Lina González-Granados
Conductor
Colombian-born conductor Lina González-Granados joined the LA Opera family in 2022 as Resident Conductor, making her company debut in September with the season-opening production of Lucia di Lammermoor. In January, she conducted the company’s concert presentation of The Rape of Lucretia, with a cast featuring singers from the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. In the coming season, her appearances with LA Opera will include conducting the company premiere of Gabriela Lena Frank’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego and the world premiere of Joel Thompson's concert work Fire and Blue Sky, composed for tenor Russell Thomas.
She has distinguished herself nationally and internationally as a gifted conductor of symphonic and operatic repertoire. Her dedication to highlighting new and unknown works by Latin-American composers has earned international recognition. In 2021, she was awarded the 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 U.S. Career Assistance Award.
In 2020, she won the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition and became the new Solti Conducting Apprentice under the guidance of Riccardo Muti. She has held positions as Conducting Fellow of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Seattle Symphony.
Lina González-Granados is an active and fervent advocate for inclusion and development of new works for chamber and large orchestra from Latin-American composers. She is the founder and artistic director of Unitas Ensemble, a chamber orchestra that performs the works of Latin-American composers and provides access to free community performances for underserved communities.
Her engagements for the 2022/23 season include a return to the Seattle Symphony and debut appearances with the Orchestre Metropolitain, Indianapolis Symphony, Sarasota Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Philadelphia Opera, Borusan Philharmonic, Aalborg Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, as well as performances at Caramoor and Grafenegg Festivals.
Learn more at LinaGonzalezGranados.com.
Above: Lina González-Granados with Marc and Eva Stern
Nicholas Brownlee
Bass-Baritone
A member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program from 2014 to 2017, bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee made his first LA Opera appearance in 2015, performing several roles in The Ghosts of Versailles. He has appeared in 10 productions with the company to date, including performances in the leading roles of Colline in La Bohème (2016 and 2019) and Nourabad in The Pearl Fishers (2017).
He now sings leading roles in the world's major opera houses, with recent appearances as Henry VIII in Anna Bolena at the Vienna State Opera, Colline in La Bohème with the Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera and Munich's Bavarian State Opera, Wotan in Das Rheingold with Dallas Opera, and Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with Santa Fe Opera.
Since 2020, he has been an ensemble member of the Frankfurt Opera, appearing there this season as Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the title role of Don Giovanni and the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen. His numerous previous roles there include Jochanaan in Salome and the title roles in Bluebeard's Castle and Karol Szymanowski's King Roger. His upcoming appearances include the title role of The Flying Dutchman with Santa Fe Opera, Kaspar in Der Freischütz at the Bavarian State Opera and Don Pizarro in Fidelio with the Dutch National Opera.
Learn more at BrownleeBassBaritone.com.
Above: Eva Stern with soprano Nino Machaidze (Leïla) and Nicholas Brownlee (Nourabad) on the opening night of The Pearl Fishers in 2017.
