The Industry, the Los Angeles-based avant-garde opera company started in 2010 by Yuval Sharon, dubbed “opera’s disrupter in residence” by The New York Times, honored its founder’s vision with a Decade Party on Thursday night, Jan. 30, at the famed Bradbury Building. The fundraiser commemorated more than 10 years of groundbreaking and transformational productions, including the breakthrough Crescent City (2012) and Invisible Cities (2013), both directed by Sharon and cementing The Industry’s practice of presenting site-specific operas in iconic L.A. locations.
Sharon, who has shared the artistic directorship of The Industry with Malik Gaines and Ash Fure since 2021, is stepping away from the company, passing the reins to Tim Griffin, who will take on an expanded role as both executive and artistic director, with Gaines and Fure moving to a newly formed artistic advisory council. Since 2020, Sharon has also served as artistic director of Detroit Opera, and just last year, he was tapped to lead the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung cycle, set to begin with the 2027–2028 season.
When asked if it was a difficult decision to leave The Industry, Sharon replied in an email: “[It] is certainly bittersweet: bitter at the thought of no longer being part of the day-to-day operations of a company I started but also sweet because the closest members of the company believe The Industry has so much more it can offer L.A.’s cultural scene. That, to me, is a sign that people value this artistic platform we’ve been able to forge and don’t want to see it disappear. I take that as a beautiful sign that the work has mattered and still has potential to keep mattering in ways I may not currently be able to envision. Having just completed [our 2024 production] The Comet / Poppea, and with the arrival of Tim Griffin, the timing really feels right to make this change.”
Griffin said that what initially drew him to The Industry were Sharon’s vision and the opportunity to collaborate with him. “While I’m excited to be in the audience for his next productions, I’ll miss the chance to explore ideas on new projects from beginning to end,” Griffin said. “On the other hand, The Industry’s artistic community is strong and clearly hungry to explore the premise of expanding the art form of opera for our times — and that is incredibly energizing. People go through phases in their lives, and so do organizations. The Industry will be growing into its next phase, and we’ll see that unfolding in real time through this transition.”
Thursday evening’s festivities included keynote toasts by longtime friends and collaborators, along with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. Excerpts from past Industry productions were performed, making good use of the Bradbury’s famed architecture: a light-filled Victorian court, open-cage elevators, marble stairs, ornate iron railings. The Epilogue from Invisible Cities, composer Christopher Cerrone’s opera originally staged in Union Station, proved incandescent here. The Finale from Hopscotch, a 2015 production that made use of 24 limousines to shuttle audience members between locations around L.A., was performed in the same atrium as its premiere, composer Andrew Norman’s music once again echoing throughout the space.
Sharon may be leaving The Industry, but his plans don’t preclude returning to L.A. “As The Industry defines its new direction, I am very open to doing another project under these auspices,” he said. “I have a long-standing relationship with the [Los Angeles Philharmonic] that I hope to continue pursuing as well.”
Griffin, who came to The Industry from The Kitchen in New York City, where he was executive director and chief curator from 2011 to 2021, is already mapping out some coming plans. “There’s a wonderful continuity during the year ahead, beginning [this] June with Ash Fure’s ANIMAL [the underground], a site-specific work that will blend performance and installation in a cavernous concrete basement, featuring sound machines spread throughout the space like stations at a gym. And our most recent production, The Comet / Poppea, will travel to New York the same month, while we are planning for our next [emerging composers lab] early next year.”
As Sharon himself noted, “The Industry was a highly improbable venture, dedicated to highly improbable projects. The fact that it not only took root but could thrive is a real testament to the cultural community of Los Angeles.”
