Zubin Mehta was a major part of musical life when I moved to Southern California in 1969, having started his tenure as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Yuval Sharon‘s production of The Excursions of Mr. Brouček shoots for the moon — and lands somewhat limply on Lake Constance.
Wolf Trap Opera presented a lovely Eugene Onegin with particularly noteworthy performances by Magdalena Kuźma and Daniel O’Hearn.
Les Arts Florissants (lightly) stages two Charpentier rarities as a summer wedding gone wrong.
While it may not be top-tier Rossini, Teatro Nuovo’s mounting of Il turco in Italia is still good summer fun.
Teatro Nuovo pays tribute to a historic New York production of Don Giovanni with a talented ensemble.
Whether an opera by Puccini, Verdi, Wagner, Strauss, or Berg, Dimitri Mitropoulos brought to the podium a total understanding and love for each score he touched.
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence confronts the living and the dead — and its own future — through audacious productions and an intimate world premiere.
I first experienced the magic of Seiji Ozawa in 1972 when I was 12 years old.
Fausto Cleva, in this glorious Fanciulla from the old Met, demonstrates all the great skills of opera conducting
I think Patanè did far more than just hold it together: he did full honor to Verdi.
Ahead of his new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten, Barrie Kosky chats with Kevin Ng in Aix about pretty much everything — except the details of his new Frau.
Greek National Opera’s Medea in the ancient theater at Epidaurus is an intermittently rewarding exercise in nostalgia.
John Danaher pays an operatic tribute to the writings of James McCourt, an author who captured the spirit of opera as queer and dangerous like no other.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, leading the Met Orchestra, and Joyce DiDonato continue their exploration of Mahler at Carnegie Hall.
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
Wolf Trap Opera triumphs in a fizzy, fun Cenerentola.
Leyla Gencer had a long European career but never sang at the Met.
After success at the Met as Turandot and before a historic Medea, soprano Anna Pirozzi talks to Harry Rose about her voice, her repertoire, and where her “second explosion of career” is taking her.
Video Artists International brings us back to a time when opera was carried over the airwaves by great voices—and a tire company.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s concert Rigoletto hits some vocal turbulence
A full century after her heyday, Argentine soprano Hina Spani still moves us thanks to her vivid recordings and the savants who have cherished and shared them.
The one who got away was Anna Caterina Antonacci, a thrilling performer.
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).
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