She’s no basic britch
Samantha Hankey’s Composer is the standout in the Wiener Staatsoper’s episodically sublime Ariadne auf Naxos revival.
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Broadcast
Wozzeck / Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden
Simon Keenlyside and Anja Kampe star in a performance recorded in Berlin in December conducted by Christian Thielemann
Streamed February 28, 2026 at 2:00 PM
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Broadcast
Boris Godunov / Royal Ballet and Opera
Bryn Terfel sings the title role in a performance recorded last month in London.
Streamed February 28, 2026 at 1:00 PM
25 comments
She speaks!
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Broadcast
La Prise de Troie / Metropolitan Opera
The first part of Berlioz's Les Troyens in a broadcast from 1974 starring Shirley Verrett and Jon Vickers, chosen by Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Streamed February 28, 2026 at 1:00 PM
116 comments
Oh, Mary Jane!
Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Grammy-winning Intelligence makes a largely successful East Coast debut at Virginia Opera.
Married to their jobs
Ahead of their opening in Don Carlo in Dallas tonight, Christopher Corwin chats with Nicole Car and Étienne Dupuis — and offers a special edition of Chris’s Cache!
Broadcast
Luisa Miller / Wiener Staatsoper
A live video broadcast from Vienna featuring Nadine Sierra and Freddie De Tommaso
Streamed February 26, 2026 at 1:00 PM
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Tra voi belle
Following the announcement that she’ll make her Met debut next season, Grand Tier Grab Bag brings Italian soprano Erika Grimaldi to your attention with a duet from Manon Lescaut.
Onegin, off again
The Ralph Fiennes production of Eugene Onegin at the Paris Opera is just…fine.
The René Jacobs Giulio Cesare is so overrated
George Frideric Handel (born 341 years ago on Monday) composed over 40 operas including many masterpieces, but his Giulio Cesare is the one that everyone knows best.
For my next trick
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under conductor Stéphane Denève plays up the schtick in a concert performance of The Magic Flute – and obscures Mozart’s magic in the process.
Tenue farfalla
“Soprano Aleksandra Kurzak will sing the role of Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, replacing Sonya Yoncheva, who has withdrawn from the run due to family reasons,” says the Met press office.
Dashed hopes
Joyce DiDonato makes the most of Kevin Puts‘s trite new Emily Dickinson monodrama.
Agent orange
That Trump opera at the Staatsoper Hamburg is lazy activism at its finest, we fear.
Diva down
An excellent Věc Makropulos at Opéra de Lille makes the case for the vitality and necessity of France’s regional companies.
The 1946 La traviata is so overrated
For all his undeniable precision and discipline, I still find Toscanini’s tempi rushed and unyielding and his lack of rubato a chilly turnoff.
By Peter Russell
194 comments
Broadcast
Manon Lescaut / Metropolitan Opera
Mirella Freni stars in a 1990 Metropolitan Opera performance chosen by Asmik Grigorian
Streamed February 21, 2026 at 1:00 PM
57 comments
Broadcast
Tristan und Isolde / Dutch National Opera
Malin Byström in her debut run as Isolde sings opposite Michael Weinius in a performance recorded last week in Amsterdam
Streamed February 21, 2026 at 1:00 PM
128 comments
Di qualità, di qualità!
San Diego Opera presents a strongly directed and cast revival of Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Some unholy wars
Caitlin Vincent‘s new book Opera Wars paints a persuasive picture of the problems facing opera today, though her solutions leave something to be desired.
Metropolitan Opera 2026–27 season announced
What is unmissable for you next season at Lincoln Center?
Was keinem in Worten ich künde
In Modena, Teodor Currentzis‘s Ring ohne Worte foregoes words but not gimmickry.
The 1957 Anna Bolena is so overrated
While the three leads do sing the material well, there has been a glut of recordings since then which are more complete and at least as well sung.
By Leyla Gender-Bender
212 comments