MICHAEL TODD SIMPSON

If Robert Lepage's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle (formally, DER RING DAS NIBELUNGEN) had worked as smoothly when it opened in 2010 as it did at this season's marvelous premiere of its prologue, DAS RHEINGOLD, on Saturday afternoon, there probably still would have been complaints--not about its focus on technology but on its traditional approach. Personally, i liked it....

The Metropolitan Opera presents one of the most beloved operas in the repertory, Georges Bizet's Carmen, with performances October 30 to November 15 and again from January 9 to February 8. Starring in all performances in the title role is Clémentine Margaine, who made her celebrated Met debut in this role in 2017.  Yonghoon Lee and Roberto Alagna share the role of Carmen's lover, Don José. Guanqun Yu, Aleksandra Kurzak, and Susanna Phillips sing the role of Micaëla, and Kyle Ketelsen, Alexander ...

Anyone who was expecting the equivalent of Bette Midler's arrival as Dolly in the Harmonia Gardens when Jonas Kaufmann finally returned to the Met, on October 17, after four years and some high-profile cancellations, must have been wildly disappointed. Oh sure, Kaufmann looked like a glamorous buckaroo and compared to some of the star tenor misfires already this season at the Met, he had a triumph....

Get a first look at LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST at The Met below! Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek sings Puccini's gun-slinging heroine in this romantic epic of the Wild West, with the heralded return of tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the role of the outlaw she loves. Tenor Yusif Eyvazov also sings some performances. Baritone Željko Lu?i? is the vigilante sheriff Jack Rance, and Marco Armiliato conducts. ...