He plays the violin
This Bard production, led by Leon Botstein, makes the strongest possible case musically, dramatically and visually for Smetana’s opera Dalibor.
Wei Wu
16 pieces since 2016 — in 13 roles, at 10 companies, most often at Washington National Opera.
16
pieces
13
roles
10
companies
11
years
By role
Role Beneš
Role Chick Gandil
The opposite Sox
Joel Puckett and Minnesota Opera hit it out of the park.
Role Don Basilio
Home run
The Barber of Seville turned out to be the most overall solid production of the year and even a bit of old-fashioned fun.
Role Frère Laurent
My Verona
It surprises even me how some operas have eluded me in live performance even after lo, these many years. One of them is Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.
Role Kobun
The revolution will be digitized
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at the Kennedy Center: not a poorly made opera, but so relentlessly mid.
Role Kōbun Chino Otogawa
Think different
Bay Area composer Mason Bates’s and librettist Mark Campbell’s contemporary opera about the life of the tech mogul Steve Jobs came home “to the place where it all began” in spectacular fashion
Role Major Domo and Footman
Lucky those people who are so anxious to believe
A high-drama Vanessa by the Boston Symphony Orchestra offers something to believe in.
Role Nephew
The moon and I
Composer Garrett Fisher and librettist Ellen McLaughlin’s Blood Moon wears its themes on its sleeve to great success in this spellbinding new opera.
Role Phanuel
All about my mother
Operatic history can be cruel where multiple works with the same subject are concerned
Role Sacristan
“To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up”
Tosca, as it exists now, can’t be real, spontaneous drama-it’s just Camp.
Role Sparafucile
Role the Bonze
Star of the shoji screen
My vision may have been slightly blurry at the end.
Role Zuniga
On the road again
When it premiered at the Opéra Comique in 1875, Carmen shocked audiences with its frank depictions of female sexuality, the proletariat, and violence: subjects that have ensured the piece’s continued relevance and that have inspired numerous retellings and revisions.
Star vehicles
This Carmen, in other words, was somewhat less radical than its initial image suggested.
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).
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!
