OPERA THEATER

by Richard Sasanow - January 27, 2026

The audience at New York’s 92nd Street Y the other night was certainly happy to be at a recital, “From Ordinary Things,” by the trio of soprano Julia Bullock, with her colleagues Seth Parler Wood on cello and pianist Conor Hanick. But there was almost nothing traditional about the proceedings, save ...

by Michael Higgs - January 24, 2026

A revival of Cal McCrystal’s 2021 production, HMS Pinafore at the London Coliseum charms with wit, a stunning cast, and gorgeous Victorian designs....

by Richard Sasanow - January 22, 2026

The Verdi Messa da Requiem—better known to English speakers as the Verdi Requiem—featuring the Cleveland Orchestra and its Chorus, with a quartet of soloists, breezed into Carnegie Hall the other night and promptly knocked many concert-goers out of their seats....

by Erica Miner - January 20, 2026

Daphne in Concert, Seattle Opera’s latest offering in their series of concert presentations initiated in 2023, proved that the series concept is a successful one....

by Richard Sasanow - January 18, 2026

Yoo-hoo, Metropolitan Opera. Looking for something new/old/odd/wonderful? I hope you made it to the Prototype Festival’s WHAT TO WEAR, by Michael Gordon and Richard Foreman, staged by Paul Lazar and Annie-B Parson of Big Dance Theater following the original’s aesthetic from 2006. The opera just fini...

by Richard Sasanow - January 16, 2026

From her first appearance on stage, it was clear that mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina was no flash in the pan when she gave us a scorching Carmen when this production was new just two years ago. The program describes the title character as “a force of nature” and that’s certainly what we got at the Met, in ...

by Richard Sasanow - January 12, 2026

This is Beth Morrison’s first year as sole curator, producer and presenter of New York’s PROTOTYPE Festival of indie opera/music theatre. She’s also midwife for the birth of Sarah Kirkland Snider’s gorgeously composed HILDEGARD, its centerpiece, which I heard at the Gerald Lynch Theater at John Jay ...

by Clementine Scott - January 09, 2026

Opera as a whole may be too reliant on museum pieces, on endless identikit revivals designed to secure bums on seats. But in the case of Richard Eyre’s 1994 La traviata, the old adage might be true: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it....

by Richard Sasanow - January 07, 2026

The Met’s new production of Vincenzo Bellini’s I PURITANI made its debut on New Year’s Eve, but I caught up with it at its third performance on January 6. I was glad I did--because it offered a cast with staggering singing abilities in four major roles that offered major demands, along with at least...

by Richard Sasanow - December 29, 2025

The program said “Christmas Night Opera” but it didn’t happen till the 27th at Carnegie Hall. The date didn’t matter, with such a grand evening for hearing Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Delibes, Verdi and others with some top voices, including Grigorian, Sierra, Radvanovsky and Jagde seeming to have fun whi...