Sweetness and light
This was a Rosenkavalier that aspired to excellence and almost achieved it.
Recent Stories
Out there in the dark
The revival of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Music Center downtown, last seen at LA Opera in 2013, is reason for jubilation for everyone except perhaps the singers engaged.
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
Garden variety
On this day in 1902 Le jongleur de Notre-Dame by Jules Massenet was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Monte Carlo.
Alma costanza
“The Met also said a new production of Bellini’s Norma with Anna Netrebko and Joyce DiDonato will open the 2017-18 season.”
The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 season!
The Met’s 2016-2017 season opens on September 26 with a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
Ein ernster Tag, ein grosser Tag!
On this day the Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2016-2017 schedule.
Play well
Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s 1949 musicalization of Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country has found a tentative home on the opera stage.
Ernst van Dyck, ya know
On this date in 1892 Massenet’s Werther premiered in Vienna.
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).
We have begun to celebrate the different ways
Nixon in China is one of several titles that when I tell people that it’s on my Top Ten Favorite list of operas, I get strange looks.
Sparkle!
Nico Muhly‘s Valley of the Dolls will receive its world premiere with an all-star cast!
Intorno a me s’oscura il ciel!
The Manon Lescaut identification quiz, which La Cieca thought would be pretty much a cakewalk, turned out vastly more challenging than she imagined.
Haine implacable
On this day in 1686 Jean Baptiste Lully‘s opera Armide premiered in Paris.
That is what Fiction means
On this day in 1895 Oscar Wilde‘s The Importance of Being Earnest premiered at the St. James’s Theatre in London.
The end is in the beginning and yet you go on
“…they hoped he would soon take on an emeritus position that would keep him involved in the company as part of a graceful exit.:
Wrecking ball
Sir Richard Eyre’s new Manon Lescaut at the Met Friday night demonstrated no particular aptitude for opera.
Hammer time
Welcome, cher public, to the real-time chat for the Saturday afternoon broadcast of Il Trovatore, starting at 1:00 PM ET.
She could go on singing
Happy 47th birthday mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.
Well, you see, grandma was playing up on the roof…
“James Levine, the longtime Metropolitan Opera music director whose health struggles recently brought him to the verge of retirement from that position, has canceled a series of concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra next week.”
Chat: Manon Lescaut
Welcome, cher public, to the real-time chat (or at least commentary) for tonight’s Met premiere of Manon Lescaut, starting at 7:55 PM ET on Listen Live.
Il core vi dono
With February 14th falling on a Sunday, there will be no Valentine’s Day Met performance this year.
Every little thing she does is magic
Ms. Guy goes into detail about what made Sills a “magic” performer, recounting reactions of people across an extraordinarily broad socio-economic spectrum who discovered their love of opera and singing through her.