continuing the tradition...

A ‘Festival of Opera’ for Orange County was founded in 1961. The idea began at a dinner party and amazingly, managed to have a full season within the year. The first performances began August 1962, in the Festival Bowl (Irvine Bowl) starting with a production of Bizet’s Carmen. Laguna had 10 years of grand opera before evolving into Opera Pacific and moving to the Orange County Performing Arts Center where it eventually closed in 2008.

Unfortunately for our town, grand opera never really returned to Laguna after that, with the exception of a few stand alone community concerts.

Opera Laguna hopes to change that and bring opera back to our community

After moving to Laguna Beach in 2020, Arnold and Oriana often discussed the possibility of starting an opera company close to home. Eager for a place to rehearse, Oriana was connected with Bree Burgess Rosen. She graciously allowed them to rehearse in the No Square Theatre on Legion. They couldn’t believe that Laguna, with such a vibrant arts scene, was missing opera. Now more than ever, they felt it was incumbent upon them to bring the power of the human voice to a wider audience, given the many months of no live performances brought on by the pandemic.

In early 2022, Arnold and Oriana met Christopher Reed, an opera enthusiast and impresario who shares their dream. They discussed what could be done. He introduced them to the founder of Laguna Beach Live, Cindy Prewitt and board member Danny Melita. A partnership with LagunaBeachLive! was formed for their first concert with the goal of introducing opera to new audiences with quality performances. Opera Laguna has now performed an Inaugural concert with Laguna Live in the Neighborhood Congregational Church, with Pacific Opera Project in Heisler Park for Sunset Serenades, an exclusive member event in the Hortense Miller Gardens, a featured a lecture ‘The Voice as an Instrument” at the Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach and most recently “A night at the Opera” at the Laguna Festival of the Arts. It was the first time in twenty years that opera had been performed in this venue.

Opera Laguna’s mission is to partner with local Laguna Beach musicians and institutions to bring opera to life. We are passionate about education and look forward to many more lectures for anything opera or the voice. We believe in fair pay, where musicians and artists come first.

We are committed to bringing opera back by presenting the amazing power of the human voice throughout the greater Laguna area. It is our hope that the first series of concerts act as the harbinger of the future of Opera Laguna.