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.


A free soul A free soul

To be honest, I have never seen anything quite like Matthias Goerne in recital. He seemed so wonderfully free.

on April 22, 2016 at 12:37 PM
The good, the bad and the Haydn The good, the bad and the Haydn

In a striking program at Carnegie Hall last night, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s), with guest vocalist Susan Graham, brought together a wide array of musical proclivities—good and good bad taste alike.

on April 08, 2016 at 12:28 PM
Birdsong Birdsong

In Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, an opera based on the famed jazz musician’s life, the title character asks, “So if there is a God, why does the negro suffer? Is my prayer, my music lesser, smaller in God’s eyes?”

on April 02, 2016 at 2:00 PM
If looks could kill If looks could kill

What is an Orphic moment? A song so sweet that even Hades must release the dead back to the living?

on March 25, 2016 at 1:10 PM
Very old things for very new needs Very old things for very new needs

With recent events in politics, it is becoming ever clearer that humankind hasn’t evolved much since the Enlightenment.

on March 25, 2016 at 9:00 AM
All about the voice All about the voice

Tenor Paul Appleby’s onstage persona is as American as apple crisp, and he possesses the untroubled confidence of a politician.

on March 18, 2016 at 9:00 AM
Women past the verge Women past the verge

An astute double-feature exposes all the complexities of female suffering embedded within two canonical works.

on March 14, 2016 at 9:30 AM
Tears of blood Tears of blood

After two previous productions of Tosca in New York City this season (the Met’s revival of the controversial Luc Bondy version and NYCO Renaissance’s depressingly retrograde take), New Yorkers finally got a pleasing, if rough-edged, performance of the Puccini classic from LoftOpera.

on March 11, 2016 at 5:00 PM
Our Lady of Perpetual Indulgence Our Lady of Perpetual Indulgence

If I were Renée Fleming, I, too, would indulge myself.

on March 11, 2016 at 9:00 AM
Glitter, glitter on the wall Glitter, glitter on the wall

A vibrant burlesque, this adult iteration of the classic fairytale manages to arch its back against the past while crawling toward the future.

on February 04, 2016 at 12:17 PM
“Tosca” at the Séance “Tosca” at the Séance

New York City Opera has officially launched its “renaissance” at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater last night with a production of Puccini’s Tosca that should please a lot of older, conservative audiences, if not the adventurous operagoers that City Opera courted in the past.

on January 21, 2016 at 12:53 PM
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