L.A. Opera comes to DVD

Those who missed Broadway stars Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone in Los Angeles Opera’s February production of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” have two chances to catch up. A high-definition DVD of the production will be released by EuroArts Music International on Dec. 18, and KCET will also broadcast the production Dec. 22 at 2 p.m.

Additionally, a DVD of L.A. Opera’s September 2006 production of Verdi’s “La Traviata,” starring Renee Fleming and Rolando Villazon, will be released Tues- day on the Decca label. Company music director James Conlon conducted both productions.

“The most important thing is that these are live performances,” Conlon said. “They’re not studio recordings where we have 20 times to go back and forth over a phrase to get it right. They have all the excitement and the advantages and defects of a live performance. They’re not acts of perfection, but they have an immediacy.”

-- Chris Pasles