OPERA THEATER REVIEWS

What did our critic think of MARGOT LA ROUGE/LE VILLI at Opera Holland Park? You have to applaud Opera Holland Park for not only focusing on money-spinning blockbusters, but for giving rarely performed works an airing. In a double bill of short operas (think bite-sized short story rather than weight...

What did our critic think of MANON at Opera Wroclaw? Manon has it all. Great duets, splendor, fantastic music, great scenography, perfect choir, and harmonious choreographies. This opera comique from the 19th century has a big come back after 40 years of absence on polish scenes, last production in ...

Mezzo delivers powerful evening of song highlighting African American composers. On a spectacularly beautiful evening, in a spectacularly beautiful venue (Caramoor's Spanish Pavillion) the birds were singing brightly, children were running around playfully (some continued to do so right through the ...

Starting a theatre company is no easy feat, but for a theatre to be around for 50 years is something worth celebrating. You can celebrate 50 years with Des Moines Metro Opera this summer, which just opened up its 50th season with two spectacular productions. The season opened up a sold-out run of Th...

Russell Thomas, Christopher Maltman and Hrachuhi Bassénz excel in an emotional and relevant production of Verdi's adaptation of Shakespeare's masterful study of jealousy, ruthlessness and much more....

Last week, “The Angel’s Share”--which falls under the 'Death of Classical' umbrella--kicked off its new season at Green-Wood with a deeply poignant piece, Sarah Kirkland Snider’s MASS FOR THE ENDANGERED, a re-imagining of the Latin Mass with text, combining traditional and new, by poet Natha...

You’d have thought that the Met Orchestra would have had enough by the end of the season in the opera house, but, no. Their New York season really ended at Carnegie Hall this week with a pair of concerts combining some opera excerpts with orchestral pieces by composers also known for their opera w...

If you want to witness the materialization of the word beauty, see this show. With thrilling voices, amazing Puccini music, and vital presentation this opera will lead you straight to musical heaven....

While I was watching the Met’s current beautiful yet somehow languid production of the Igor Stravinsky and WH Auden/Chester Kallman opera THE RAKE’S PROGRESS the other night--with only two more performances until it goes back into mothballs for probably many years--I couldn’t help wishing that...

This opera buffa composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the piece produced by the Wrocław Opera as part of the Opera Of The Young program after Don Giovanni and Cossi Fan Tutte. Director André Heller-Lopes put on a very classic show with superb set design by Renato Theobaldo. It is red and...

Is there another Shakespearean drama filled with as many quotable quotes as “Hamlet” (even when they’re used out of context and given a foreign meaning)? But “To be or not to be” is surely the most referenced and, certainly, in the new operatic HAMLET currently at the Met by Brett Dean and...

One of the greatest successes of recent Met seasons is Philip Glass's AKHNATEN, first seen in 2019.I saw it three times that year and fell under its spell each time.It is being revived this season....

While this production of 'Carmen' is very traditional on its face, the thoughtfulness and sheer talent packed into this performance elevates it to something far more engaging, and absolutely enchanting. It’s more than worthy of audiences’ time, and hopefully WNO’s fresh interpretation will hel...

A new recording of Saint-Saens's opera HENRY VIII, by Odyssey Opera, has come my way. It is a complete version of the work which is dated 1883. Odyssey Opera is a company dedicated to the performance of operas that are out of the mainstream but are deemed worthy of recognition. ...

'What the hell was that?' an opera fan asked her friend as we shuffled into a parking-garage elevator. Not an easily answered question after a viewing of AGING MAGICIAN. Ambiguity abounds and reality is mixed with fantasy. The reality side is clear, mostly. Harold is a middle-aged watch repairman...

Featuring some of the most popular music to ever grace the opera stage, Minnesota Opera's Carmen brings every aspect of Bizet's thrilling tale to life, from its tantalizing beginning to its devastating climax....

If ever an opera could be described as “easy listening” and flawlessly engaging, Figaro would qualify hands down...

A summer night couldn’t be more propitious: an amphitheatre sitting loftily atop rugged Antipolo terrains adorned with humongous homalomenas, philodendrons, and alocasias growing uninterruptedly, a buzzing crowd of guests gushing over the museum’s Castillan-influenced architecture jutting into t...

On Saturday night, Version 2.0 of the Mason Bates-Mark Campbell opera, THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS, opened brilliantly as a mainstage production of the Atlanta Opera, in its East Coast premiere, under Tomer Zvulun’s taut direction and Michael Christie’s smart baton. To say the audience greete...

Well, no one can say that the Met doesn’t have guts. After the tepid response that subscribers gave its Las Vegas version of Verdi’s RIGOLETTO by Michael Mayer, no one would have suspected that they’d come up with a version of Donizetti’s LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR that made anything else it’s pr...

The Canadian Opera Company marked its return-to-stage after nearly two years with this all-around stunning production of one of Verdi’s most well-known works. Clocking in at just shy of three hours, the four-act opera tells the tale of Parisian courtesan Violetta (Amina Edris, making her COC debut...

Joyce DiDonato’s recitals-as-events--where she introduces her personal philosophies as well as her art into the evening--have their ups and downs. Sometimes they are marvelous. Saturday night at Carnegie Hall, the concert, directed by Marie Lambert-Le Bihan with lighting by John Torres, that also ...

Celebrating its 10th anniversary season, On Site Opera gave its audiences a present: The lively, fun-filled GIANNI SCHICCHI--the only comedy in Puccini’s trifecta, IL TRITTICO, which had its world premiere at the Met in 1918 and is surely its most popular of the triptych of one-acts. Of course, th...

The Dallas Opera's production of Bizet's THE PEARL FISHERS acts as a satisfying palate cleanser, providing the talent audiences have come to expect from the company as well as a dream of a show....

UCO's opera department offers a cautionary tale. The Consul tells the story of one family trying to escape a country they can no longer call home. Though it ran on Broadway in 1950, it brings to mind current images that are seen on the news every night. Parallels to refugees and the bureaucratic sys...