The beautiful rooms are empty The beautiful rooms are empty

It appears that Mariame Clément’s conception of Don Pasquale is that the opera should be retitled Malatesta.

on May 16, 2014 at 8:00 AM
Fatal attraction Fatal attraction

Benjamin Britten’s final opera Death in Venice, based on Thomas Mann’s 1912 novella, is given a lush and quite beautiful production from stage director Deborah Warner for the English National Opera.

on May 14, 2014 at 10:07 AM
A tsar is torn A tsar is torn

In Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, all the Russian people starve and suffer, but none has suffering like the mental agonies of Tsar Boris.

on May 04, 2014 at 9:00 AM
Heartbreak fridge Heartbreak fridge

Before there was Verdi’s Otello, Rossini’s Otello was considered the master operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy.

on May 04, 2014 at 8:30 AM
Porgy on the bay Porgy on the bay

A new DVD of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess features an enjoyable live performance from the San Francisco Opera from June of 2009.

on April 29, 2014 at 2:22 PM
Red queen Red queen

Joyce DiDonato is taking her Mary Stuart on the road, so to speak.

on April 28, 2014 at 8:00 AM
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby! Take another little piece of my heart now, baby!

George Benjamin’s 2012 opera Written on Skin received great acclaim at its opening at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and the Royal Opera quickly mounted it in March 2013.

on April 25, 2014 at 8:30 AM
Count me in Count me in

The legions of New York opera buffs who now can’t talk about anything but Javier Camarena will be happy to know that there’s now a DVD release of their new favorite tenor in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory available.

on April 25, 2014 at 8:15 AM
On the beach On the beach

The sea, the sky, the wind, the storms that are so frequently depicted in the music of Benjamin Britten are brilliantly illuminated in the new DVD of Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach, a collaboration between Aldeburgh Music, film director Margaret Williams, and stage director Tim Albery.

on April 12, 2014 at 11:46 PM
Submerged Submerged

As part of the celebration of the three-year long restoration of the Theatre Royal de Liege (and, from what we can see in this DVD it is a glorious restoration indeed), the Opera Royal de Wallonie went all the way to find as Belgian an operatic experience as was possible.

on April 03, 2014 at 10:42 AM
The cup runneth over The cup runneth over

I am grateful to Sony for this new release of the Metropolitan Opera’s latest production of Parsifal and I hope I’m not the only one who discovers what a rich experience this opera can be because of it.

on March 05, 2014 at 1:54 AM
Dwarf star Dwarf star

Verdi’s Macbeth poses a challenge to any company with the audacity to mount it.

on February 10, 2014 at 12:33 AM
Lake, placid Lake, placid

Having recently reviewed Glass’s The Perfect American on this site and participated in spirited discussions about the film Saving Mr. Banks, it is perhaps not surprising that Walt Disney should spring to my mind as I watched the Unitel Classica video of Die Zauberflote from the floating stage of the Bregenzer Festspiele.

on January 21, 2014 at 10:00 AM
Castanets of thousands Castanets of thousands

Outdoor arena opera always seems faintly ridiculous.

on January 13, 2014 at 10:08 PM
When owls attack When owls attack

Philip Glass’s 25th opera The Perfect American was originally commissioned for New York City Opera during the aborted regime of Gerard Mortier.

on January 06, 2014 at 11:41 AM
Game theory Game theory

I first became aware of the work of Austrian film director Michael Haneke a few years back when I followed a tip from a friend and rented the well-reviewed The White Ribbon.

on January 01, 2014 at 3:51 PM
Glyph you hadn’t, but you did Glyph you hadn’t, but you did

f you like opera to look like a museum, the Arena di Verona’s latest video of Aida should jump to the top of your wish list.

on December 30, 2013 at 7:52 AM
Bowled over Bowled over

I never thought I’d see the day when Giuseppe Verdi and Benjamin Britten would battle it out for musical superiority but that’s exactly what happened in Los Angeles this year.

on December 30, 2013 at 7:38 AM
Pick your poison Pick your poison

I think we’re all aware by now of the wicked libel that the French dramatist Victor Hugo concocted about the fair Lucrezia Borgia with his depiction of her as a murderous virago.

on December 01, 2013 at 12:05 AM
Appearing nightly Appearing nightly

I suspect most New York City opera-lovers had long since given up hope that the fascinating soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci would ever return to their city.

on November 15, 2013 at 1:32 PM
Semi: Colon Semi: Colon

The abrupt withdrawal of Katharina Wagner from an abridged seven-hour Ring cycle she was to direct at the Teatro Colon last year prompted no shortage of scorn and Schadenfreude.

on November 05, 2013 at 5:15 PM
Show business Show business

Now that many of us are leaping to the altar unfettered by those pesky legalities of yore the problem of what to put on the bridal (or groomal) registry has become an atrocious head scratcher.  So many of us have had housekeeping set up for so long now that we really don’t want for anything.…

on October 27, 2013 at 6:39 PM
Bo, concept Bo, concept

The surprises, and puzzles, of Dmitri Tcherniakov‘s production of Don Giovanni in this DVD of a performance at the Aix-en-Provence festival begin before a note has been played or the curtain has risen.

on October 14, 2013 at 11:13 PM
Hell night Hell night

I got quite a surprise when I opened the latest packet of goodies from La Cieca – a DVD of Orphée aux Enfers, but in German as Orpheus in der Unterwelt.

on October 14, 2013 at 10:43 PM
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