James Conlon to Step Down as Music Director of Los Angeles Opera

After 20 years with the company, Conlon will take on the new title of Music Director Laureate at the close of the 2025/26 season

Conductor James Conlon has announced that the 2025/26 season will be his last as the Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera, in California. By the close of that season, he will have been in the position for 20 years — and will assume the lifetime title of Music Director Laureate in recognition of his outstanding service.

Appointed in 2006, Conlon is only the second Music Director in the history of the company. During his tenure, he conducted 68 operas by 32 different composers in more than 460 performances.

Particular highlights of his tenure have included Britten 100/LA, a citywide celebration honoring the centennial of composer Benjamin Britten’s birth, as well as conducting a rare performance of The Anonymous Lover by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a prominent Black composer of 18th-century France.

In addition, Conlon launched the Recovered Voices initiative, which aimed to stage neglected works by composers suppressed by the Third Reich. In 1999 he was awarded Vienna's Zemlinsky Prize for his work bringing composer Alexander Zemlinsky’s music to a wider audience.

Conlon is likely to return to the company occasionally as a guest conductor.

"The long, productive relationship that I have shared with LA Opera and the greater Los Angeles community has been a source of enormous professional fulfillment, and I have decided to make the 2025/2026 season my last as music director," Conlon said. "Twenty years with the company marks an extraordinary personal milestone. I am moving on to a new phase of my professional activities and am grateful to the board and to Christopher for their understanding."

"I have been a music director with orchestras, opera companies and festivals in Europe and the United States for almost 50 years and am looking forward to launching new projects of great importance to me, both musically and personally," he added.

"James’ impact as music director is unparalleled and cannot be overstated," said Christopher Koelsch, President and CEO of LA Opera. "He has been a fierce and passionate advocate for the power and beauty of the art form, dedicating so much of his time to connect directly with audiences and community members, enthusiastically sharing his knowledge with everyone from the most learned opera fan to children who have never been exposed to classical music."

"He is equally committed to the members of the orchestra and ensuring that, as a group, they are continually developing, expanding and sharpening their collective sound; from my point of view, they have never sounded better as an ensemble. Under his guidance, the LA Opera Orchestra has truly become one of the premiere orchestras in the world."