San Diego Opera's Season Opens With a Concert With Latonia Moore and J'Nai Bridges

San Diego Opera’s 2023-2024 Season opens with the exciting return of soprano Latonia Moore and mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges on Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 7:30 PM in concert at the Balboa Theatre with the San Diego Symphony.

Both Latonia and J’Nai performed at San Diego Opera early in their careers, coming together in 2016 for a production of Madama Butterfly, where Latonia sang Cio-Cio San and J’Nai performed Suzuki.

Latonia made her Company debut in 2013 in the title role of Aida. Since their joint appearances here, both singers have gone on to enjoy phenomenal careers with Latonia opening the Metropolitan Opera’s 2021-22 season in Porgy and Bess, and J’Nai the subject of a PBS “American Masters” documentary. Both singers have performed at all the world’s top opera houses and both have received Grammy® Awards, Latonia for a recording of Fire Shut Up In My Bones and J’Nai for Akhnaten and The Passion of Yeshua.

Audiences can expect arias and duets from the classic opera repertoire, as well as songs drawn from the American songbook, as well as a few surprises, all accompanied by the San Diego Symphony and conductor Bruce Stasyna.

Single tickets to this concert will go on sale on this Fall.

Latonia Moore, Soprano

Soprano Latonia Moore made her San Diego Opera debut on 2013 in the title role of Aida, returning in 2016 to sing the title role of Madama Butterfly. Praised as “richly talented” by The New York Times, notable engagements include the title role in Tosca in her house debut at Austin Opera, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for a special community concert in Serenbe, Georgia, the Metropolitan Opera for Aida, Sister Rose in Dead Man Walking, and Serena in Porgy and Bess. She also sang the title role in Tosca with Opéra de Rouen Normandie Théâtre des Arts. Ms. Moore has received global acclaim for her interpretation of the title role in Aida, of which The New York Times said “her voice was radiant, plush and sizeable at its best, with gleaming top notes that broke through the chorus and orchestra during the crowd scenes.” Houses where she has sung the role of Aida include Royal Opera Covent Garden, Opernhaus Zürich, Opera Australia, Teatro Colón, English National Opera, New National Theatre Tokyo, Dubai Opera, Dallas Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Detroit Opera, Polish National Opera, and at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under James Conlon., and of course San Diego Opera. Additional operatic highlights include appearances as Cio Cio San in Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera, Liù in Turandot at Royal Opera Covent Garden, the title role in Tosca and Elisabeth in Don Carlo with Opera Australia, the title role in Tosca with Washington National Opera, Cio Cio San and Mimìin La bohème with Semperoper Dresden, Cio Cio San at the Hamburg State Opera, Micaëla in Carmen, Liù, Elvira in Ernani, and Lucrezia in I due Foscari in Bilbao, Desdemona in Otello at Bergen National Opera, Serena at both English National Opera and De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, and an appearance on the 50th Anniversary Gala of the Metropolitan Opera.

J’Nai Bridges, Mezzo-soprano

American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges made her Company debut in 2016’s Madama Butterfly as Suzuki. Known for her “plush-voiced mezzo-soprano” The New York Times, and “calmly commanding stage presence” (The New Yorker) she has been heralded as “a rising star” (Los Angeles Times), gracing the world’s top opera and concert stages. Recent engagements include the title role of Carmen with debut engagements at the Arena di Verona, Canadian Opera Company, and a return to Dutch National Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. She made her Seattle Opera debut in a concert performance of Samson et Delilah as Delilah. Additional concert engagements include Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony with the Detroit Symphony, and a world premiere by Carlos Simon with the National Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Bridges’ recital engagements include performances at 92NY, Washington University, Thomasville Center for the Arts, The Cliburn, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, San Francisco Performances, and the Mondavi Center in Davis, California. Other notable engagements include a guest artist in The Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary Season, National Philharmonic in the world premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s A Knee on the Neck, and Mozart’s Requiem, and her first performance of the Verdi Requiem with the Cathedral Choral Society. She also appeared with the Amarillo Symphony as a guest artist in a world premiere piece by Chris Rogerson entitled Sacred Earth, and she gave a solo recital at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton. She performed Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel as part of the Power to the People! festival, followed by her debut with the San Francisco Symphony singing Jocasta in Peter Sellars’ production of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. She is a leading figure in classical music’s shift toward conversations of inclusion and racial justice in the performing arts. In 2022 she was announced as one of the Kennedy Center’s NEXT50 cultural leaders. Bridges led a highly successful panel on race and inequality in opera with the Los Angeles Opera that drew international acclaim for being a “conversation of striking scope and candor” (The New York Times). She was featured in the Converse shoe brand’s All Stars Campaign for its Breaking Down Barriers collection. Bridges also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel for two episodes of the digital SOUND/STAGE series, and as part of the Global Citizen movement’s Global Goal campaign, a program which also included Coldplay, Shakira, Usher and more.  Other recent highlights include the 2022 Grammy® Award-winning Metropolitan Opera production of Akhnaten  and 2021 Grammy® Award-winning recording of Richard Danielpour’s oratorio The Passion of Yeshua with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, performing at the National Library of Congress to honor legendary fashion designer Diane von Furstenburg as she received the 2022 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award, her sold-out Carnegie Hall Recital debut, her role debut of Kasturbai in Satyagraha at Los Angeles Opera, and her debuts at Dutch National Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Ms. Bridges also created the role of Josefa Segovia in the world premiere of John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West at San Francisco Opera, and performed in the world premiere of Bel Canto at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, an opera by Jimmy Lopez based on the novel by Ann Patchett. She is the recipient of the prestigious 2018 Sphinx Medal of Excellence Award, a 2016 Richard Tucker Career Grant, first prize winner at the 2016 Francisco Viñas International Competition, first prize winner at the 2015 Gerda Lissner Competition, a recipient of the 2013 Sullivan Foundation Award, a 2012 Marian Anderson award winner, the recipient of the 2011 Sara Tucker Study Grant, the recipient of the 2009 Richard F. Gold Grant from The Shoshana Foundation, and the winner of the 2008 Leontyne Price Foundation Competition.

Bruce Stasyna, Conductor

Conductor Bruce Stasyna made his Company conducting debut with As One in 2017, returned to conduct Maria de Buenos Aires in 2018, conducted One Amazing Night with Stephen Costello and Stephen Powell in 2019, the holiday sing-along concert for All is Calm in 2020, One Amazing Night: When I See Your Face Again and The Barber of Seville in 2021, Così fan tutte in 2022, and the world premiere of Ghosts in 2023. He has been on the conducting rosters of the New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Sugar Creek Opera, and has held positions as Chorus Master for New York City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Wolf Trap Opera and Des Moines Opera. He was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor for the Green Mountain Opera Festival, and Head of Music and Director of the Young Artist Program at Palm Beach Opera. He has collaborated on many notable North American premieres including Anna Nicole, The Handmaid’s Tale, Orazi e Curiazi, and Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man. As a pianist he has concertized with such artists as Marcello Giordani, Deborah Voigt, J’nai Bridges, Irene Roberts, Marina Costa-Jackson, and Richard Troxell.  The Canadian born conductor is currently the Chorus Master and Music Administrator for San Diego Opera, Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor for Washington Concert Opera, and Music Director of Vero Beach Opera.

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