Bad moon rising
Born on this day in 1887 soprano Maria Jeritza.
Recent Stories
Talking about a revolution
People turn up at a cancer hospital on the worst day of their lives. In I’m Revolting, a moving and often unsettling world premiere from Atlantic Theatre Company, playwright Gracie Gardner dissects the fears and motivations of patients and their caregivers with surgical precision.
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).
Renegade princess
Yulia Matochkina will make her Met role debut as Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlo, replacing Anita Rachvelishvili.
Crossing over
On this day in 1996 Mirella Freni took on the title role in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Fedora.
Tosca
The Puccini evergreen, featuring Aleksandra Kurzak, Michael Fabiano and Luca Salsi.
If they could turn back time
Yuval Sharon at Boston Lyric Opera has brilliantly found an interpretative middle ground for La bohème by presenting the acts in reverse order.
Infanticide is painless
Sondra Radvanovsky‘s mean, moody, magnificent Medea fascinated the cher public as the season kicked in at the end of September.
Rome wasn’t built in a day
On this day in 1968, the Metropolitan Opera debuted a new production of Tosca (the company’s first since 1917!) featuring Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli.
Together again for the first time
On this day in 1966 Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli sang Turandot in the new Metropolitan Opera house at Lincoln Center where, according to reports, they were louder than ever.
Exotic asphyxiation
Both the mise-en-scène and the musical direction amplified the absolute worst tendencies of the Opéra Comique’s Lakmé in the most tasteless and baffling ways.
What we do in the shadows
On this day in 1966 the Metropolitan Opera offered the company premiere of Die Frau ohne Schatten.
Tannhäuser
Lise Davidsen and Le Gateau Chocolat reunite for this performance from the 2022 Bayreuth Festival.
Ocean, thou mighty monster
Michael Spyres’s nobly moving Idomeneo wasn’t just a bravura triumph: singing strongly throughout, he brought more colors to his portrayal of the tortured king than I had experienced from others in the Ponnelle production.
Full chested
On this day in 1976 mezzo-soprano Elena Obraztsova made her first Metropolitan Opera appearance as part of the “Met Marathon” fundraising gala.
So damn bored
It’s nasty world, Shostakovich seems to say, where life alternates between boring and terrifying.
“Laiden with happiness and tears”
Director Barrie Kosky brings to Fiddler on the Roof fascinating ideas, fine casting, equal mixes of comedy and sadness, and, from the beginning, a sense for we of the audience that we were about to spend three hours in very good hands.
Blue skies smiling at me
On this day in 1996 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with a revival of Andrea Chenier starring Luciano Pavarotti and Maria Guleghina.
Fresh princess
Diva of the moment Sondra Radvanovsky previews yet another great role: Puccini’s Turandot.
Lost without your love
On this day in 2003 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with a revival of La traviata featuring Renée Fleming.
How do you solve a problem like ‘Medea’?
Sondra Radvanovsky has an unconventional voice that is suited to unconventional characters and is best used in rangy, difficult music. The lack of lush beauty was no deficit in depicting Medea’s jealousy and vengeful rage.
Rachmaninoff three ways
A troika of operas by Rachmaninoff: Aleko , The Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini , courtesy of Odyssey Opera.
Love me or leaf me
Robert Carsen‘s legendary production of Eugene Onegin finally arrives in San Francisco.
In the midnight tower
On this day in 2011, the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with a new production of Anna Bolena.