OPERA THEATER REVIEWS

Will Crutchfield’s gutsy Teatro Nuovo brought New Yorkers a chance to evaluate Rossini's MAOMETTO SECONDO the other day at Jazz from Lincoln Center’s Rose Theatre. Kudos to Crutchfield, who continues on his quest for the most authentic of the authentic in bel canto, even when the originals weren...

If you were under the impression that the term 'Opéra Comique' meant a 'comic opera', you might be literally correct, but truthfully the joke would be on you. What does it really mean? Opéra Comique is a genre of French opera first developed in the eighteenth century....

What did our critic think of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S WORLD PREMIERE OF THE LAST DREAM OF FRIDA AND DIEGO at San Diego Civic Theater? ​ ​The San Diego Opera, reveling in modern phantasies, has followed its successful production of Aging Magician with El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream ...

Quite possibly one of the best known opera comiques, CARMEN has returned to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts’ stage in a bright blaze....

One of the world’s most beloved operas takes centre stage in Edmonton....

In EVERYTHING RISES--a one-hour performance piece from African American bass-baritone Davone Tines and Korean American violinist Jennifer Koh that had its East Coast premiere last week as part of BAM’s Next Wave series--we see these two virtuoso musicians take control of their careers, with the he...

Afraid of Shostakovich? Don’t be. LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK is a glory to behold, in Graham Vick’s knockout production, designed and costumed by Paul Brown, staged this time by Paula Suozzi, with Ron Howell’s choreography. And there were times when the music, with the Met orchestra under the fir...

Football opera land perfectly between the Women's Euros and the Men's World Cup finding plenty of common ground to delight fans of both art forms...

O22, as Opera Philadelphia's festival was called this year, wasn’t exactly “something old, something new” but more like big fat sandwich cookie. On one side, there was a kind of “traditional” contemporary opera, Hosokawa’s THE RAVEN , a big filling of Rossini’s OTELLO opera seria in th...

A provocative and ultimately successful reimagining of opera's most operatic of works...

On the second night of the new season, the Met went for Mozart, with his early success, IDOMENEO, in a fluid and elegant performance, but it was hardly 'business as usual.'...

Written over 400 years ago, Cherubini’s MEDEA finally made it to the Met on the season’s opening night, in a new production by David McVicar. Was it worth the wait? If you take it for Sondra Radvanovsky’s performance in the title role, a chilling, a Herculean task, it earns an unqualified yes....

The opera DIDO AND AENEAS may clock in under an hour, but this production by Bodhi Tree Concerts is a delightful evening spent at a theatre. Performances are only this weekend through Sunday, September 25th so don’t delay!...

The new opera season started out for me far from Lincoln Center’s madding crowds, in Brooklyn’s Irondale Center, near BAM, with a pair of short pieces by French composers that definitely had their charms....

What did our critic think? BroadwayWorld reviews Opera San Jose's vibrant new production of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' set in a colorful Northern India, running through September 25th.hat did our critic think of THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at Opera San Jose?...

Opera at Home's double bill offers the traditional and the avant-garde...

Mozart’s elaborately plotted Singspiel concerning Prince Tamino’s fish-out-of-water immersion in a fantasy land of seductive Egyptian cults, demons, and vengeful queens resists straightforward transferral to a modern setting, but this is what Opera Alegría has attempted....

Des Moines Metro Opera recently brought its 50th Anniversary season to a close, and they saved a special treat for their audiences. For the 2024 season, they are commissioning a full-length opera of AMERICAN APOLLO. As a treat to those in attendance this season, they offered the opportunity to see t...

The Charles Court Opera company team up with Opera Holland Park in a co-production that that is just what we need right now...

When an organization reaches a milestone like 50 years, it can be easy to look back at everything that brought you to that milestone. While Des Moines Metro Opera's productions of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and PORGY AND BESS do that, they are also looking at the future with the world premiere produ...

Grimeborn delivers another little gem with this pared back version of a somewhat obscure Spanish zarzuela...

I’ve heard much praise about the quality of the vocal writing of Jake Heggie from singers who adore the way his music caresses their voices. But THREE DECEMBERS, performed this past weekend at the Berkshire Opera Festival at Pavilion Theatre, PS21 in Chatham, New York, was the first time I heard a...

What did our critic think of THE MERRY WIDDOW at Opera On The Lake? Opera On the Lake is thrilled to be bringing Franz Lehar's operetta masterpiece to life at the Como Lakeside Pavilion on July 26, 27, and 29, 2022!...

Bold programming pays off with an opera that has its demands but offers rewards in equal measure...

An intimate and sensitive performance....