WAGNER

No matter how many “star” performances the Met manages to muster in the course of a season, there’s nothing quite as exciting as the Laffont Grand Finals Concert—formerly known as the Met’s National Auditions Finals—which took place this past Sunday afternoon for its 70th season, when we got to hear up-and-comers who might have knocked our socks off at the concert itself or could at some time in the future....

Will Berger is a renaissance man on a mission.  When he's not lecturing on classical music and opera, or writing the commentaries for the Metropolitan Opera Radio on Sirius, or co-hosting the live Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, or producing (and writing) the broadcasts' Met Opera Quiz, or writing books (Wagner Without Fear (1998), Verdi With a Vengeance (2000), Puccini Without Excuses (2005), all published by Random House) he's writing the libretto for a new Jazz Metal Opera!  ...

Much was made of the fact that it’s been almost 20 years since Verdi’s LA FORZA DEL DESTINO was last seen at the Met. For its heralded return, they picked a choice cast (starting with Lise Davidsen), a fine conductor (Music Director Yannick Nezet Seguin) and a director (Mariusz Trelinski) who’s, well,… Two out of three ain’t bad, considering the cast. So we might as well start there....

The foray of the Met Orchestra under Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin into the concert hall the other night—Carnegie Hall to be specific, during its “Fall of the Weimar” series—was in some ways like a three-part meal that mixed the order of the courses. First came an appetizer (running less than 10 minutes) in the form of Bach’s “Fuga [Ricercata] a 6 voci” from Musical Offering, BWV 1079, a late work by the composer (1747) rethought by Anton Webern in the 20th century. Then there was dessert ...

Tenor Andreas Schager sings the title role in “Siegfried,” the third opera in Wagner’s Ring cycle, which depicts a hero’s journey to love. Watch an excerpt from the performance, now available on Carnegie Hall+, below!...