The ham in this pandemic-era let’s-put-on-a-show Elisir duet (from the Met at Home broadcast) may make the performance more sooey than sui generis. But I find it irresistible.
Missy Mazzoli has established herself as one of contemporary opera’s most skilled and subtle architects of emotional response, and her latest, The Listeners—now at the Lyric Opera of Chicago—is no exception.
Well, it’s a clip from Mary Zimmermann‘s production of Lucia di Lammermoor… wait, wait, come back!
The nail-biting adventures of Voltaire’s titular hero Candide are hardly more circuitous than those faced by Leonard Bernstein’s 1956 Broadway musical adaptation.
The German Heldentenor died yesterday at his home in Austria.
Does anyone remember Beverly Sills as the three Donizetti queens at NYCO? This made a huge impression on me.
Madison Schindele on loving Die Frau ohne Schatten as a “woman of childbearing age”
The Met’s 2022 Lucia was divisive, to say the least, but it was the first time Lucia truly resonated with me.
A live broadcast from Florence starring Lidia Fridman in the title role
Rachel Willis-Sorensen sings the title role for the first time in a live performance from Berlin.
In terms of elegance and beauty of execution, Renato Bruson is in a class by himself among Donizetti baritones.
Domen Krizaj and Tamara Wilson lead a performance of Verdi’s opera recorded in Frankfurt in December
Walking out of this Lucia performance from October 2010, my companion said to me, “No mystery who Seattle Opera’s Artist of the Year is going to be.” Aleksandra Kurzak did end up getting that award, to no one’s surprise!
Ahead of his only New York appearances this season later this month, parterre box looks forward to the return of estimable baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat by sharing a clip featuring starry company.
My favorite scene in my favourite Donizetti opera. Even if she does go ahead and sing that damnable cabaletta, it’s Mariella Devia and she can do little RONG.
Boop! The Musical arrives on Broadway with plenty of colorful glitz, glamour, and talent with an empowering message for women to find their inner confidence to succeed and lead
I’m convinced that someone else will claim this Donizetti opera before I do, but Maria Stuarda is definitely my very favorite Donizetti opera.
As a preview to a spring of Giulio Cesare, Chris’s Cache offers a rare pirate recording featuring Cecilia Bartoli, Andreas Scholl, and Les Arts Florissants.
Kind of self-explanatory, but Maria Callas‘s mad scene in Anna Bolena has truly ruined this music for me.
A friend who frequents these pages recently turned me on to a Donizetti cantata that I had never heard of: his setting of the speech of Dante‘s Conte Ugolino.
Exclusive opera reviews, commentary, and top reads
delivered to your email weekly…ish.
