Long Beach Opera

Who Are we?

Long Beach Opera is Southern California’s oldest opera company with over 45 years of innovative and captivating shows. With many programs provided within LBO, the company dedicates itself to helping the underrepresented masses and expanding the world of opera to all. Through our Opera@School initiative LBO is able to provide free operas for schools k-12 which promote the performing arts, language arts, history, and social sciences in fun and striking ways. From immersive performances to community-rooted programming, we continued pushing the art form forward right here in Long Beach.

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Our Work:

LBO has a constant stream of new productions every year with roughly 4 or more productions a season. Just in the 2026-2027 season alone LBO is producing the following shows:

• Acquaprofonda. In the summer of 2026 the Aquarium of the Pacific hosted a 30-minute, family friendly, free LBO opera, Acquaprofonda. The event had 1000 attendees over the course of two weekends with families excitedly writing to us their positive reviews. Many had written that the warning of ocean pollution was a topical and impactful story to tell to young children. 
• Passion of Nell is an upcoming LBO production by Shelley Washington which was inspired by Nell Theobald, an American singer and model. Recently revealed, the Passion of Nell workshop will be hosted at the UCLA Little Theater on May 16th, the event is free and accessible to all!
• Join LBO as we take to the supernatural sea aboard the Queen Mary for a production of Aperghis Trilogy, a series of performances with special presentations by the creative mind of Georges Aperghis. Experience Aperghis Trilogy September 26th with more information underway.
• The 2026-2027 was recently released with shows like Aperghis Trilogy, Amanda Forsythe and Opera Prima: Tormento Seicento, Anna Schubert, Impressions of Pelleas, Passion of Nell, and Svadba. For more information on our shows check out the Long Beach Opera page at: https://www.longbeachopera.org/

Our artist's minds are at work as we create fresh and world-turning productions for our new and existing audiences. We at LBO hope that our Long Beach Gives donors will have their interest piqued and stay tuned for our announcements. Join our Newsletter to be the first to hear about our upcoming shows! 

Sign up for our Newsletter Here!

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Our Impact:

Our productions have told the stories of underrepresented groups and spread the world of opera across LA County. LBO’s dedication to providing accessible, challenging, and entertaining performances has outdone itself with our most recent programs.

• Opera@School, LBO’s education program, is determined to give Title 1 schools the chance to learn and explore the world of opera. In 2026 LBO brought their production of The Playground King to over +2000 students. If you're interested in bringing a performance of The Playground King to your school please reach out to our Education department at Education@longbeachopera.org to schedule a show!
• In the most recent years of LBO works the company has given a stage to the worlds finest creatives who have not been given the recognition they deserve. In 2026 LBO gave Tiffany Townsend, an acclaimed soprano, a recital to express her full creative vision. Two years prior LBO dedicated their 2024-2025 season to reviving the memory of Pauline Oliveros, an American composer who innovated electronic music with her theory of “deep listening”. 
• Keeping with our accessibility goal, LBO offers reduced prices to students with a $20 ticket after verification. The future of opera lies in the next generation, as such we intend to make it as easy as possible for these students to introduce themselves to the theater arts.

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Testimonials

"...an operatic triumph" -The Los Angeles Times

"The company has an extraordinary record of supporting contemporary work... [James] Darrah appears poised to extend that legacy." -The New Yorker

"[The performance had the] ability to stick in the mind and soul." -The New York Times

"To leave the theater dazed by a new opera — that operates on several topsy-turvy levels at once propelled by nonstop invention — is one thing. To be still processing where the humor ends and the meaning begins, even after time to reflect, is another much rarer and more valuable thing." -The Los Angeles Times