Reviews
The Monkey King at San Francisco Opera combines spectacle and sentiment.
As Messiah season begins, Christopher Corwin reports on two of Handel’s forays into the Old Testament.
STEMdiva status
Ahead of a special boozy, bawdy Valentine’s Day concert, artistic director of Opera Lafayette Patrick Quigley speaks with soprano Maya Kherani about her journey from MIT to rising American Baroque star.
Washington National Opera presented a well-sung and humorous Marriage of Figaro, buoyed by clever direction and a strong cast, particularly Rosa Feola’s Countess and Joélle Harvey’s Susanna.
Carl Orff’s cantata tries its fortunes at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
A new recording of La fiamma from Deutsche Oper Berlin sets Respighi’s score ablaze.
Austin Opera’s 40th anniversary gala celebrated the present while gesturing boldly towards the future.
Pittsburgh Opera’s Fellow Travelers delivers a timely story with detail and care.
Jeanine Tesori’s Blue is an ambitious and worthy opera that deserves a better presentation than it got at Lincoln Center on Saturday.
“Protect the dolls, they say, but who really cares for them?” This question, posed by performer Mara Snip during the postlude of Neuköllner Oper’s 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, had a clear answer: Aliens.
Michael Thalmeier‘s Tristan und Isolde in Berlin asks, how much minimalism is too much minimalism?
As my friend and I Ubered out to the luxurious Cobb Energy Centre for Atlanta Opera’s La traviata, I had trains on the mind.
Only the singers, led by Benjamin Bernheim, can salvage a dismal La Damnation de Faust at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées.
Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci at Lyric Opera of Chicago are hysterical in all the wrong ways.
Pacific Opera Project’s high-spirited revival of Fra Diavolo is both therapy and an escape.
Second casts in Don Giovanni and Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera offer mixed blessings.
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra offered a rending reading of Britten‘s massive War Requiem with an eclectic trio of soloists.
A brief concert at the Frick Collection teases the multifaceted artistry of Davóne Tines
The women were the highlights of Washington National Opera’s militaristic Aïda
Tobias Kratzer‘s time-traveling Arabella from the Deutsche Oper Berlin, now available on DVD, turns the opera’s problems into its strengths.
J’Nai Bridges makes a sophisticated companion to the Morgan Library & Museum’s Renoir Drawings exhibit.
San Diego Opera’s Pagliacci puts a play within a play within a play.
A new production of Parsifal at San Francisco Opera stirred something deep inside Michael Anthonio about how music soothes the soul
Shirin Neshat‘s Aïda in Paris is a typical instance of what happens when an artist is brought in to direct an opera.
In Jacopo Peri’s seminal Euridice, the Newberry Consort and Haymarket Opera made a compelling case for putting you in the room where it happened.
A Baroque Valentine’s with Opera Lafayette | Feb | DC & NYC
Celebrate love in all its guises with tender ballads, amorous duets, cheeky verses, and bawdy drinking songs plus food, cocktails and wine.
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.