More than a material girl
The vivacious MANON! at Heartbeat Opera makes a strong case for the return of opera in translation.
Recent Stories
Any recording of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny is so overrated
It’s always surprised me how so many performances of the major Brecht/Weill collaborations seem to have zero clue of how to handle either Weill’s music.
By Cornelia
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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).
Past is prologue
Simon Boccanegra has never felt as foreboding or prophetic as it did at a recent performance at La Fenice.
San Francisco Opera 2026–27
Music Director Eun Sun Kim is at the center of the repertory, and a long Wagner arc is now officially underway
Women’s liberation
Parterre Box highlights two recent Verdi Requiems of interest with a pair of Libera mes from Asmik Grigorian and Anna Netrebko.
The 2018 Macbeth is so overrated
I don’t know if it’s overrated because I don’t think anyone rates it, but for pure party disc joy not much beats this 2018 recording of the original 1847 version of Verdi‘s Macbeth.
By Ben Miller
4 comments
A lady of coarse and vulgar inclinations
A stark, sweltering performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk shocks the Komische Oper Berlin.
Nature boy
With Siegfried, the directorial vision of the Paris Opera‘s Ring cycle finally takes root.
This 1955 Eugene Onegin is so overrated
This is the classic Onegin and there’s much to love, especially from Khaikin‘s sensitive conducting and Lemeshev‘s ideal Lensky.
Broadcast
Salome / Kölner Philharmonie
Jennifer Holloway, currently singing the same role at Lyric Opera of Chicago, leads a performance recorded in Köln in September
Streamed January 31, 2026 at 2:03 PM
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Broadcast
Arabella / Metropolitan Opera
A performance recorded this fall in New York starring Rachel Willis-Sorensen
Streamed January 31, 2026 at 1:00 PM
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The best thing I saw in 2025 was Echo 72
An opera about the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics was never going to be an easy task.
A ruckus in Kaunas
Ponchielli goes east with mixed results in I Lituani.
The best things I saw in 2025 were Parsifal and The Monkey King
Both performances moved me profoundly and served as a form of catharsis, ending a challenging 2025 with a glimmer of hope for the future
The best thing I saw in 2025 was La sonnambula
Easily the Met’s new Sonnambula, where cast and production team delivered a gorgeously sung and well thought out concept for a libretto often derided for its simplicity.
By Bel Raggio
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Methinks the lady doth protestant too much
Old pros Gregory Kunde and Pier Luigi Pizzi anchor a new staging of Stiffelio co-produced by three theaters in Emilia-Romagna.
STEMdiva status
Ahead of a special boozy, bawdy Valentine’s Day concert, artistic director of Opera Lafayette Patrick Quigley speaks with soprano Maya Kherani about her journey from MIT to rising American Baroque star.
By Opera Lafayette + Parterre Box
The snows that lie on the mountains of Judaea
Salome sweeps in like a storm at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Ash and you shall receive
Bellini and Donizetti may be top of mind these days, so Parterre Box offers two budding belcantisti, Beth Taylor and Dave Monaco, in a duet from Rossini’s La cenerentola.
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Yuja Wang
Yuja Wang slayed in this performance of Prokofiev‘s 2nd piano concerto with the Boston Symphony.
By Peter Feliks
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Faith in their hands shall snap in two
Franz Welser-Möst leads a rigorous, if emotionally staid, performance of Verdi‘s Requiem at Carnegie Hall.
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Vanessa
“Let me look around once more. Who knows when I shall see this house again?”
By Peter Russell
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The best thing I saw in 2025 was Salome
Many productions have emphasized Salome’s youth, but few have gone as far as this spectacular and visceral production at the Komische Oper by Evgeny Titov.
By Ben Miller
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