Show artwork for Fire and Blue Sky

Fire and Blue Sky Fire and Blue Sky

June 6, 2024

At the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

The past doesn't control us. But it never leaves us.

Tenor Russell Thomas, LA Opera's Artist in Residence, premieres a major new commission: a deeply personal, evening-length concert work created expressly for him by the Emmy Award-winning composer Joel Thompson with an original libretto by the celebrated poet Imani Tolliver.  

With Resident Conductor Lina González-Granados leading the LA Opera Orchestra, Fire and Blue Sky traces the origin story of an artist, a probing reflection on painful memories, deeply embedded, that reverberate into the present day. 

The concert will also feature an orchestral suite from Joel Thompson's opera, The Snowy Day.

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There’s no arguing about the beauty of Thomas’ voice and the ease with which it soars,”

New York Classical Review

Tenor Russell Thomas turned agony and idealism into a gripping portrayal of the human spirit stretched to the limits.”

San Francisco Classical Voice

Thompson’s music is alive and inquisitive, in constant dialogue with itself and the text.”

ArtsATL

Listen to Joel Thompson's earlier acclaimed work "Seven Last Words of the Unarmed" below:

Artists

Composer
Joel Thompson
Librettist
Imani Tolliver
Conductor
Lina González-Granados
Tenor
Russell Thomas
Artwork for Fire and Blue Sky
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2023/24 Season