His mouth is always scandalous
A Pasolini-inspired Tosca at La Monnaie does not quite find the pleasure in the pain.
Performance Reviews
Reviews of operatic, vocal, and classical performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, all across America, and around the world.
Beyond the valley of the gods
The Bayerische Staatsoper’s Ring cycle scores another triumph with Tobias Kratzer’s take on Die Walküre.
Aegean in place
Greek National Opera’s Medea in the ancient theater at Epidaurus is an intermittently rewarding exercise in nostalgia.
Ma queer immortelle
San Francisco Opera hosts an exuberant tribute to queerness past and present.
Queening out
Brett Dean‘s Of One Blood casts a well-trodden Tudor tale in a poignant, new light.
Et O ces voix d’enfants
Brundibár at the Opéra Comique combines whimsy with historicity to sobering effect.
Mahler if ya hear me
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, leading the Met Orchestra, and Joyce DiDonato continue their exploration of Mahler at Carnegie Hall.
Fifty percent illusion
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis does its best to give magic in its summer productions of Roméo et Juliette and A Streetcar Named Desired.
Super rich kids
Wolf Trap Opera triumphs in a fizzy, fun Cenerentola.
A game of hoarse
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s concert Rigoletto hits some vocal turbulence
Sister, sister, oh so fair
Conductor Eun Sun Kim and soprano Elza van der Heever play to their strengths in a piercing revival of Elektra at San Francisco Opera.
Nun the wiser
Matthew Travisano has such doubts about Douglas Cuomo‘s opera recently seen at Opera Parallèle.
Bembo eruption
Supported by an ingenious production and strong performances, Antonia Bembo’s Ercole Amante makes a successful Paris Opera debut.
Lise with an “S”
Emma Hoffman reports on the glimmers of ecstatic artistry in Lise Davidsen‘s all-Schubert recital at Carnegie Hall with James Baillieu.
Rosina in bloom
Maria Kataeva makes a promising US debut in an otherwise uneven revival of Il Barbiere di Siviglia in San Francisco.
The Grand Salzburg Hotel
A.J. Goldmann on the Salzburg Festival’s revolving doors, both in its administration and in its delectable production of Il viaggio a Reims.
His infinite variety
Bass-baritone Le Bu’s recital with Vocal Arts DC highlighted his linguistic and timbral versatility.
Were you silent or were you silenced
A new production of Die schweigsame Frau at the Berlin Staatsoper has precious little to say.
A springtime baroque bouquet
Christopher Corwin picks the flowers of a baroque May in New York City with reviews of concerts starring Lauren Snouffer, Key’mon Murrah, and the Oratorio Society of New York.
On the party platform
Don’t expect any sweeping statements from Franz Welser-Möst ‘s polished, if dramatically inert, Fidelio.
In my end is my beginning
Die Walküre heralds the end of an era for the Los Angeles Philharmonic — and the arrival of a new generation of Wagnerians.
Gorgon wild
Iain Bell and Lydia Steier‘s Medusa stuns in Brussels.
Garden leave
Brigitte Fassbaender’s acid-laced production of La finta giardiniera leans into the absurdities of Mozart’s early dramma giocoso.
The anxiety of influencer
Constance: A Confession, presented in Brooklyn by Experiments in Opera, satirizes our digital age with style.
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).