Credit: Domingo Hindoyan
Next year, LA Opera will celebrate a 40th anniversary and with it a new Music Director in Domingo Hindoyan, currently Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Hindoyan is a former student of Venezuela’s El Sistema program of whom others include Gustavo Dudamel and Simon Bolivar Symphony members. He seems a good fit for LA Opera which seems to encourage a kind of cutting-edge mindset adopted by previous artistic directors such as Plácido Domingo, Kent Nagano and currently James Conlon. The company has come a long way since a debut season at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the downtown Los Angeles Music Center that included Otello, Madama Butterfly and Salome. Since that time, LA Opera maintains a full and innovative schedule, melding familiar and exotic productions that feature operas of Mozart, Wagner, Zemlinsky, Corigliano, Weill, Glass and premieres like Eurydice (Matthew Aucoin) and Hildegard (Sarah Kirkland Snider).
While Hindoyan may not be totally well-known to American audiences yet, he is establishing a global career as conductor of orchestral and operatic repertoire with leading groups such as The Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Paris Opera, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and former Chief Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony. “In an opera house, it is not only the choice of the composer that shapes a program but also how we stage it, the voices we bring together and the collaboration into which we enter,” says Hindoyan.
If programs at Royal Liverpool Philharmonic concerts are an indicator, Hindoyan should bring a fresh approach to his inaugural 2026/27 season and beyond with a touch of tradition and originality “At LA Opera, I look forward to honoring the diverse artistic voices to create an experience that feels deeply connected to Los Angeles and its extraordinary cultural richness. We will celebrate classic and contemporary works.”
Southern California’s performing arts scene offers an assortment of sounds, styles (and cuisine) that reflect the unique characteristics of its neighborhoods, such as a long-standing connection to the Hispanic and Latin American community. Hindoyan embraces the cross-cultural mosaic. “I am inspired by Los Angeles’s multicultural identity as it gives the city such vibrancy. At the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, I’ve always aimed to perform a wide range of composers and styles, and our programming has incorporated works by Latin American, French, German and Slavic artists among others. We also feature the voices of young composers and present new commissions from around the world.”
Hindoyan comments about his multitasking approach to conducting music for singers and ensembles. “There’s no secret formula. If anything, the recipe begins with understanding what makes the music come alive. The guiding principle is always to be in service to the composer. We allow the music to breathe and aim to communicate its deepest emotions with honesty, integrity and excellence.”