Philippe Sly is sublime as Messiaen’s Saint François D’Assise in Salzburg, though Romeo Castellucci‘s production could brush up on its catechism.
Malin Byström is a radiant water nymph in the Bayerische Staatsoper‘s house-of-horrors-set Rusalka.
Dmitri Tcherniakov‘s production of Der Freischütz in Munich may fire a few blanks, but the musicians are all on target.
The Bayerische Staatsoper’s summer festival wound down with Lotte de Beer’s darkly effective production of Gounod ’sFaust.
The Bayerische Staatsoper’s Ring cycle scores another triumph with Tobias Kratzer’s take on Die Walküre.
Brett Dean‘s Of One Blood casts a well-trodden Tudor tale in a poignant, new light.
I don’t know if I’ll ever hear as great a performance as René Pape‘s Gurnemanz.
A captivating Asmik Grigorian leads the Bayerishce Staatsoper‘s revival of its Holocaust-set Salome.
As Messiah season begins, Christopher Corwin reports on two of Handel’s forays into the Old Testament.
Tobias Kratzer‘s Das Rheingold in Munich kicks off a Ring for the post-secular age
This summer’s festival, taking place amid record high temperatures and in the wake of its artistic director, Pierre Audi, featured a disquietingly zeigeisty focus on sexual violence.
In Lohengrin, populism comes to an apocalyptic end on the Bavarian stage
Claus Guth mines urgent and contemporary commentary from Die Liebe der Danae in Munich.
A revival of the furious I masnadieri at the Bayerische Staatsoper falls short of perfection – and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Pénélope at the Bayerische Staatsoper’s summer festival spotlights the crossroads between the nostalgic and the progressive.
Daniele Rustioni leads a verismo double bill recorded in Munich last month
Konstantin Krimmel plays the title role in a live broadcast from Munich
Contrasting approaches to Regie duke it out in Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci and Rusalka in Munich
The Met’s mostly successful revivals of The Queen of Spades and La bohème showcase the returns of Sonya Yoncheva and Corinne Winters
Corinne Winters sings the title role in Janácek‘s opera live from Munich.
Opera San José (OSJ) is continuing the second half of its 41st season with a company premiere of Béla Bartók’s Symbolist opera Bluebeard’s Castle (A kékszakállú herceg vára), with a libretto by his friend and poet Béla Balázs, and OSJ truly spared no effort to make the occasion a memorable one.
I was so beguiled by Erika Baikoff when I saw her perform at the Sag Harbor Song Festival back in September. Such a lovely and musical voice that just flows and when she sang this, she got mid-note applause during the final sustained B.
Can György Ligeti‘s only opera be understood as the composer’s own grappling with trauma, death, and memory of a past life?
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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