The latest reviews and critic recommendations from Opera.
Bartlett Sher's production of Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA is one of the best of the Gelb years at the Met, with its sliding-doors set by Michael Yeargan and luscious costumes by Catherine Zuber.
Such was the enjoyment of the evening, that a number of people commented that it was such a shame that there was only the one chance to attend.
As one can imagine, an opera created by Ludwig van Beethoven is likely driven by intricate musicality.
Compared to Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as Katerina Ismailova in LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK at the Met, Barbara Stanwyck and Lana Turner were couple of pikers in their film noir triumphs, “Double Indemnity” and “The Postman Always Rings Twice.
Arizona Opera's production of Rigoletto, directed by Fenlon Lamb, is a noble and well-constructed effort in portraying the ironic misjudgments of its main characters.
I have always loved opera companies that have the ability to evolve and recreate productions for modern audiences.
Winter Opera kicks off its eighth season with a simply heavenly production of 'Le Nozze di Figaro'.
With a pair of soulful arias by Vivaldi, mezzo Joyce DiDonato and her pianist David Zobel let the audience know right away that they were in for a different part of her artistry than we heard at her concert performance of Handel's ALCINA (also at Carnegie) a week earlier.
“Ideas of darkness and light, obscurity and illumination” are at the heart of the Benjamin Britten-William Plomer CURLEW RIVER.
The Metropolitan Opera may have its spectacular Julie Taymor production of THE MAGIC FLUTE, but the real fun in town is the Mozart at the new Victory Theatre on West 42nd Street, where the South African Isango Ensemble is in residence.
With its universal themes, stunning production design and soaring voices, the Washington National Opera's newest production of La boheme is a beautiful night at the opera.
The great mezzo Joyce DiDonato stripped for her art at Sunday's wonderful performance of Handel's ALCINA with the English Concert under conductor Harry Bicket.
Once again, the State Opera Company of South Australia is offering a superior production that is sure to please Adelaide's opera lovers.
FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUSICAL is based on the original novel by Mary Shelley and has music by Mark Baron, lyrics by Jeffrey Jackson, and a book by Jackson and Gary P.
Only someone who arrived convinced of the opera's bias could have found the Met's premiere of the John Adams-Alice Goodman THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER to be anti-Semitic.
Verdi was a master at crescendo.
Pretty Yende--a name that in itself brings certain expectations as well as smiles--burst on the New York opera scene at the start of 2013, in a baptism by fire.
Soprano Anna Netrebko was AWOL.
Arizona Opera goes pop with its presentation of the soi-disant mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna.
These characters are awful, foolish people, and I hate them.
A little slapstick here, a little mysticism there, some knockout arias, a love story, parental conflict--put them all together and you have Mozart's DIE ZAUBERFLOTE--better known in these parts as THE MAGIC FLUTE.
Ever since I heard Anna Netrebko's “Verdi” album last year, which highlighted excerpts from the operatic treatment of Shakespeare's MACBETH, I knew her Verdi was the real deal and couldn't wait for her to take on the full Lady Macbeth on stage.
The wonderful German singer Rene Pape made history when he made his recital debut at the Met last week—the first bass to perform a solo program at the house.
I Capuleti e i Montecchi, the two act Italian opera by Vincenzo Bellini, is a delightful and tragic retelling fn those famous Shakespearean star-crossed lovers.
More than most stagings of Mozart's LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, the new Richard Eyre production that opened the season at the Met made it hard to remember that the miserable duo who head the household were the happy couple of Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA.
