Now I’m an old believer
Big voices overwhelm Claus Guth‘s toothless staging of Khovanshchina at the Berlin Staatsoper.
Performance Reviews
Reviews of operatic, vocal, and classical performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, all across America, and around the world.
Sublime loneliness
Across three evenings at the 92nd Street Y, Konstantin Krimmel and Ammiel Bushakevitz traversed all of Schubert‘s major song cycles with stark intensity.
Follow your bliss
In recital for the Los Angeles Opera, tenor Ben Bliss makes the case for the next stage of his career.
Carmen, again?
Gulfshore Opera’s vigorous production of Carmen answers a familiar question.
All the fine young cannibals
Offenbach‘s Robinson Crusoé is salvaged from obscurity.
Mezzo in the dark
It is a physical pleasure to hear Kate Lindsey at close quarters.
Scenes from a revolution
“This isn’t an opera that touches on queer themes; it’s a bundle of queer themes tied up in an opera.”
Form over function
A consideration of Anika Kildegaard’s extraordinary recital in Philadelphia—and the oddity of recitals themselves.
Paris is always a good idea
Though perhaps showing its age, a storied production of La bohème nonetheless makes a welcome return to the Los Angeles Opera
Get in the zone
Tamara Wilson and Stanislas de Barbeyrac are the standouts in Calixto Bieito’s underwhelming Die Walküre in Paris
Shades of gray
MasterVoices presents a strongly-cast Sweet Smell of Success—but the merits of this noir musical are hardly black or white.
Big time sensuality
Barbara Strozzi links two sensuous programs by L’Arpeggiata and Catapult Opera.
To be a poet is a condition
Are today’s stars enough to sustain Andrea Chénier?
Monkey business
The Monkey King at San Francisco Opera combines spectacle and sentiment.
Hear, O Israel
As Messiah season begins, Christopher Corwin reports on two of Handel’s forays into the Old Testament.
By Christopher Corwin
Comment
I’m getting married in the morning
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.
Medieval Times
Carl Orff’s cantata tries its fortunes at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
By Christina Colanduoni
Comment
La fiamma è bella!
A new recording of La fiamma from Deutsche Oper Berlin sets Respighi’s score ablaze.
Celebrate good times
Austin Opera’s 40th anniversary gala celebrated the present while gesturing boldly towards the future.
Pride in your work
Pittsburgh Opera’s Fellow Travelers delivers a timely story with detail and care.
Blue it
Jeanine Tesori’s Blue is an ambitious and worthy opera that deserves a better presentation than it got at Lincoln Center on Saturday.
Alien encounter
“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.
Scarcity mindset
Michael Thalmeier‘s Tristan und Isolde in Berlin asks, how much minimalism is too much minimalism?
Do the locomotion
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.
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).