Max Keller

(Saskia) Max(well) Keller writes about classical music and queerness. Their work has appeared in Out, Out Traveler, the Provincetown Independent, Provincetown Arts, and Early Music America. Currently New York City-based, they write the substack Poison Put to Sound.

Nosedive Nosedive

It’s not so much that I hated the Met Opera’s Grounded. I’m just not convinced that it should have been an opera.

on October 09, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Love wins Love wins

Opera has always been Orpheus-obsessed.

on May 24, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Baby crazy Baby crazy

Heartbeat Opera’s The Extinctionist — composed by Dan Schlosberg with a libretto by Amanda Quaid — is the first opera, as far as I know, to stage a pap smear.

on April 10, 2024 at 10:00 AM
Divine mother Divine mother

What does it mean to be a “gender transcendent diva?”

on March 01, 2024 at 10:00 AM
Ceaseless mugging Ceaseless mugging

The phrase “immersive Coffee Cantata experience” evokes being dipped into a giant, boiling vat of java.

on February 21, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Park and “Bark” Park and “Bark”

Taylor Mac isn’t known for being short-winded.

on February 14, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Critical mass Critical mass

Light streamed through the stained-glass windows of the Space at Irondale, once a church, during the Saturday matinée of Heather Christian’s Terce as part of the Prototype Festival.

on January 23, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Venite adoremus Venite adoremus

The beginning of Mary Kouyoumdjian’s Adoration is marked by silence. The young Simon, played by Sammy Ivany, lies on his stomach, scribbling in a notebook.

on January 18, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Match point Match point

A frigid air swept through the crypt of the Church of the Intercession on Friday, December 8, nearly blowing out the candles that cast a golden light on the bundled-up audience.

on December 13, 2023 at 9:00 AM
Prick and choose Prick and choose

Heartbeat Opera knows how to party.

on November 16, 2023 at 9:00 AM
X rated X rated

Let’s not forget that it’s only been two years since the Met mounted its first-ever opera by a Black composer.

on November 09, 2023 at 10:00 AM
Cloak and dagger Cloak and dagger

The opera took place on an actual boat: the Lightship Ambrose in the South Street Seaport.

on May 25, 2023 at 8:00 AM
Kintsugi for Sugihara Kintsugi for Sugihara

“A Concert for Sugihara”—presented at Carnegie Hall by New York City Opera and The American Society for Yad Vashem on Wednesday, April 19—marked 80 years since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

on April 27, 2023 at 1:27 PM
The ephemeral feminine The ephemeral feminine

It’s debated whether Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène, clocking in at only about 30 minutes, can be considered a cantata, a one-act opera, or a “lyric episode.”

on March 29, 2023 at 10:16 AM
Happy, happy solo woman Happy, happy solo woman

There’s nothing unusual about casting a woman in Solomon‘s titular role.

on March 15, 2023 at 8:00 AM
Overachiever Overachiever

The program for Jasmine Rice LaBeijas concert as part of Works & Process at the Guggenheim on Wednesday, March 8 read a bit like a curriculum vitae.

on March 13, 2023 at 4:30 PM
Special ghost star Special ghost star

Ghost sex is part of the popular zeitgeist.

on February 12, 2023 at 8:00 AM