James Conlon will retire as music director of the Los Angeles Opera at the end of the 2025-26 season, ending a 20-year run that will have spanned half the company’s history.

The Los Angeles Opera opens its 2024-25 season Sept. 21 with Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” reimagined in a film studio and will present the company premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s “Ainadamar” while reducing its offerings from six main-stage productions to five.

The Los Angeles Opera scrapped plans for the world premiere of Mason Bates’ “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” this fall because of finances, and the work will instead open with a student cast at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.