LA Opera is honored to welcome Emmy Rossum as the Honorary Gala Chair for ARIA’s White Night Season Opening Celebration on September 17! Emmy began her theatrical career with the Metropolitan Opera’s children’s chorus when she was just seven years old. During her years there, she trained in stagecraft and classical vocal technique, and performed in more than 20 different operas in five different languages. In 2007, she recorded her first album for Geffen records, “Inside Out,” which showcased her classically trained voice as the primary instrument as well as her stellar songwriting ability. She’s currently in the studio working on her second album.

Her performance in her first film, Songcatcher, earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance. Four years later in 2004, her starring performance as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination, as well as the National Board of Review’s Best Female Breakthrough Performance Award and the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s Best Young Actress Award in 2005.

She is currently starring in Showtime’s dark comedy series Shameless, which revolves around the Gallaghers, a working-class Chicago clan dealing with the recession. The mother is not present, and the alcoholic patriarch (played by William H. Macy) usually ends up passed out on the living room floor, so their smart but unpredictable 18-year-old daughter, Fiona (Emmy Rossum), is tasked with keeping her five younger brothers and sisters on the straight and narrow.

Most recently in film, she starred opposite Zach Gilford in the indie-drama Dare. Other past film credits include Dragonball, Poseidon, The Day After Tomorrow with Jake Gyllenhaal, and the Clint Eastwood-directed drama Mystic River. Her television credits include guest-starring appearances on Law and Order and The Practice. And you can see Emmy on the small screen again in January, when Shameless returns to Showtime for its second season.

Emmy is hosting the ARIA’s White Night Season Opening Celebration on Saturday, September 17, immediately following our sensational performance of Eugene Onegin, a compelling and gorgeous Russian romantic drama. We’re so excited to have her join the festivities, and we hope that you will join Emmy and ARIA for Opening Night! Click HERE for more info about ARIA and HERE for tickets to Eugene Onegin .

Emmy Rossum links:

Photo by Robert Millard

With the first two productions of the season now in rehearsal, there’s a lot going on around here. Here are two of the stars of “Eugene Onegin,” Ekaterina Semenchuk (Olga) and Dalibor Jenis (Onegin), ready to get to work!

Today is a fairly typical day: costume fittings (and a couple of wig fittings) for the “Onegin” principals all morning, followed by an afternoon run-through of Act 1, then an evening choreography rehearsal with the principals and dancers for the Act 2 ball scene. The “Cosi” principals have a staging rehearsal this afternoon, and another staging rehearsal tonight when they’ll be joined by the chorus and supers. Despina (Roxana Constantinescu) also has a costume fitting. There are vocal coachings for some of the young artists who are covering leading roles. Like we said: a fairly typical day!

Tune in at 8pm this Sunday evening (August 28), when our new season will be featured on KCSN’s “The Opera House with Bill Toutant.” Bill’s guest will be LA Opera’s Christopher Koelsch, stopping by to discuss the season and play musical highlights from each of the operas. Bill will be giving away two pairs of tickets to the opening night of the season (Eugene Onegin at 7:30pm on September 17) and also to the September 24 performance of Cosi fan tutte. You can listen to KCSN Classical on an HD radio at 88.5 HD2 or via web streaming at KCSNClassical.org, as well as on mobile devices.