Yannick Nezet-Seguin

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 piece. Perhaps it was her stage partner, French tenor Benjamin Bernheim, who egged her on to such heights, with his nuanced singing and boyish demeanor.

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 (Mariusz Trelinski) who’s, well,… Two out of three ain’t bad, considering the cast. So we might as well start there.

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 10 minutes) in the form of Bach’s “Fuga [Ricercata] a 6 voci” from Musical Offering, BWV 1079, a late work by the composer (1747) rethought by Anton Webern in the 20th century. Then there was dessert in the form of Wagner’s “Wesendonck Lieder,” gloriously sung by soprano Lise Davidsen to thunderous applause. Finally, there was the main course: Mahler’s 5th Symphony, which was greeted rapturously by concertgoers.  

Hélène Grimaud: 'Between The Notes' premieres at AMC Empire 25 Times Square on December 5th.

Just as the Met’s debut of Mexican composer Daniel Catan’s FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS (FLORENCE IN THE AMAZON) began the other day, a member of the audience yelled out “Viva la ópera en español!” (“Long live opera in Spanish!”). And that was before a single note of the composer’s lyric, highly accessible and heavy-on-the-Puccini score was played.

It’s rather surprising, really, for the audience to embrace a contemporary piece like DEAD MAN WALKING, no matter how easily it falls upon the ears, considering the subject matter. In this Ivo van Hove production, it starts with a rape and double murder in a rather graphic piece of film, the use of video being one of van Hove’s trademarks. It ends with a death by lethal injection, also graphically shown in live video.

The Oratorio Society of New York, led by Music Director Kent Tritle, will kick off its its 150th Anniversary and 2023-2024 season on Monday, November 6, 2023 at 7:00pm with Bach's Magnificat and Mozart's Requiem.

This August, Lincoln Center presents two of classical music's most dynamic young figures in the Wu Tsai Theater at the newly reimagined David Geffen Hall. As part of its Summer for the City series featuring the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Lincoln Center first presents the debut of acclaimed conductor Gemma New – hailed for her “impassioned, richly detailed” style (Opera News) – in concerts highlighting Mozart's “Prague Symphony” on August 1 and 2, 2023 at 7:30PM.

Acclaimed violin virtuoso Randall Goosby is set to solo in the New Jersey Symphony's upcoming performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, June 1—4, led by Music Director Xian Zhang. The program also features the world premiere of Chen Yi's Landscape Impression and Stravinsky's Suite from Pulcinella.

In search of new audiences, the Met has followed Terence Blanchard’s FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES with the jazz musician/composer’s first opera, CHAMPION, the story of closeted boxer Emile Griffith’s rise and fall from grace. Honestly, never have I heard people whose usual venues are Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium and Monday Night Football on ESPN talk about how they “wanted to see the new opera at the Met.”

Philadelphia Theatre Company will produce Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, written by Lanie Robertson with musical arrangements by Danny Holgate. See performance dates and learn how to purchase tickets!

Audiences are invited to step back in time to a seedy Philadelphia bar in 1959 for the final performance of jazz icon Billie Holiday. Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC) is proud to produce Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, written by Lanie Robertson with musical arrangements by Danny Holgate.

Go inside rehearsals of Lady Day at Philadelphia Theater Company with all new video. Lady Day is written by Lanie Robertson, with musical arrangements by Danny Holgate, and direction by Jeffrey L. Page.

The Met’s new production of Richard Wagner’s LOHENGRIN showcases startlingly good singing from tenor Piotr Beczala in the title role, supported ably and nobly by soprano Tamara Wilson’s Elsa, bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin’s Telramund and bass Gunther Groissbock’s King Heinrich. And soprano Christine Goerke’s evil Ortrud nearly steals the show. With the Met’s orchestra and chorus in glorious form, led by music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin in the pit, the performance made you want to scream and yell for more.

Friday night, the Metropolitan Opera gave its second concert honoring “Ukraine and its brave citizens as they fight to defend their country and cultural heritage.” The country’s colors flew above the performance, which opened with a pretaped video message from First Lady, Olena Zelenska, along with the Ukraine national anthem. She remarked that the concert wasn’t really marking the one-year anniversary of the horrendous, illegal conflict (although, indeed, it did), but a time closer to peace for its citizenry.

The GRAMMY Award–winning Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin have announced a musical journey of discovery, beauty, and inspiration: the 2023–24 season.

​​​​​​​ Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin joins musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra in a Chamber Concert at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, home of the Mütter Museum and Historical Medical Library.

The Met gave birth to a fascinating new opera on Tuesday and it wasn’t a moment too soon to unleash composer Kevin Puts’s THE HOURS on an audience that sometimes seems doomed to die inundated by too many AIDAs, BOHEMEs and CARMENs. The world premiere production of THE HOURS by Puts and Greg Pierce was directed by Phelim McDermott. The cast was a starry one, led by soprano Renee Fleming, soprano Kelli O’Hara and mezzo Joyce DiDonato.

On Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 7pm, composer and instrumentalist Ben Neill will present his immersive electronic opera Fantini Futuro at Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, located at 261 Mott Street in New York. This one night only performance also acts as the premiere of the opera's full presentation, as well as a benefit for restoring the church's historic organs.

On Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 7pm, composer and instrumentalist Ben Neill presents his immersive electronic opera Fantini Futuro at Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, located at 261 Mott Street in New York.