College Dublin and at Glasgow University. After graduating he worked as production manager for Project Arts Centre Dublin, prior to embarking on a freelance career as a set and lighting designer.

Paul has designed lighting for a number of productions at the Abbey Theatre Dublin including Tales From The Holywell, ​Translations, Portia Coughlan, Walls and Windows, The Great Hunger, Last Orders at The Dockside, Citysong, Observe The Sons of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme, The Plough and The Stars, Cyprus Avenue, Heartbreak House, The Risen People, Drum Belly, Curse of the Starving Class, The Rivals, B for Baby, No Escape, Ages of the Moon, Marble, Lay Me Down Softly, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Woman and Scarecrow, The School for Scandal, Homeland (also set design), The Electrocution of Children, Amazing Grace, Living Quarters, Making History, The Map Maker's Sorrow, Cúirt an Mheán Oíche, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Bailegangáire, Down the Line, Eden, The Wild Duck, The Cherry Orchard and Heavenly Bodies.

His designs for the Gate Theatre Dublin include The Steward of Christendom, Constellations, The Visiting Hour, The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet, The Red Shoes, A Streetcar Named Desire, Molly Sweeney (also set design), The Last Summer, The Birds, God of Carnage, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Festen, Performances and The Gates of Gold.

Other lighting designs include Scandaltown and Love Love Love (Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, London); I Think We Are Alone (Frantic Assembly UK tour); The Big Chapel X (Asylum Productions, Kilkenny Ireland), A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, The Gaul (Hull Truck); Happy Days, Blood in the Dirt Postcards from the Ledge, The Walworth Farce, Breaking Dad, Between Foxrock and a Hard Place, Underneath the Lintel (Landmark Productions, Dublin); A Tale of Two Cities (Royal & Derngate Northampton); Afterplay, Blasted (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); The Epic Adventure of Nhamo, the Manika Warrior and his Sexy Wife Chipo (Tiata Fahodzi, Tricycle Theatre), Novecento (Trafalgar Studios, London); Harvest (Royal Court Theatre, London), Blue/Orange (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield and UK Tour) The Stock Da’Wa, Born Bad, In Arabia We’d All Be Kings (Hampstead Theatre London), Sadie (Lyric Theatre Belfast/BBC), Shirley Valentine, Here Comes The Night, Mixed Marriage, The Blind Fiddler and Ghosts (The Lyric Theatre, Belfast), The Treaty, Duck Duck Goose, Tiny Plays For Ireland 1&2, Strandline (Fishamble, Dublin), The Massacre at Paris (also set design), Quay West, Blasted, Far Away (Bedrock Productions, Dublin), Down onto Blue, Danti Dan and Olga (Rough Magic, Dublin), The Silver Tassie (Almeida Theatre London), The Tempest (Theatre Royal Plymouth and UK Tour), Miracle on 34th Street, The Hudsucker Proxy, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Misanthrope, Tartuffe (Playhouse, Liverpool), Twelfth Night, Intemperance (Everyman, Liverpool).

He has designed set and lighting for Ballads and The Rite of Spring (CoisCéim, Ireland), Chair, Angel Babel, Here Lies (Operating Theatre, Ireland), Trad (Galway Arts Festival), The Sugar Wife (Rough Magic, Dublin), Family Stories, Tejas Verdes (B*spoke, Dublin), Far Away, The Winter’s Tale, Request Programme, Plasticine, medEia, The Hairy Ape, Woyzeck (Corcadorca, Cork), Dead Man Walking, Turandot (Opera Ireland) and Boss Grady’s Boys (Gaiety Theatre, Dublin).

His lighting designs for dance include productions for English National Ballet, Queensland Ballet, the Royal Ballet in London, Ballet Ireland and Irish Modern Dance Theatre.

Paul’s lighting designs for opera include Ainadamar, The Gondoliers and Utopia Unlimited (Scottish Opera), 20 shots of Opera (Irish National Opera Film), Elektra and The Marriage of Figaro (Irish National Opera), Falstaff (Vienna State Opera), Powder Her Face (Teatro Arriaga, Bilbao), Maria de Buenos Aires (Cork Opera House), La Bohème, Samson et Dalila, Don Quichotte, I Puritani, Les Dialogues des Carmelites, Eugene Onegin, Idomeneo and The Queen of Spades (Grange Park Opera), La Bohème and Wake (Nationale Reisopera, Netherlands), The Magic Flute (National Opera of Korea), The Makropulos Case, Un Ballo in Maschera and The Flying Dutchman (Opera Zuid, Netherlands). The Queen of Spades, Madama Butterfly, Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, The Silver Tassie (Opera Ireland); The Lighthouse (Opera Theatre Company and Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte, Montepulciano, Italy); Thérèse, La Navarraise, Cristina Regina di Svezia, The Snow Maiden, The Mines of Sulphur, Maria di Rohan, Pénélope, Susannah, Der Silbersee, Rusalka and Transformations (Wexford Festival Opera).

Paul devised and directed Man of Aran, Re-imagined, and co-wrote the libretto for Quicksilver the Opera.

Paul designed The Wishing Well, an outdoor projection piece for Kilkenny Arts Festival 1999, and the lighting for the Irish Pavilion at the Architectural Biennale in Venice 2004 and 2006. Paul was the recipient of the Gerard Arnhold Bursary at Wexford Festival Opera 2006.

Learn more at PaulKeogan.com.

From: Jerusalem, Israel. LA Opera: Ainadamar (2025, debut).

Artist and creative director Tal Rosner combines multiple layers of sound and visuals to create video installations and live performances. The scope of his output covers a uniquely wide spectrum: from world leading orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, via rock legends Rolling Stones to London’s V&A Museum, the Commonwealth Games and fashion houses Telfar and Marni. His musical eye has earned him a spotlight on the international stage for video design, as well as critical acclaim for his distinctive approach to rhythm and color.

In 2021 Rosner conceived MYTHOS for Staatsoper Hannover, an entire evening dedicated to Sibelius’ tone poems, incorporating video and lighting design. The show was performed live and streamed globally. In 2020 he created a new video interpretation of Scriabin's Prometheus, The Poem of Fire, commissioned by Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to mark their 125th Anniversary.

Other musical highlights include installations for Steve Reich's Tehillim (Psalms), commissioned by the Barbican Centre (2017); for Olga Neuwirth's Disenchanted Island, commissioned by IRCAM and Centre Pompidou (2017); and for Lament, a co-creation with composer Christopher Mayo, commissioned by Nuit Blanche Toronto (2018).

Previous large-scale orchestral work include Esa-Pekka Salonen's Foreign Bodies (2018), commissioned by the New York Philharmonic; Britten's Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia (2013-16), commissioned by the New World Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and BBC Symphony Orchestra; and In Seven Days (Piano Concerto with Moving Image), a collaboration with Thomas Adès, commissioned by the Southbank Centre and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (2008) and later performed with the New York Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zürich and Cologne Philharmonie.

Most recently, Rosner has been announced as video designer for The Hunger Games: On Stage (directed by Matthew Dunster), which will take place in autumn 2024. In 2022, he designed the video for both the opening and closing ceremonies of the XXII Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and for Ainadamar (directed by Deborah Colker) for Scottish Opera, Detroit Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and Welsh National Opera. He is currently working on the video element for The Minority Report (directed by Max Webster) for Nottingham Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Lyric Hammersmith (2024).

In 2019 he originated a brand new adaptation of Astrid Lingren's Brothers Lionheart for the Royal Danish Playhouse in Copenhagen, which returned for further runs in 2022 and 2023, and commissioned to design and co-direct a new production of Die Walküre for Opéra National de Bordeaux, in collaboration with Julia Burbach.

Rosner co-designed Shopping and F'ing with long-term collaborator Jon Bausor for the Lyric Hammersmith (2016), and co-created 8 Minutes (2017), an hour-long multimedia dance piece, with choreographer Alexander Whitley and composer Daniel Wohl, for Sadler's Wells.

Additional theater and dance credits include Next to Normal at the Donmar Warehouse; Everyman and Husbands and Sons at the National Theatre; You For Me For You and X, The Glow at the Royal Court; The Most Incredible Thing (Pet Shop Boys) for Charlotte Ballet, North Carolina; and Les Enfants Terribles (Philip Glass) at the Royal Ballet.

Learn more at TalRosner.com.

From: Glendive, Montana. LA Opera: He became Chorus Director in 2022, after working on over 75 productions as associate chorus director and/or assistant conductor. He is a coach for the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.

Since joining LA Opera in 2007, he has served as associate chorus director (since 2011) and assistant conductor, and he has worked closely with the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. Before becoming Chorus Director, he previously directed the LA Opera Chorus for the Plácido Domingo 50th Anniversary Concert (2017) and for The Clemency of Titus (2019). One of his generation’s most respected pianists and vocal coaches, he has collaborated with major opera houses throughout the United States. He has assisted in the preparation of operas and vocal chamber music at the LA Philharmonic. As a pianist, he has partnered with Sondra Radvanovsky, J'Nai Bridges, Eric Owens, Brandon Jovanovich, Rodell Rosel, Dolora Zajick, Kate Lindsey and Susan Graham. He accompanied Joyce DiDonato at the 54th Grammy Awards, the first time the ceremony featured a performance by a classical singer.

In partnership with the Getty Villa and LACMA in Los Angeles and the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., he has curated multimedia recitals which draw connections between the classical vocal repertoire and special exhibits in the museums. He is a frequent collaborator at Wolf Trap Opera as an assistant conductor, chorus master and recitalist. He has been a guest coach at the Opernfestspiele St. Margarethen, in Esterhazy, Austria, and he helped prepare Seattle Opera’s Ring cycle in 2013. He has been a guest faculty member for young artist programs at Utah Opera and Seattle Opera, and he is a part-time lecturer in vocal arts and opera at the University of Southern California. (JeremyMFrank.com)

From: Madrid, Spain. LA Opera; Ainadamar (2025, debut).

A dancer and choreographer, Antonio Najarro graduated with honors in Spanish dance from the Royal Conservatory Professional of Dance Mariemma in Madrid.

He has performed as principal dancer in works choreographed by renowned figures including Rafael Aguilar, Antonio Gades, Alberto Lorca, Mairemma, Jose Antonio Ruiz and Jose Granero.

Antonio began his professional career at the age of 15 when he joined dance companies including Ballet Anthology, Ballet of the Lyric Theater of La Zarzuela, Antonio Márquez Company, José Antonio and the Spanish Ballets and Aída Gómez Company. He quickly rose to first dancer in the programs of Mariemma, José Granero, Alberto Lorca, José Antonio, Antonio Gades, among others

In 1996 Antonio performed as a guest soloist in La Gitana, choreographed by José Antonio Ruiz and Paul Chalmer, with the Ballet del’Arena di Verona under the direction of Carla Fracci.

He joined the prestigious Spanish National Ballet (BNE) in 1997 under the direction of Aurora Pons, Nana Lorca and Victoria Eugenia. Within three years he rose to the category of first dancer when Aída Gómez took over the artistic direction of the company.

Antonio’s passion for creation led him to choreography and he began participating in various editions of the Certamen Coreográfico de Danza Española y Flamenco de Madrid, a competition where he won first prize in the VIII edition.

In 2002 Antonio started his own company, Compania Antonio Najarro, where he created four productions, Tango Flamenco(2002), FlamencOriental (2006), Jazzing Flamenco (2008) and Suite Sevilla (2011) that toured throughout Spain, Europe, Latin America, US and Japan.

Antonio’s talent spread into the sports world where he worked with Olympic and world figure skating champions creating, their competitive and show programs. He created the flamenco program for French ice dancers Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, bringing them to the top of the Olympic podium at the 2002 Olympic Games when they won the gold medal. He also worked with European and world champion Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland as well as Javier Fernandez, who became the first Spaniard to ever win a world figure skating championship. In 2018 Antonio also collaborated with coach Mayu Fujiki to choreograph for the Spanish National Artistic Swim Team.

Antonio Najarro was named director of the Spanish National Ballet in 2011. To date, he was the youngest director of the Spanish National Ballet. He replicated the classic works of the company including Danza y Tronío by Mairemma, el Bolero by Rafael Aguilar, Ritmos by Alberto Lorca, Medea by Granero and Viva Navarra by Victoria Eugenia, among others. In addition Antonio expanded the company’s repertoire with his new creations including the first production of Ángeles Caídos, reuniting the talent of Rafaela Carrasco, Rocío Molina, Olga Pericet, Javier Latorre, Manuel Liñán y Rubén Olmo. Antonio introduced his own creations to the Spanish National Ballet including Suite Sevilla, Alento, Eterna Iberia, Icaro and Sorolla, inspired by the collection of “Visions of Spain” by the painter Joaquín Sorolla.

Learn more at AntonioNajarro.com.

Cameron Crosby started working in the entertainment industry in 1971 and became chief technician at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre in 1972. From 1976 until the mid-1980s he worked as freelance sound engineer, collaborating with bands and musicians including The Who, the Kinks, Bread and Kate Bush. In 1980, he established The Warehouse Sound Services with Allan Brereton, which grew to become Scotland’s largest specialist sound company. Cameron has designed and mixed the sound for Plácido Domingo, the English Chamber Orchestra, the New Jersey and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, BBC Radio Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has also designed and mixed the sound for the Edinburgh International Festival’s closing fireworks orchestral concert for 34 years.

Recent engagements include Nixon in China (Denmark, Scotland and Madrid), The 8^th Door, Candide and Ainadamar (Scottish Opera).