Nabucco at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar graduated from the State University of Arts and Culture of Mongolia in 2010. He furthered his studies under Darima Linkhovoin. From 2014 to 2018, he was a soloist at the Buryat State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ulan-Ude. In the 2025/26 season, his engagements include Iago in Otello and Giacomo in Giovanna d'Arco at the Teatro Regio di Parma, Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera with both Opéra National de Paris and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, and Ebn-Hakia in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, along with concert performances of Tomsky in The Queen of Spades in Beijing and Moscow, and Amonasro in Aida in Tel Aviv.

American soprano Angela Meade is the winner of both the Metropolitan Opera’s 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the 2011 Richard Tucker Award. In 2008 she joined an elite group of history’s singers when, as Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani, she made her professional operatic debut on the Met stage. Since then she has fast become recognized as one of today’s outstanding vocalists, excelling in the most demanding heroines of the 19th-century bel canto repertoire as well as in the operas of Verdi and Mozart.

Bass Stephano Park was named the winner of Operalia 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2025, he made his American debut as Sparafucile in Rigoletto at Sante Fe Opera. Operatic highlights of the 2025/26 season include debuts with Royal Danish Opera as Monterone in Rigoletto, and with Calgary Opera as the Bonze in Madama Butterfly. He makes his US concert debut in performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra as well as his Chicago Symphony debut in Mozart’s Requiem.

Mezzo-soprano Meridian Prall is the 2025 second prize winner of the Queen Sonja Vocal Compeititon, 2024 third prize winner of Operalia, a 2024 Grand Finals winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and the recipient of the 2023 Rose Bampton Award from the Sullivan Foundation. In the 2025/26 season, Meridian will make many exciting debuts including with LA Opera as the Third Lady in The Magic Flute and with the Dallas Opera as ister Mathilde in Dialogues des Carmélites. She will also join the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for Madama Butterfly. On the concert stage, she will debut with San Diego Symphony for a staged production of L’enfant et les sortilèges (as the Cat, Dragonfly and Squirrel) conducted by Rafael Payare and appear with Boston Baroque for Ferrandini’s Il Pianto di Maria under the baton of Christian Curnyn. In the summer of 2026 she will return to the Santa Fe Opera as Eduige in Rodelinda conducted by Harry Bicket and as Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson.

From: Minot, North Dakota. LA Opera: Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet (2024, debut); Bullfighter in Ainadamar (2025); Borsa in Rigoletto (2025); Parpignol in La Bohème (2025); Dr. Caius in Falstaff (2026); First Armored Man in The Magic Flute (2026); Ismaele in Nabucco (2027). He joined the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in 2024. Heralded as having a voice “without dross” and for his “flawless vocal technique”, Nathan Bowles is quickly earning his reputation as a compelling stage performer. In the summer of 2026, he will make his role debut as Siegmund in Die Walküre with the Taiwan Philharmonic. In addition to his LA Opera appearances, his 2025 performances included Don José in La tragédie de Carmen with Tulsa Opera and Canio in Pagliacci with Pacific Opera Project.

From: Phoenix, Arizona. LA Opera: Le Dancaïro in Carmen (2026, debut); Maximilian in Candide (2026); High Priest in Nabucco (2027); Ping in Turandot (2027). He will join the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2026/27 season. Recognized for his “booming baritone voice” and “particularly beautiful tone”, Mario Manzo is quickly becoming an exciting talent to hear and watch on the stage. Previous training includes two summers (2023 and 2024) as a Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera, where he performed the role of Wagner in Faust. He also covered the roles of Don Giovanni, Marcello in La Bohème, and both Father Palmer and the British Major in Silent Night by Kevin Puts, and he participated in the company’s Studio Spotlight performances.

Soprano Alexis Seminario was the grand prize winner of the 2025 Butler Opera International Competition and a finalist in the 2025 Houston Grand Opera Concert of Arias. In the summer of 2026, Alexis returns to the Santa Fe Opera where she will cover Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly as well as make her house debut as the Matron in Lili Elbe. In 2025, she was an Apprentice Artist with the Santa Fe Opera where she covered Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw and Ortlinde in Die Walküre. Her summer culminated in her performance as Rosalinda from Die Fledermaus under the baton of Ivan Lopez-Reynoso in a scene staged by Patricia Racette. Alexis received The Anna Case McKay Memorial Award for her extraordinary artistry over the summer.

From: Serra, Espírito Santo, Brazil. LA Opera: Le Remendado in Carmen (2026, debut); Cacambo in Candide (2026); Abdallo in Nabucco (2027); Don Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro (2027). He joins the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2026/27 season. Brazilian tenor Samuel Wallace, a member of the Internationales Opernstudio at Opernhaus Zürich. He receives the vital support of the Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation, an institution dedicated to fostering his professional trajectory and development. Recently, in 2024 Samuel Wallace won second place in both the Joaquina Lapinha Vocal Competition and the Natércia Lopes Vocal Competition, in addition to reaching the semifinals of the Paris Opera Competition (2025) in France and being a finalist in the Maria Callas Vocal Competition in Brazil (2024).

From: Caracas, Venezuela. LA Opera: Roméo et Juliette (2024, debut). He became Music Director on July 1, 2026. During the 2026/27 season, he will conduct Carmen and Nabucco. In addition to his position at LA Opera, Domingo Hindoyan is the Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and former Principal Guest Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. During his first season in Liverpool, Hindoyan opened his tenure with a critically acclaimed conducting debut at the BBC Proms, after which he embarked upon various recording projects, the first of which was released in September 2022. He also collaborated with Liverpool’s well established "In Harmony" educational program and continued to demonstrate his commitment to new music with various world premieres and commissions during his second season. Hindoyan has released five albums with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. The first, exploring Roberto Sierra’s music over the last 25 years, was released in April 2023. In October 2023, Hindoyan released Verismo, which explores preludes and intermezzos from Italian operas. His recording of Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony was released in February 2024. His most recent album, Venezuela! Music from the Americas!, was released in October 2024.

From: New York, New York. LA Opera: The Two Foscari (2012, debut); Nabucco (2017); The Clemency of Titus (2018). Thaddeus Strassberger won the European Opera Prize in 2005 for direction and scenic design. He earned a degree in engineering from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City and received a Fulbright Fellowship to complete the Corso di Specializzazione per Scenografi Realizzatori at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 2001. Strassberger is a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Italy and the USA, and lives and runs his studio from London. His work has taken him around to the world where he has created over 75 productions in more than 15 countries, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, LA Opera and Theater an der Wien.

From: San Diego, California. LA Opera: The Two Foscari (2012, debut); Nabucco (2017); The Clemency of TItus (2019). Mattie Ullrich has designed costumes for opera, theater, film, musicals, dance, and print. Recent opera productions include the world premiere of David T. Little and Royce Vavrek's JFK at Fort Worth Opera, Satyagraha at the Ekaterinburg State Opera and Ballet (Russia), Don Giovanni at the Norwegian Opera and Ballet, The Two Foscari for Theater an der Wien (Vienna, Austria) and Palau des Artes (Valencia, Spain), The Oresteia for Bard SummerScape Festival, Handel's Eliogabalo for Gotham Opera, Nabucco (with productions at the Washington National Opera, Opera de Montreal, Florida Grand Opera and Opera Philadelphia) and Mozart's Zaide for Wolf Trap Opera.

From: Charlotte, North Carolina. LA Opera: Porgy and Bess (2007, debut), Lohengrin (2010), Rigoletto (2010), Florencia en el Amazonas (2014), Nabucco (2017), Candide (2018), Aida (2022). Lighting designer Mark McCullough has illuminated the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Bolshoi Theater, Covent Garden, Washington National Opera, Dallas Opera, Opéra de Montréal as well as productions for the Glimmerglass Festival, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera and Seattle Opera.

Since joining LA Opera in 2007, he has served as associate chorus director (since 2011) and assistant conductor, and he has worked closely with the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. Before becoming Chorus Director, he previously directed the LA Opera Chorus for the Plácido Domingo 50th Anniversary Concert (2017) and for The Clemency of Titus (2019). One of his generation’s most respected pianists and vocal coaches, he has collaborated with major opera houses throughout the United States. He has assisted in the preparation of operas and vocal chamber music at the LA Philharmonic. As a pianist, he has partnered with Sondra Radvanovsky, J'Nai Bridges, Eric Owens, Brandon Jovanovich, Rodell Rosel, Dolora Zajick, Kate Lindsey and Susan Graham. He accompanied Joyce DiDonato at the 54th Grammy Awards, the first time the ceremony featured a performance by a classical singer.