My grandfather warned me once: “Beware redheaded women. They’re both good and evil, depending on the second.” On Patricia Petibon’s new album Rosso the soprano combines arrestingly beautiful singing and aggressively amorous characterizations with wildly dramatic artistic choices so easily and effectively, that she in a way lends an air of truth to the old…

Juan Diego Flórez is without question a superstar of bel canto repertory, but the recent release of the recording of his role debut as Orphée in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice at the Teatro Real in Madrid raises some interesting questions. Among these questions, first and foremost is the nature of Orpheus, and whether Flórez has…

Maybe it’s just me, but every time I listen to well done French baroque music, my imagination flies to the opulent halls of Versailles.  I fantasize about being amongst Louis XIV and his cohorts drunk on wine, good food, and better music, enjoying the life of a bon vivant.  Few recordings have created this vivid…

When attending a production by one of the myriad small, independent opera Companies in New York, it’s always a bit of a crapshoot. When I go to one of these things, I try and play by an old Irish saying: “If you’re expecting a kick in the balls, a slap in the face is a…

To be, or not to be?  This is the question.  But for the producers of opera on DVD, the question is really, to be an opera or to be a film.  The producers of the 1991 DVD of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito as produced by Glyndebourne that same year seemed to have been sitting…

Adapting a novel, especially a well known novel like Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron, can be a herculean task. The two conflicting, almost mutually exclusive, forces at work are the desire to create a great work for the stage, while at the same time remaining true to all the nuanced characterizations and storylines present in…

Last night, Manhattan School of Music presented a charming, funny and partially polished Le Nozze di Figaro that showcased the ability of the school’s opera program to take a pleasing singer and create a great performer, making for a wonderfully entertaining performance.

I have to admit, I am not one often seen on the Great White Way; musicals aren’t usually my cup of tea. So as I was charged with reviewing a new musical, Whida Peru: Resurrection Tangle last night at 59E59 Theaters, I decided to call in reinforcements. I brought an amazingly talented and breathtakingly beautiful…

We all know and love Fauré, but how many of us can say we’ve seen his opera Pénélope live and in person? As of last night, I number myself among the few.