Tell me something good
With ambition to spare, Boston Lyric Opera‘s William Tell shows that the state of American opera need not be depressing.
Performance Reviews
Reviews of operatic, vocal, and classical performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, all across America, and around the world.
Cream of the crop
Our critic reports on the bumper crop of young singers at this year’s Giargiari Bel Canto Competition in Philadelphia.
Get to the ponto
Mitridate, re di Ponto at the Teatro di San Carlo showcases some energetic performances — and some unfortunate stage busyness.
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
Thea Musgrave’s Mary, Queen of Scots could learn to lighten up.
Wedding crashers
Louise Alder enchants in the comically-inclined revival of Claus Guth’s production of Semele at the Bayerische Staatsoper.
Man of the masses
Amartuvshin Enkhbat is superb in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in San Francisco — even if the drama offstage is more persuasive than this new production.
Urbane pastoral
Tenet Vocal Artists‘s first-ever opera production, of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, soars to Platonic ideals.
Così Island
The Metropolitan Opera gets its freak on — or about as close as it can — in a revival of its Coney Island-set production of Così fan tutte.
Joy comes in the morning
Yannick Nézet-Séguin opens Philadelphia’s symphonic season in typically sunny style with programs feautring Beethoven, Brahms, and Bernstein.
Bard from entry
Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo by Haymarket Opera and The Newberry Consort takes its audience to heaven while its title character goes to hell.
Great Scot!
A new Macbeth summons the forces of hell — and the star power of Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen — for a fiery start to the Met’s new season.
All about Eve
Haley Whitney shines as the mother of us all in The Marigny Opera Ballet‘s stirring staging of Scarlatti’s Cain.
Bang to whimper
Opera San José opened its season with a new production of Don Giovanni that embraced the opera’s challenges with youthful abandon, even as it was sometimes felled by them.
In mind and not in morals
The Royal Opera House‘s Don Giovanni comes without an instruction manual — but features a fine lothario in Gordon Bintner.
A melody that begins a symphony
There may be frozen giant erections and psychedelic projections galore — but there’s also a surprising degree of emotion in Kirill Serebrennikov‘s latest theatrical experiment in Berlin.
A real trill
Countertenor Carlo Vistoli shows he’s got the goods across the repertoire at the Park Avenue Armory.
The awkward stage
Opera Philadelphia’s production of Mitridate, re di Ponto proves more puerile than perhaps its 14 year-old composer intended.
Showing yourself out
In eclectic productions of Carmen, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Così fan tutte in Salzburg, A.J. Goldmann finds vindication for Markus Hinterhaüser at the end of the intendant’s final Festival.
All about Donbas
Keri-Lynn Wilson and the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra channeled a want for justice into fine music-making in two appearances at David Geffen Hall.
All-American girl
A new English translation of Puccini’s La fanciulla del West gallops into a high school in Pacifica with as much grit and gumption as its titular frontierswoman.
State of siege
An amateurish production of Le siège de Corinthe, combined with heavy-handed conducting, at Pesaro weakens the defenses of one of Rossini‘s most topical operas.
Avert your AIs
Bayreuth’s AI-powered “Ring 100010110” marred a first-rate cast and orchestra with nightmarish visuals and horrid dramaturgy.
The kids are alright
Though, really, the young artists of the Merola Opera Program were more than alright in their annual showcase.
Vox populi
In Bayreuth, a confident Magnus Vigilius and luminous Jennifer Holloway attempt to elevate Wagner’s populist Rienzi.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).