CLASSICAL MUSIC THEATER REVIEWS

What is the American musical identity? A question for this special year!...

On February 7 at Carnegie Hall, the Budapest Festival Orchestra offered a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 that did not merely impress — it recalibrated expectations....

Jaha Ling led the San Diego Symphony’s first performance of Mahler’s seventh symphony in 2014, more than a century after the orchestra was founded. He called it “the most modern of all Mahler symphonies.” Many critics have made similar judgements, the more conservative among them meant it a...

What did our critic think of THE COLORADO SYMPHONY WITH ITZHAK PERLMAN at Carnegie Hall?...

Art of Elan launched the Sounds and Swells series several years ago. Artistic Director Eric Starr describes its unusual programs as “a curated pairing of surfing footage and classical music.” The music and footage vary from one performance to another, but always include one or more California co...

Bernstein, Sondheim & Loewe reimagined through full orchestral arrangements at Salle Pleyel. The symphonic treatment of West Side Story alone is worth the price of admission—this is Broadway elevated to concert hall artistry. Exceptional vocalists, brilliant conducting, world-class tap dancers. A ...

For fifty years Orpheus has been confounding and amazing audiences with their exceptional variety of repertoire, its fine execution, and overall excellence, all without a conductor on a podium. ...

What did our critic think of WHERE THE SHINING TRUMPETS BLOW at Jacobs Music Center? Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy's Magical Horn) is a collection of more than 700 German folk poems and songs compiled in the early 19th Century. Several notable composers, including Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, ...

What did our critic think of PORGY AND BESS at Houston Grand Opera? As Houston performing arts ventures grow for the 2025-26 season, Houston Grand Opera surpasses them all with a thrilling 50th anniversary production of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. S...

What did our critic think of ROMANTIC VISIONS at Jacobs Music Center? Conductor Rafael Payare showed why in a performance driven with his usual gymnastic vigor....

What did our critic think of OPERA À LA CARTE'S PRODUCTION OF OFFENBACH'S ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD at St. Peter's Episcopal Church Of Del Mar? With even large companies struggling to survive, why did soprano and voice teacher Abla Hamza decide to found Opera À La Carte? Her goals were laudable. ...

After 86 concerts spanning over the past eight weeks, the 130th season of the Proms has come to a close, ending with the iconic Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, which has hosted over 3,000 musicians these past few months. This performance brings together the BBC Singers, BBC Symphon...

South African soprano Golda Schultz is always a treat to hear; with honeyed tones, rich storytelling and nimble versatility, the programme at Saturday's prom was an excellent vehicle to show off her considerable skills....

'Who doesn't check twice behind the shower curtain now?' asks presenter Edith Bowman, kicking off a spinetingling evening of thriller film soundtracks from the excellent BBC Concert Orchestra, under the assured direction of American conductor Edwin Outwater at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall....

Written between 1930 and 1932, The Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District was first performed in 1934 - and received a scathing write-up in the Pravda newspaper in 1936, due to its graphic sexual violence and murderous female lead. Whilst it alludes to Shakespeare’s infamous character, the opera is a...

Experiencing art in a former car park is never going to get old - cold perhaps - so I was glad to return to Bold Tendencies to sample their 2025 season titled Déjà vu. ...

A thought-provoking reworking of Mozart's popular opera....

The La Jolla Music Society concluded its 2025 four-week SummerFest with three works for chamber-sized orchestras. Learn more about the festival here!...

Mozart's beloved comedy The Marriage of Figaro opened Glyndebourne's very first Festival in 1934 and is the renowned opera house's most performed work. No sooner has the production closed in Sussex, it reappeared in London at the BBC Proms for a super semi-staged version....

This programme of music seems to thrive on themes of togetherness, resilience, and support that may have also influenced the Russian composer at the mid-point of his life, the Hungarian maestro nearing the end of his, and even the bright young man setting out to shake us the music scene in Europe to...

It's 20 years since Anoushka Shankar made her Proms debut, along with her father Ravi Shakar. Since then she has eclipsed even his enduring reputation as a world-renowned sitarist. Now a multi-Grammy-nominated artist, a sitar virtuoso and prolific composer, Shankar makes a triumphant return to the ...

Bringing Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra back to the BBC Proms, last night’s concert offered a programme of Beethoven’s 'Symphony No. 7 in A major' alongside Bartok’s dark one-act opera Duke Bluebeard’s Castle.  ...

This is a great opportunity to hear the breadth of Beethoven’s work performed in a novel way, and the drama does have its flashes of brilliance. In order to preserve these fleeting moments of conviction, though, Beethoven: I Shall Hear in Heaven needs to move away from tired biographical tropes an...

A program featuring one of the world's most beloved symphonies, a stunning piano concerto allowing pianist Alexandre Kantorow to show off his prowess, and a fascinating contemporary piece by Scottish composer Jay Capperauld, the 10th BBC Prom 2025 marks a triumph for conductor Maxim Emelyanychev and...

From the moment the first note rang out, this was no ordinary Proms night. Four wildly different pieces, one restless thread: mischief. Mendelssohn is the marquee name here but really this was a foray into the world of fairytale birds, lyrical longing, mythological monkeys and death-defying prankste...