Comic relief
Pacific Opera Project’s high-spirited revival of Fra Diavolo is both therapy and an escape.
Recent Stories
On the chase
Grand Tier Grab Bag marks the Metropolitan Opera return of Daniele Rustioni with a zippy performance of the Royal Hunt and Storm from Les Troyens recorded in 2022 in Munich.
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).
Broadcast
La fille du régiment / Metropolitan Opera
Lawrence Brownlee and Erin Morley star in a live broadcast from New York
Streamed November 12, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Comment
The replacements
Second casts in Don Giovanni and Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera offer mixed blessings.
I’m still thinking about Barrie Kosky’s Dialogues des Carmélites
Barrie Kosky’s incredible production widened and universalized the ending.
By Jon Taylor
Comment
Broadcast
Lucrezia Borgia / Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Jessica Pratt leads a live broadcast from the Florence's Maggio Musicale
Streamed November 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Comment
To our glorious dead
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra offered a rending reading of Britten‘s massive War Requiem with an eclectic trio of soloists.
Broadcast
Arabella / Metropolitan Opera
Rachel Willis-Sørensen sings the title role in a live broadcast from New York
Streamed November 10, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Comment
We wear the masque
A brief concert at the Frick Collection teases the multifaceted artistry of Davóne Tines
Tag team
The women were the highlights of Washington National Opera’s militaristic Aïda
I’m still thinking about John Dexter’s Dialogues of the Carmelites
The opening of John Dexter‘s production of The Dialogues of the Carmelites (originally produced in English) is one of the most arresting and memorable images I have ever seen.
By Michael MacMullen
Comment
Broadcast
Acis and Galatea / Cappella Mediterranea
The forces of Cappellla Mediterranea lead a performance recorded in Namur last month
Streamed November 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Comment
Broadcast
Aïda / Paris Opera
Ewa Plonka, Piotr Beczala, and Ève-Maud Hubeaux star in a performance recorded last month (and reviewed here) in Paris
Streamed November 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Comment
Broadcast
Die Zauberflöte / Royal Ballet and Opera
Lucy Crowe, Amitai Pati, Huw Montague Rendall, and Kathryn Lewek lead a performance recorded in London last month
Streamed November 8, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Comment
I’m still thinking about Laurent Pelly’s The Golden Cockerel
In a lifetime of opera going I suppose I have seen many transformative productions, but this recent one seems, in the light of the increasing disaster enfolding this country, uncannily pertinent.
By Belfagor
Comment
Let’s do the time warp again
Tobias Kratzer‘s time-traveling Arabella from the Deutsche Oper Berlin, now available on DVD, turns the opera’s problems into its strengths.
I’m still thinking about Richard Jones’s Hansel und Gretel
I saw this production in HD, and it really shocked me because I was used to the cackling mezzo witch, guardian angels, and gingerbread figures.
By Scott Grunow
Comment
Streamed November 6, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Comment
Step-mothers and sons
Rachel Willis-Sørensen and Stephen Costello make their returns to the Met later this month and Grand Tier Grab Bag anticipates their performances by sharing them in the Act II duet from Don Carlo recorded in Munich this spring as well as a taste of Willis-Sørensen’s Liebestod
I’m still thinking about John Dexter’s I vespri siciliani
My first reaction in 1974 wasn’t good. The production was full of stairs, and I was afraid Montserrat Caballé would fall at any moment.
By Gregory B. Mowery
Comment
Broadcast
Così fan tutte / Teatro alla Scala
A live broadcast from Teatro alla Scala starring Elsa Dreisig, Nina van Essen, Luca Micheletti, and Giovanni Sala
Streamed November 5, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Comment
Beyond the merely pretty
J’Nai Bridges makes a sophisticated companion to the Morgan Library & Museum’s Renoir Drawings exhibit.
I’m still thinking about Barrie Kosky’s Semele and Saul
My experiences with live performances of Handel’s operas/oratorios has been hit or miss, mostly miss.
By James Laferla
Comment