Berlioz and Wagner
John Nelson conducts Michael Spyres and Joyce DiDonato in a live broadcast from Strasbourg
Recent Stories
Manon Lescaut
A live opening night broadcast from Bologna with Erika Grimaldi, Claudio Sgura, and Luciano Ganci conducted by Oksana Lyniv
On the steps of the palace
Anyone arriving at Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Rossini’s Cinderella (La Cenerentola) expecting the Disney-fied version of the story will be in for a surprise.
Comedies of eras
On this day in 1955 conductor Rudolf Kempe made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting Tannhaüser
Just call me ‘Engel’
Chris’s Cache previews Lise Davidsen‘s concert with six sopranos singing the five Wesendonck Lieder , plus a tenor interloper (Jonas Kaufmann, of course), and a mezzo (Hanna Schwarz )
Qui la voce sua soave
Born on this day in 1963 tenor Marcello Giordani
Madama Butterfly
Xian Zhang conducts Aleksandra Kurzak, Eve Gigliotti, Matthew Polenzani, and Davide Luciano live from New York
Let the children come to me
It says something about Boston’s opera scene that one of the most consistently ambitious events of the opera season is a one-off performance played by the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras.
Coming out a head
On this day in 1958 soprano Inge Borkh made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Salome (paired, of all things, with Gianni Schicchi)
Critical mass
Light streamed through the stained-glass windows of the Space at Irondale, once a church, during the Saturday matinée of Heather Christian’s Terce as part of the Prototype Festival.
Music tames the savage beast
On this day in 1964 the American premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Last Savage took place at the Metropolitan Opera.
A post-electric opera
Two months ago, when climate activists interrupted a performance of Tannhaüser at the Met, the banners they unfurled from the balconies announced, “no opera on a dead planet.”
Ti muova o nume
Born on this day in 1897 soprano Rosa Ponselle
Sunday scaries
Happy 83rd birthday tenor/baritone/conductor Plácido Domingo
Dead Man Walking
Yannick Nézet-Seguin conducts Ryan McKinny, Joyce DiDonato, Latonia Moore, and Susan Graham in a broadcast from October 21, 2023
Sea star
On this day in 1967 Colin Davis made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting Peter Grimes
Ewa Podles, 1952-2024
The celebrated and unique Polish contralto was 71.
Singin’ through the sunshine
Julia Bullock seems to fission herself multiple times over during the course of her newest, widely ranging recital program.
Madama Butterfly
Fabio Luisi conducts a live broadcast from Genoa featuring Lianna Haroutounian, Fabio Sartori,Vladimir Stoyanov, and Manuela Custer
Metropolitan delivered
On this day in 1984 bass Samuel Ramey, conductor Mario Bernardi and director Frank Corsaro made their Metropolitan Opera debuts in Handel’s Rinaldo
Venite adoremus
The beginning of Mary Kouyoumdjian’s Adoration is marked by silence. The young Simon, played by Sammy Ivany, lies on his stomach, scribbling in a notebook.
Blood diamonds
On this day in 1907 the Metropolitan Opera premiered Puccini’s Manon Lescaut with the composer in attendance
Rondo and rondo and rondo we go
A convocation of mezzos–and a pride of tenors–produce hundreds of sixteenth notes in a bewitching Rossini showpiece
All the world loves a clown
On this day in 1960 tenor Jon Vickers made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Canio