RUDOLF BING

UN BALLO IN MASCHERA—A MASKED BALL—certainly makes for a juicy opera, on paper at least. It has a plot filled with passion, jealousy and conspiracies, and a score by Giuseppe Verdi that has some of his most memorable music, including a great duet, plus unforgettable arias for soprano, tenor and baritone, and some first-rate music for secondary characters (Ulrica the fortune teller and Oscar the pants-role page) and chorus. The production at Barcelona’s gorgeous Grand Liceu Theatre didn’t stint o...

Last season, the company gave its first presentation of the French version (that’s the one called DON CARLOS, with a final S to his first name), in the five-act version that lasted almost 5 hours. This year, we’re back to Italian, under Carlo Rizzi’s firm baton, in one of a number of versions (this one running about 4 hours) of DON CARLO, which uses shortcuts to tell the story elements deleted with the excision of the first act (usually referred to as “the Fontainebleau scene”)....

According to the New York Times, Peter Gelb's contract as general manager of the Metropolitan Opera has been extended through at least 2027....