It’s been a landmark autumn for American opera. I haven’t been able to keep up — I made it to Dead Man Walking at the Met, followed by the X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X and Florencia en el Amazonas. It was wonderful to attend Intelligence in Houston and Omar in San Francisco. Seeing Glory Denied at Opera Company of Middlebury was my first experience of the opera, enhanced by a performance in a historic 200-seat hall. But I missed almost as much, including The Diving Bell and the Butterfly at The Dal­las Opera and El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego in Los Angeles — an opera supported by a modest grant from OPERA America that I have yet to see! It’s absolutely re­markable to inhabit the world we set out to create 40 years ago, one in which opera reflects the world we live in today.

This remarkable display of American creativity serves as a wonderful backdrop for the combined World Opera Forum and Opera Conference 2024, hosted by LA Opera, from June 3 to 8 in Los Angeles. It’s only the second World Opera Forum; the first took place in Madrid in 2018, organized magnificently by the Teatro Real. Delegates to the forum in Spain explored overarching topics that united the global opera world and revealed as well the regional differences that enliven the international opera community.

Once again in Los Angeles, we will examine issues that bring us together. Many companies around the world are still trying to rebuild audience enthusiasm after the dis­ruption of COVID and capitalize on the tremendous inflow of new attendees. In terms of funding, whether it is derived from the private sector or from government agencies, support is not keeping pace with rising costs. Front pages of newspapers cover press­ing public priorities, but these rarely include the arts. How do we make a case for opera in the 21^st century? This question will be at the center of our week in Los Angeles.

Flowing from the World Opera Forum, the Opera Conference will become more North American in focus. We will examine strategies for managing the accelerat­ing rate of change in every dimension of our work, investigate the benefit of focusing on local impact and resources, and debate the viability of stronger partnerships as a means to increase efficiency and effectiveness. The conference and forum will be en­riched with a veritable opera festival that includes a number of recent and new works, as well as creative approaches to operas from the inherited repertoire, too.

The combination of the World Opera Forum and annual Opera Conference offers an unprecedented opportunity to understand our work in a global context. Extend your network of friends and colleagues around the world. Join us in Los Angeles.