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Opera Theater Reviews

View the latest BroadwayWorld reviews of live + streaming theatre in Opera.

Review: JENŮFA, London Coliseum Photo Review: JENŮFA, London Coliseum
by Franco Milazzo - March 15, 2024

Opera is not short of stories where women are violated and abandoned by the men in their lives but Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa is an especially cruel tale....

Review: Yahoo for Ermonela Jaho! at Palau de la Musica Tribute to Victoria de los Ang Photo Review: Yahoo for Ermonela Jaho! at Palau de la Musica Tribute to Victoria de los Angeles
by Richard Sasanow - March 13, 2024

It’s hard to compete with a dazzling concert hall like Barcelona’s Palau de la Musica Catalana—designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, one of Antonio Gaudi’s contemporaries in the modernista style. Or, with the famed Catalan (yes, not Spanish) diva Victoria de los Angeles, a Met favorite, whose cente...

Review: SONGBIRD at Kennedy Center Photo Review: SONGBIRD at Kennedy Center
by Roger Catlin - March 12, 2024

There’s an awful lot of death in opera, Timothy O’Leary, the general director of Washington National Opera, lamented on a recent opening night. And those plentiful tragedies are also often further burdened with overbearing scores, turgid storylines, super-large casts and strident if not shrill perfo...

Review: Sierra, Bernheim Soar in the Met's ROMEO ET JULIETTE Photo Review: Sierra, Bernheim Soar in the Met's ROMEO ET JULIETTE
by Richard Sasanow - March 10, 2024

While I’ve admired soprano Nadine Sierra’s before, she seemed to reach a whole new level with her glorious turn as Juliette in the season’s first performance of Gounod’s ROMEO ET JULIETTE at the Met the other night. She was vivid and a delight to watch as she inhabited the teenaged heroine of the pi...

Review: Lively ORFEO in Concert at Barcelona's Liceu Opera from Maestro Rene Jacobs Photo Review: Lively ORFEO in Concert at Barcelona's Liceu Opera from Maestro Rene Jacobs
by Richard Sasanow - March 07, 2024

Composers can’t seem to keep away from the Orpheus story. Why not? It’s a juicy one, drawing on the Greek myth about a man who tries to use the power of music to rescue his beloved wife from Hades....

Review: ROMEO ET JULIETTE at Arizona Opera Photo Review: ROMEO ET JULIETTE at Arizona Opera
by Herbert Paine - March 05, 2024

Arizona Opera's revival of Charles Gounod’s ROMEO ET JULIETTE is, by all measures, a triumph of staging and performance. Following its performances in Phoenix, the production moves to the Temple of Music and Art in Tucson AZ (March 9th and 10th)....

Review: Another BALLO, Another Peculiar Reinvention, at Barcelona's Liceu, under Ricc Photo Review: Another BALLO, Another Peculiar Reinvention, at Barcelona's Liceu, under Riccardo Frizza
by Richard Sasanow - March 04, 2024

UN BALLO IN MASCHERA—A MASKED BALL—certainly makes for a juicy opera, on paper at least. It has a plot filled with passion, jealousy and conspiracies, and a score by Giuseppe Verdi that has some of his most memorable music, including a great duet, plus unforgettable arias for soprano, tenor and bari...

Review: THE NIGHTINGALE AND OTHER FABLES – ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2024 at Adelaide Festiva Photo Review: THE NIGHTINGALE AND OTHER FABLES – ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2024 at Adelaide Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
by Barry Lenny - March 02, 2024

It is as visually rich as it is aurally....

Review: Juilliard's ERISMENA Goes for Truly Baroque with Game Cast under Heijboer Cas Photo Review: Juilliard's ERISMENA Goes for Truly Baroque with Game Cast under Heijboer Castanon
by Richard Sasanow - March 01, 2024

It’s always a joy to see the Juilliard Opera/Juilliard Historical Performance department perform in the intimate realm of the Rosemary and Meredith Willson Theatre, where the audience is up close and personal to the action on stage. Last week’s performances of Francesco Cavalli’s ERISMENA happily fe...

Review: THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, Royal Opera House Photo Review: THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, Royal Opera House
by Michael Higgs - March 01, 2024

Albery’s revival of his Flying Dutchman simply works: with a great cast and a smooth atmosphere created by a dreamlike ship-inspired set, it all builds towards a Gesamtkunstwerk that Wagner might have enjoyed himself. A great success, all around....

Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE, London Coliseum Photo Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE, London Coliseum
by Alexander Cohen - February 29, 2024

It’s odd to watch an opera where the actual opera is an afterthought. At least that’s how it feels watching Simon McBurney’s The Magic Flute. His revival production sizzles with circus spectacle, high tech pageantry, and boundary breaking chutzpah. But underneath it all you’ll be hard pressed to fin...

Review: What's the Destiny of the Met's New FORZA? Close Your Eyes and Listen to the Photo Review: What's the Destiny of the Met's New FORZA? Close Your Eyes and Listen to the Fine Cast
by Richard Sasanow - February 27, 2024

Much was made of the fact that it’s been almost 20 years since Verdi’s LA FORZA DEL DESTINO was last seen at the Met. For its heralded return, they picked a choice cast (starting with Lise Davidsen), a fine conductor (Music Director Yannick Nezet Seguin) and a director (Marius Trelinski) who’s, well...

Review: X: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X at McCaw Hall Photo Review: X: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X at McCaw Hall
by Erica Miner - February 25, 2024

Without doubt a definitive event for Seattle Opera, and worth experiencing in all of its many extraordinary aspects....

Review: THE DUCHESS OF PADUA, The Space Photo Review: THE DUCHESS OF PADUA, The Space
by Michael Higgs - February 22, 2024

Edward Lambert's Duchess of Padua is packed full with stunning music that brings Oscar Wilde's early melodramatic epic of love and revenge to life....

Review: Boston Lyric Opera's THE ANONYMOUS LOVER is a Joyous Delight Photo Review: Boston Lyric Opera's THE ANONYMOUS LOVER is a Joyous Delight
by R. Scott Reedy - February 18, 2024

What did our critic think of THE ANONYMOUS LOVER at Boston Lyric Opera?...

Review: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, English National Opera, London Coliseum Photo Review: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, English National Opera, London Coliseum
by Gary Naylor - February 13, 2024

The longstanding favourite is all very slick but, 37 years on, the production is showing its age...

Review: Renée Fleming Dazzles with VOICE OF NATURE: THE ANTHROPOCENE at Symphony Hall Photo Review: Renée Fleming Dazzles with VOICE OF NATURE: THE ANTHROPOCENE at Symphony Hall
by R. Scott Reedy - February 08, 2024

What did our critic think of VOICE OF NATURE: THE ANTHROPOCENE at Symphony Hall? With her sold-out Celebrity Series of Boston performance this past Sunday at Symphony Hall, Renée Fleming offered a splendid reminder, although none is needed, of why she is widely considered to be the preeminent Americ...

Review: San Diego Opera's Production of Mozart's DON GIOVANNI at San Diego Civic Cent Photo Review: San Diego Opera's Production of Mozart's DON GIOVANNI at San Diego Civic Center Theater
by Ron Bierman - February 06, 2024

San Diego Opera’s most recent production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni is an example of how opera companies hope to attract younger audiences while coping with rising costs and smaller budgets. The pandemic hasn’t been kind to the arts. The National Endowment for the Arts has reported that stage performa...

Review: LISE DAVIDSEN's 'Wesendonck Lieder” Highlights Met Orchestra Concert at Carne Photo Review: LISE DAVIDSEN's 'Wesendonck Lieder” Highlights Met Orchestra Concert at Carnegie under Nezet-Seguin
by Richard Sasanow - February 05, 2024

The foray of the Met Orchestra under Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin into the concert hall the other night—Carnegie Hall to be specific, during its “Fall of the Weimar” series—was in some ways like a three-part meal that mixed the order of the courses. First came an appetizer (running less than ...

Review: CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA at Austin Opera Photo Review: CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA at Austin Opera
by Victoria Schwarz - February 04, 2024

Music by José “Pepe” Martinez, Lyrics by José “Pepe” Martinez and Leonard Foglia, Book by Leonard Foglia, Orchestration by David Hanlon, CRUZAR offers a deeply moving and acutely transparent experience....

Review: Edmonton Opera Re-Imagines DON GIOVANNI Through a Modern Canadian Lens Photo Review: Edmonton Opera Re-Imagines DON GIOVANNI Through a Modern Canadian Lens
by Sarah Dussome - February 02, 2024

Opera’s most notorious ladies’ man has returned to The Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. This time, Don Giovanni prowls the streets of 21st century Canada, flaunting red carpet-worthy attire and spamming women with flirty texts.  ...

Review: THE HANDMAID'S TALE, English National Opera, London Coliseum Photo Review: THE HANDMAID'S TALE, English National Opera, London Coliseum
by Gary Naylor - February 02, 2024

Paul Ruder's opera, based on Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel, has, frighteningly, gained more relevance since its premiere in 2000...

Review: Audra McDonald in Concert with The National Symphony Orchestra at Kennedy Cen Photo Review: Audra McDonald in Concert with The National Symphony Orchestra at Kennedy Center Concert Hall
by Mary Lincer - January 31, 2024

Audra McDonald has (at least) four voices--Broadway, jazz, opera, blues--not to mention six Tonys. She brought them all (the voices, not the awards) to her two hour concert with the National Symphony Pops which repeats Wednesday evening, January 31. ...

Review: AMERICAN OPERA INITIATIVE: Three 20-Minute Operas at Kennedy Center Photo Review: AMERICAN OPERA INITIATIVE: Three 20-Minute Operas at Kennedy Center
by Roger Catlin - January 23, 2024

What did our critic think of AMERICAN OPERA INITIATIVE: THREE 20-MINUTE OPERAS at Kennedy Center?...

Review: Kouyoumdjian-Vavrek ADORATION Is a Cautionary Tale at Prototype Photo Review: Kouyoumdjian-Vavrek ADORATION Is a Cautionary Tale at Prototype
by Richard Sasanow - January 22, 2024

Another year has come to an end for the Prototype Festival of new opera theatre-music theatre, under the banner of Beth Morrison Projects and HERE. For those of us who couldn’t make it to all the shows on display at various venues around town, it’s always something of a crapshoot: Which ones do you ...



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Matthias Goerne / Evgeny Kissin in Opera Matthias Goerne / Evgeny Kissin
Carnegie Hall (4/25 - 4/25)
Ema Nikolovska / Howard Watkins in Opera Ema Nikolovska / Howard Watkins
Carnegie Hall (3/28 - 3/28)
Regula Mühlemann / Tatiana Korsunskaya in Opera Regula Mühlemann / Tatiana Korsunskaya
Carnegie Hall (5/8 - 5/8)
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