The Latest

Don Giovanni Don Giovanni

A live broadcast from the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence

Change my mind about booing singers Change my mind about booing singers

I don’t understand the booing of singers, whether it’s booing bad characters, or booing singers who don’t live up to the booer’s expectations.

Change my mind about performing operetta in English Change my mind about performing operetta in English

I so don’t get why any company in the Anglophone world ever bothers to perform Continental operetta in English.

There’s a parade in town There’s a parade in town

Les Brigands at the Paris Opera is an expensive joke that never lands

Now and at the hour of our death Now and at the hour of our death

This evening of Julius Eastman at Lincoln Center was so good it hurt

Take it or Liv it Take it or Liv it

The opening of the Santa Fe Opera’s season is the perfect occasion to highlight its Susanna, American soprano Liv Redpath

Changing habits Changing habits

A new production of Dialogues des Carmélites featuring Anna Caterina Antonacci proves that it’s hard to be an iconoclast in Venice.

Change my mind about Joyce DiDonato Change my mind about Joyce DiDonato

When I first encountered Joyce DiDonato in the early 2000s, I found her to be the case of an extraordinary technique and intelligent artistry supporting a rather ordinary voice.

Faust Faust

A performance recorded this spring in London

Der Rosenkavalier Der Rosenkavalier

A performance recorded last month and reviewed here featuring Véronique Gens, Niamh O’Sullivan, Regula Mühlemann, and Peter Rose

Change my mind about what makes a legendary artist Change my mind about what makes a legendary artist

My contention here is more general than just a critique of an opera, a composer, or a singer. I argue that one cannot be a truly legendary artist unless one sings NEW MUSIC.

Talk it out Talk it out

Mere days remain to make your voice heard for this summer’s The Talk of the Town!

Votre liberté ne sera pas ravie! Votre liberté ne sera pas ravie!

What better a way to honor Independence Day than with a bit of French-American partnering?

Sing out strong Sing out strong

Pride weekend events at San Francisco Opera and Festival Opera are fabulous starts to the Bay Area summer

Pride before the fall Pride before the fall

Opera Parallèle’s Harvey Milk Reimagined offers a fragmented portrait lacking the depth or coherence needed to honor Milk’s legacy

Change my mind about <em>Parsifal</em> Change my mind about <em>Parsifal</em>

Parsifal just gives me the creeps – a muddy maundery concoction that wallows in faux religiosity, a creepy view of sin, and naïve redemption.

An old-fashioned girl An old-fashioned girl

Perhaps it was the heatwave or the contentment of just having been able to hear her live again, but I went a bit overboard for this week’s Chris’s Cache in assembling an extravagant bouquet of Emőke Baráth, a favorite baroque diva.