Must the winter come so soon?
Less than two weeks remain to submit to this fall’s The Talk of the Town!
Sue me!
Two experiments in opera — Opera Philadelphia‘s Complications in Sue and Heartbeat Opera‘s MANON! — receive worthy recordings.
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
Thea Musgrave’s Mary, Queen of Scots could learn to lighten up.
A favorite mezzo performance from Mr. Portafiori
One mezzo I have always enjoyed was Elena Obraztsova.
Broadcasts / Live Chat
I Puritani
Riccardo Frizza conducts Lisette Oropesa and Francesco Demuro in a performance recorded in July in London
Streaming and discussion start Oct 10 at 1:00 PM
Comment
A Florentine Tragedy & Bluebeard’s Castle
A video broadcast of a double bill of Zemlinsky and Bartók live from Vienna starring Asmik Grigorian, Dmitry Golovnin, Christopher Maltman, and Florian Boesch
Streaming and discussion start Oct 10 at 1:00 PM
Comment
La fille du régiment
Sara Blanch and Juan Diego Flórez lead a performance recorded in London in July
Streaming and discussion start Oct 17 at 1:00 PM
Comment
Lincoln in the Bardo
The world premiere of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek's new opera, live from New York
Streaming and discussion start Oct 19 at 7:55 PM
Comment
Four Last Songs
Christian Thielemann conducts Diana Damrau and the Staatskapelle Berlin in Vier letzte Lieder and Eine Alpensinfonie in a live broadcast from Berlin
Streaming and discussion start Oct 20 at 1:00 PM
Comment
Recent Stories
Broadcast
A Florentine Tragedy & Bluebeard’s Castle / Wiener Staatsoper
A double bill of Zemlinsky and Bartók live from Vienna starring Asmik Grigorian, Dmitry Golovnin, Christopher Maltman, and Florian Boesch
Streamed October 3, 2026 at 1:30 PM
5 comments
Broadcast
Il trovatore / Teatro Real
Nicola Luisotti conducts Celso Albelo, Saioa Hernández, Artur Ruciński, and Ksenia Dudnikova in a performance recorded in Madrid in July
Streamed October 3, 2026 at 12:00 PM
1 comment
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Broadcast
Le Grand Macabre / Helsinki Festival
Nicholas Collon conducts Sarah Aristidou, Leigh Melrose, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, and Heidi Melton in a performance recorded in August at the Helsinki Festival
Streamed October 3, 2026 at 11:00 AM
2 comments
A favorite mezzo performance from SopranoCentral
I’ve been an Elena Obraztsova superfan since I was 16.
By SopranoCentral
63 comments
Wedding crashers
Louise Alder enchants in the comically-inclined revival of Claus Guth’s production of Semele at the Bayerische Staatsoper.
A favorite mezzo performance from dessaix79
Brigitte Fassbaender tears through the role like no other.
By dessaix79
75 comments
In Gleiß und Zeir
Iwona Sobotka, a favorite of Riccardo Muti, is this week’s featured Grand Tier Grab Bag artist
A favorite mezzo performance from DC K
Most stunning mezzo performance in the premiere of an opera at the Met.
By DC K
94 comments
Broadcast
Così fan tutte / Metropolitan Opera
Federica Lombardi, Samantha Hankey, Ana María Martínez, Duke Kim, Andrey Zhilikhovsky, and Gerald Finley star in a live broadcast from New York
Streamed September 30, 2026 at 7:25 PM
79 comments
Man of the masses
Amartuvshin Enkhbat is superb in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in San Francisco — even if the drama offstage is more persuasive than this new production.
Aria law
Richard Lynn muses on whether the Met can make good on its exciting new promise of “Opera For All” while the goals of its $1.5 billion fundraising campaign remain murky.
Urbane pastoral
Tenet Vocal Artists‘s first-ever opera production, of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, soars to Platonic ideals.
Broadcast
The Little Prince / Dallas Opera
Rachel Portman new opera inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s book in a performance recorded last fall in Dallas.
Streamed September 28, 2026 at 7:00 PM
1 comment
Broadcast
Wozzeck / Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Thomas Guggeis conducts Wolfgang Koch and Anja Kampe in a live broadcast from Florence
Streamed September 28, 2026 at 2:00 PM
2 comments
Così Island
The Metropolitan Opera gets its freak on — or about as close as it can — in a revival of its Coney Island-set production of Così fan tutte.
Joy comes in the morning
Yannick Nézet-Séguin opens Philadelphia’s symphonic season in typically sunny style with programs feautring Beethoven, Brahms, and Bernstein.
Broadcast
Verdi Requiem / Rotterdam Philharmonic
Lahav Shani conducts Aleksandra Kurzak, Annalisa Stroppa, Dmytro Popov, and Georg Zeppenfeld in a live broadcast from Rotterdam
Streamed September 28, 2026 at 8:15 AM
4 comments
Next season I’m excited for a spring bouquet of Handel operas
Last September I was most excited by Handel oratorios being performed during the 2025-26 season. This time I’m really looking forward to three of the composer’s operas arriving within a few weeks of each other in Spring 2027.
Bard from entry
Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo by Haymarket Opera and The Newberry Consort takes its audience to heaven while its title character goes to hell.
Broadcast
Sasha Cooke / Park Avenue Armory
Sasha Cooke performs an eclectic mix of songs by American, German, and Russian composers in a recital with Myra Huang recorded last fall at the Park Avenue Armory
Streamed September 26, 2026 at 8:00 PM
1 comment
Broadcast
Simon Boccanegra / Bayerische Staatsoper
George Petean, Eleonora Buratto, Freddie De Tommaso, and Alexander Vinogradov star in a performance recorded last April in Munich
Streamed September 26, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Comment
Broadcast
Pagliacci & Cavalleria rusticana / De Nederlandse Opera
Corinne Winters, Riccardo Massi, SeokJong Baek, Raehann Bryce-Davis, and Roman Burdenko lead a performance recorded earlier this month in Amsterdam.
Streamed September 26, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Comment
Broadcast
L’incoronazione di Poppea / Drottningholm Slottsteater
Francesco Corti conducts Giulia Semenzato, Arianna Vendittelli, Roberta Mameli, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Trevor Eliot Bowes, and Lucile Richardot in a performance recorded in at the Drottningholm Court Theater in Stockholm
Streamed September 26, 2026 at 12:00 PM
1 comment