<em>Aïda</em>, harder not smarter <em>Aïda</em>, harder not smarter

With Boston Lyric Opera’s largest opera production of the season already well behind us, the one-off semi-staged gala performance of Aïda held on Sunday at Emerson College’s Colonial Theatre to support the company’s vast education and community engagement apparatus, was a particularly enticing entry on the Boston cultural calendar.

Stage beauty Stage beauty

>What does a great opera production do, and what does a bad production fail to do?

And to top it all off, the volcano erupts And to top it all off, the volcano erupts

the strip on my first and, so far at least, only visit to Las Vegas a few years ago, I noticed what to me was a most unexpected sight and startled my companions by pointing out the window and shouting “Auber!”

The blood of a poet The blood of a poet

Death and its terrible aftermath hang like a pestilent fog over director Stefan Herheim’s fascinating and chilling production of Puccini’s La Bohème for Den Norske Opera.