The Evangelist of Opera

Laurence Scofield has been lauded by the Wall Street Journal as “The Evangelist of Opera.” He created The Traviata Story, a unique cinema collaboration with the Royal Opera House London, La Scala Milan, and Salzburg Festival. It’s a free, 90-minute musical experience that has brought the power and fury of Verdi’s masterpiece to tens of thousands of people in the Far East. For maximum accessibility, Laurence designed and built a luxury cinema inside a travelling tent that brought the music to the audience. Many viewers of The Traviata Story had never seen opera before—or even had never heard classical music.

Working for students, the elderly and underprivileged

Laurence has worked for 25 years as a educator and producer in the music field. He has been a tireless fund raiser for the training of young musicians and for affordable and free tickets. A key part of this effort has been to promote opera to students, the elderly and underprivileged. In total, he has brought more than 600 live music performances and cinema presentations to the stage and screen. These have included more than 90 operatic works across all historical periods spanning the entire principal repertoire in Italian, French, German, Russian, Czech and English. He is responsible for bringing noted singers, conductors, directors, and other artists to audiences in parts of the world new to their careers. And he has brought their work, with translations into local languages, to audiences who are new to the opera art form.

His conversations are “…not like a normal interview…”

In addition to his roles as producer and presenter, Laurence as a broadcaster has delved deeply into the artistic side of the opera business.  His interviews with the world’s leading singers, conductors and directors are highly revealing.  “It’s not just a biography interview that I frequently do that I talk about specific days,” said countertenor Andreas Scholl. “It’s more like a discussion and less like answering questions.” In recent years on his weekly radio programme, Laurence has sought to delve deeper than a normal interview into Thomas Ades, Javier Camerena, Kate Lindsey, Edward Gardner, Lisette Oropesa, Iestyn Davies, Harry Bicket, Ludovic Tézier, Joseph Calleja, Elīna Garanča, Roberto Alagna, Sir Andrew Davis, Piotr Beczała, Günther Groissböck, Sir Mark Elder, Dawn Upshaw, Renée Fleming, Edita Gruberová, Anne Sofie von Otter, Michael Fabiano, Sir Antonio Pappano, Jakub Józef Orliński, Thomas Quasthoff and many others…

Why opera is important

“If you live in the West,” Laurence says, “you likely take your European music tradition for granted.  So it may be easier for persons living in countries outside that tradition to appreciate what a priceless treasure is the gift of Europe’s music to the world.  As every historian of music knows, opera’s contribution to Western music is enormous. All this makes the scope of opera’s importance encyclopaedic.  However, I like to think there’s an easier, simpler explanation for why opera is important: it’s because watching and listening to all those silly love stories really makes it easier to say, ‘I love you.’  That might not sound so important until you begin to think about it.  Then, you realize that it adds incalculable riches to your life.”

What do the singers and artists think of him?

About his on-air persona, mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato has said, “Laurence, if I’ve ever heard anyone with a great radio voice, it’s yours!” 

You can now also enjoy Laurence with the world’s greatest singers, conductors, directors and other opera personalities exclusively on Espressivomusica.com.