Lionel Arnould

The Metropolitan Opera will present Richard Wagner's four-part masterwork Der Ring des Nibelungen in performances March 9-May 11, 2019.  This season's performances are the first time the Met has presented the inventive Robert Lepage staging in six seasons and are the only complete Ring cycles to be presented in North America in 2019. Marshaling the vast forces on stage and in the pit is the incoming music director of the Vienna State Opera, Philippe Jordan, who has conducted acclaimed Ring cycles in Paris and Zurich.

This spring, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) presents Robert Lepage's internationally acclaimed play, Needles and Opium, running now through April 23, 2017. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the stars onstage below, plus click here for highlights!

Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin (“Love From Afar”), one of the most highly praised operas of recent years, airs on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, April 2 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the opera at 12:30 p.m.)

As there are two more performances, I won't spoil the myriad of illusions that Lepage and his team include in the production, but suffice it to say that - production-wise, this show is unlike any other I've seen come through this illustrious arts center in years.

Susanna Phillips stars as Clémence, the Countess of Tripoli, opposite Eric Owens as Jaufré Rudel, a troubadour on a quest to find his perfect love, and Tamara Mumford as the Pilgrim who carries messages back and forth between them.  

This spring, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) will present Robert Lepage's internationally acclaimed play, Needles and Opium (March 30-April 23, 2017).

On paper, it might seem that Kaija Saariaho's L'AMOUR DE LOIN (LOVE FROM AFAR), libretto by Amin Maalouf, couldn't possibly fill a stage the size of the Met's: three characters and a chorus that bobs in and out of the action. Yet, in action, this breathtaking, shimmering piece not only seems at home--particularly in the able hands of soprano Susanna Phillips and the Met orchestra under the  Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki in Robert Lepage's production--but it's hard to imagine hearing it any other way.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2016-17 season, the 50th anniversary of its home at Lincoln Center, will feature 225 opera performances of 26 operas in a varied repertory that ranges from 18th century masterpieces to one of the most acclaimed operas in recent years. Repertoire for the company's 132nd season will include the Met premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's 2000 opera L'Amour de Loin, as well as new stagings of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Rossini's Guillaume Tell, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Dvo?ak's Rusalka, and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. A gala concert on May 7, 2017 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company's Lincoln Center location with performances by opera's leading stars honoring the Met's past and future. Ticket prices will not increase, remaining the same as in the current season, and audience development programs instituted by the company in recent years will continue.  

Canadian Stage presents an encore run of Needles and Opium by celebrated Canadian writer/director Robert Lepage. The magical mind-bending performance returns after impressing critics and audiences for a series of sold-out shows in Canadian Stage's 13.14 season, which also marked the production's English language premiere. Marc Labreche and Wellesley Robertson III reprise their roles for an exclusive 10 show run at the Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front St. E) from today, May 1 to 10.

Canadian Stage presents an encore run of Needles and Opium by celebrated Canadian writer/director Robert Lepage. The magical mind-bending performance returns after impressing critics and audiences for a series of sold-out shows in Canadian Stage's 13.14 season, which also marked the production's English language premiere. Marc Labreche and Wellesley Robertson III reprise their roles for an exclusive 10 show run at the Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front St. E) from May 1 to 10.

The Adelaide Festival had many excellent productions to offer but, for me, this was the stand out performance for this year.

Katarina Dalayman is one of a handful of top Wagnerian sopranos in the world, but for the first act of the Met's GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG, the climax of the Met's second 'Ring' cycle of the season, she didn't seem very heroic. Neither, for that matter, did tenor Jay Hunter Morris, who caused quite a stir when he jumped into GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG's premiere season a year ago. Who knows what was wrong? In any case, they recovered vocally for Act 2 and excitingly sailed through the rest of the mammoth, exhausting work.

The Metropolitan Opera will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner's birth with three complete performances of his epic four-opera masterwork, Der Ring des Nibelungen. The Ring cycles will begin April 6 at 1 p.m. with Das Rheingold and continue through the last day of the Met season, May 11, with an 11 a.m. matinee of Gotterdammerung.

A new production of Gotterdammerung, the final opera in Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, will open January 27 in a performance led by Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi and directed by Robert Lepage.

A new production of Gotterdammerung, the final opera in Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, will open January 27 in a performance led by Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi and directed by Robert Lepage.