L'Italo-Americano

LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano the far end of a huge hall; they can see the costumes, hear the instruments proper- ly and, through the children's programs, try some of the work themselves. A set stops being just scenery once you have stood beside it, and an orchestra sounds different w h e n y o u c a n s e e w h o i s making each sound. By the time the performance begins, some of the mystery is still there, but the distance is gone. B u t m a k i n g t h e m u s i c understandable is important for adults, too. Opera Italia already uses supertitles, but this season it is going a step further by offering online Italian classes connected with Il Barbiere di Siviglia and German classes for Die Zauberflöte. They are not conventional language cours- w h e n T h e M a g i c F l u t e comes to Casa Italiana on April 24 and 25, 2027, and to t h e D a l m a t i a n - A m e r i c a n C l u b o n M a y 1 a n d 2 . Between Menotti and Mozart comes another important part of the company's work: the Children's Opera Fes- tival on February 28, which builds on Opera Italia's ongo- ing programs for young audi- ences. Through its partner- s h i p w i t h Y o u n g O p e r a Theater, children can meet p r o f e s s i o n a l s i n g e r s a n d musicians, experiment with costumes and sets, take part in workshops and discover opera by actually doing some of it themselves. For younger audiences, especially, that k i n d o f c l o s e c o n t a c t c a n change the whole experience. T h e y a r e n o t l o o k i n g a t singers and musicians from es so much as preparation for listening: an opportunity to recognize important words and phrases in the libretto and hear more of the poetry once the singers begin. No previous language experience is required. All of this comes back to t h e c o m p a n y ' s i d e a o f " o p e r a f o r e v e r y o n e , " w h i c h a l s o e x p l a i n s t h e smaller venues and some of the details surrounding each performance; for instance, adult tickets include a com- plimentary first glass of wine, while lunch or dinner can be added to selected perfor - mances. The aim is not to make the opera itself less demanding, but to remove some of the distance that can m a k e p e o p l e f e e l o p e r a belongs to somebody who already understands it. F o r T a y l o r , e s p e c i a l l y when people are walking into an opera for the first time, the evening should feel very different from the intimidat- ing experience some may i m a g i n e . B e h i n d t h i s approach there is also a very personal story: Francesca has written about her grandfa- ther, Francesco Gaetano Bonaro, a Calabrian immi- grant living in Pittsburgh in the 1930s, who loved opera but could not afford to take the whole family at once. So each year he saved enough to bring one of his three daugh- ters with him, taking them in turn. That memory remains, s t r o n g l y a n d n a t u r a l l y , behind the way Opera Italia works today. The singers and orchestra are at the center of the evening, but the audience a r o u n d t h e m c a n i n c l u d e families, children hearing an instrument up close for the first time, longtime opera lovers and people who simply came because friends sug- gested dinner and Rossini sounded like a good idea. As you've just read, there are plenty of ways through the door in this 2026–27 sea- son: Opera Italia would sim- ply like you to come in! Season packages and indi- vidual tickets are available through OperaItaliaLA. com. For information, call or text 213-248-2510 or email Info@OperaItaliaLA.com. Angeles. Menotti remains part of t h e s e a s o n a s C h r i s t m a s approaches, but with a very different mood. Amahl and the Night Visitors, written for television in 1951 and built around the visit of the Three Kings to a poor mother and her young son, returns f o r O p e r a I t a l i a ' s s e c o n d annual holiday production on November 28 and 29 at Our Mother of Good Counsel Hall in Los Feliz, followed by performances at the Grand A n n e x i n S a n P e d r o o n December 5. The company presents it very consciously as a family event, which suits a work whose humor, music and story were written to be understood by children as well as adults. Mozart closes the main opera season in the spring, G o i n g t o t h e opera does not n e c e s s a r i l y have to mean a vast auditori- um or an evening dress code; at an Opera Italia perfor- mance in Los Angeles, it can also mean arriving at Casa Italiana or the Dalmat- ian-American Club, meeting friends over a glass of wine and sitting close enough to the singers to see the expres- s i o n s o n t h e i r f a c e s . T h e orchestra is live, the produc- tions are fully staged but the evening – almost like magic – feels familiar and easygo- ing. Opera Italia was founded by opera lover and producer F r a n c e s c a T a y l o r , a n d over the past few years the company has kept growing: it now stages two full-length operas each year, brings back Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors as a Christmas tradition, runs a Children's Opera F e s t i v a l a n d a p p e a r s throughout the year at arts events, Italian-American gatherings and local feste. Taylor often describes the company as "opera for every- one," an idea easy to recog- nize in the way the perfor- mances are put together: the music is taken seriously, but nobody is expected to arrive already knowing the etiquette or the story, nor to know when they need to applaud! The growth has been par- ticularly visible over the past few seasons, when produc- tions ranging from Puccini's L a B o h è m e a n d B e l l i n i ' s Romeo and Juliet to Mozart's Così Fan Tutte have gradual- ly developed into a fuller a n n u a l p r o g r a m . T h e response from audiences has helped give Opera Italia the confidence to take the next step, and this expansion is easy to see in the 2026–27 season, which moves through comedy, twentieth-century drama, a Christmas favorite a n d M o z a r t i a n f a n t a s y . R o s s i n i ' s T h e B a r b e r o f Seville opened the season on September 27 at the Dalmat- ian-American Club in San Pedro, before moving to Casa Italiana in downtown Los Angeles on October 3 and 4. Then, on November 21 and 22, Opera Italia turns to Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul, one of the composer's most dramatic works, at the Grant Theater in downtown Los Opera Italia opens its 2026–27 Season in Los Angeles STAFF Due momenti di spettacoli di Opera Italia LA, dove musica e teatro vengono portati in scena in un formato ravvicinato e informale, pensato per creare un rapporto diretto tra interpreti e pubblico (Foto per gentile concessione di Opera Italia LA)

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