Review: Strauss’s ARABELLA Has the Music and the Singers"and Old Vienna"at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - Nov 12, 2025
For all those operagoers tired of classics set in rodeos, Las Vegas or on a space station (Paris has a BOHEME of that ilk), Otto Schenk’s production for ARABELLA, with stage design by Gunther Schneider Siemssen, dating back to 1983, will be a relief. It features a return to “old Vienna,” including an Act II ballroom scene that’s as welcoming as a sacher torte.
ARABELLA Opens at the Metropolitan Opera In November
by A.A. Cristi - Oct 23, 2025
The Metropolitan Opera will open a revival of Richard Strauss’s Arabella on November 10, 2025, marking soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen’s role debut in the title part and Tomasz Konieczny’s Met role debut as Mandryka.
Review: MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 1 at Benaroya Hall
by Erica Miner - Nov 17, 2024
Both monumental works were perfectly matched in their brashness and sensitivity, helmed and rendered with great panache by two outstanding young artists: a program to delight all tastes
Review: October 16 Season Premiere of PETER GRIMES at The Met
by George Weinhouse - Oct 19, 2022
One of the momentous events of the first season at the new Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center (and there were many) was the new production of Benjamin Britten's PETER GRIMES in 1967. Although it had its Met premiere in 1948 at the old house, it was the Tyrone Guthrie production that cemented its place in the Met repertory. Starring Jon Vickers as its protagonist, it served to introduce his portrayal to a generation relatively new to the opera. For approximately the next twenty years Vickers would play Grimes at most revivals. Since then, there have been others who have played the role-Philip Langridge, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, and Anthony Dean Griffey-and left their mark on this almost mythical role.
BWW Review: New HAMLET Makes Its Mark at the Met with Stellar Cast, Impressive Production
by Richard Sasanow - May 30, 2022
Is there another Shakespearean drama filled with as many quotable quotes as “Hamlet” (even when they’re used out of context and given a foreign meaning)? But “To be or not to be” is surely the most referenced and, certainly, in the new operatic HAMLET currently at the Met by Brett Dean and Matthew Jocelyn, in Neil Armfield’s thoughtful, urgent production, it's given the best showcase. Indeed, it helps shed a different light on the hero of the story.
The Metropolitan Opera Announces 2022"23 Season, Featuring Renée Fleming, Kelli O'Hara & More
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Feb 23, 2022
The Metropolitan Opera today announced its 2022–23 season, which features seven new productions, the most in ten seasons. Opening Night is September 27 with the company premiere of Cherubini’s Medea, starring soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role alongside tenor Matthew Polenzani in David McVicar’s new staging, conducted by Carlo Rizzi.