The latest reviews and critic recommendations from Opera.
When I saw the George Grosz-ish curtain that introduced us to the new Barlett Sher “Weimar-inspired” production of Verdi’s RIGOLETTO at the Met on New Year’s Eve, I was excited about what lay ahead.
What is there to say about Puccini’s TOSCA that hasn’t been said in the last hundred-plus years since its premiere in Rome (to echo the locations in the opera)? It is a marvel of brevity, with librettists Illica and Giacosa shaving locations, characters and action from the original play, written
It seems variety is the spice of classical music and opera in San Diego.
Talk about ‘spoiler alerts,’ there was a big one for me early in the opera, EURYDICE, by Matthew Aucoin to a libretto that he and Sarah Ruhl fashioned from her play of the same name, which had its Met premiere last night.
Some curious directorial choices fail to blunt the force of Wagner's musical donner und blitzen as the gods bicker and bully and the mortals bleed
In Rossi's L'ORFEO at Juilliard, but director Birnbaum explores the idea that “destiny happens to you whether you like it or not, and no matter how much humans try to have control over their environment and future.
Every time I head to a performance of Puccini’s LA BOHEME, I can’t help but think of Bette Davis’s famous line from “All About Eve”: “I detest cheap sentiment.
A boy and girl falling in love, a vengeful mother-in-law hunting an alleged kidnapper, and .
There are so many things to like about the season’s revival of Gershwin’s PORGY & BESS, which was new in the 2019-2020 season, before Covid became the “song” that no one wanted to hear.
For the first time in almost seven years, the Metropolitan Opera has revived Wagner's DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NURNBERG.
Oh, sure, give us Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Laura Kaminsky, Kevin Puts, Terence Blanchard, Paul Moravec, Huang Ruo and all the other fabulous composers at work today.
The imposing mezzo soprano Stephanie Blythe is known for her roles in Wagner, Verdi and Stravinsky.
What a romantic night! Well, this show is considered the first German Romantic opera after all.
Nobody goes to see the Met’s TURANDOT for subtlety and, from that standpoint, the audience got what it paid for at the opera’s first performance of the season.
The opening lines of Jonas Kaufmann’s lieder concert at Carnegie Hall Saturday night, weren’t exactly ones that fill the heart with joy: “My songs are filled with poison—why shouldn’t that be true? Into my budding manhood, you poured your poison through.
Irrational Theatre resurrect a long neglected work from the early days of the celebrated composer and find plenty of parallels with 20th century comedy and 21st century politics.
The Lady or the Tiger? In this case, both are Mussorgsky’s BORIS GODUNOV—just different versions of it.
It’s been a long 18 months since the last opera on the Met’s stage.
For one of the most popular operas in the traditional repertoire--ABC in the opera world means AIDA, BOHEME and CARMEN--the work by Bizet has had to have more lives than the proverbial cat to get there.
Though the Met’s season doesn’t technically start till the end of the month, the company started off with a pair of what French chefs might call “amuses bouches”—sort of tastebud teasers.
Rigoletto delves deep into the human psyche to ask questions both through its subject matter and its melding of music and voices
The Grimeborn Festival presents two short operas concerning love failing to land as required, leading to tragic consequences
Lyric Opera of Chicago announced that registration is now open for audiences to secure a free link to screen its new, original film production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, made at the Lyric Opera House.
What can I say, Tosca was so great I really don't know where to start.
What was a makes-you-jump BOOM!! doing in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue? Had someone mistakenly lit an 1812 Overture cannon? Were we under attack?! Oh wait! It was just a bass drum resonating through the San Diego Symphony’s spectacular new state-of-the-art sound system at the Rady Shell.
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L’elisir d’amore Union Avenue Opera (7/24-8/01) |
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Fiddler on the Roof Union Avenue Opera (7/03-7/11) |
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Samson et Dalila Union Avenue Opera (8/14-8/22) |
