Patrick Clement James
Patrick Clement James is a writer and teacher based in New York City. His love of opera began in high school, leading to studies in vocal performance at the Manhattan School of Music. He currently studies English literature as a Ph.D. student at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and he teaches at Brooklyn College. As a writer, he is particularly interested in the ways that opera participates in the larger contexts of history and culture.
Blood-and-guts singing is the reason to see Nabucco at the Metropolitan Opera this season.
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
I can think of no other role that provides the most unique promise of humiliation, and consequently the most opportunity for glory.
Much like Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, which launched the Met’s 2016-2017 season, Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin is an opera about love and death.
Jonathan Dove’s Flight is an opera that makes excellent use of setting.
Anna Netrebko‘s Manon was deeply unforgettable for its wide scope, control, and incredible virtuosity.
The 2016 Richard Tucker Award recipient is Tamara Wilson.
The centerpiece of Janácek’s Jenufa was the performance of Karita Mattila as the murderous Kostelnicka.
>The Crypt Sessions, in collaboration with On Site Opera, presented the world premiere of Gregg Kallor’s The Tell-Tale Heart
Thoughtless direction stifled the epic drama.
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s production of L’Italiana in Algeri for the Met remains steadfastly ignorant of postcolonial theory.
Mariusz Trelinski unveiled a rather gloomy, though musically satisfying, Tristan und Isolde.
Ambivalent is how I feel about Cosí fan tutte.
dell’ arte Opera Ensemble continued its exploration of love and money by mounting Massenet’s Manon
On Saturday night, dell’ arte Opera Ensemble presented a lean performance of La Traviata.
Florence Foster Jenkins, a new film directed by Stephen Frears, celebrates a true amateur.
While composed within a European style, La Fanciulla del West is an opera that manages to present a distinctly American experience.
According to my taste, Die Fledermaus is an intoxicating opera
Call me old fashioned, but when I go to the opera, I go to hear beautiful singing.
The opera Patience and Sarah is a fantastic example of radical creativity.
Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas at NYCO charts the emotional trajectory of seven characters aboard a ship called the El Dorado.
I have always wanted to see a production of Strauss’ Elektra that made my ears bleed.
Opera Upper West recently tweeted an unfortunate picture of me.
Have you ever had the unfortunate experience of listening to someone tell a joke badly?
Regina Opera almost completely fulfilled its mission Saturday afternoon with their production of Manon Lescaut.
