Bayreuth’s AI-powered “Ring 100010110” marred a first-rate cast and orchestra with nightmarish visuals and horrid dramaturgy.
To make a success of the Empress in Frau ohne Schatten, it is not enough to be a fine singer and a great actress.
Calling from 2066, Brendan Latimer argues that the best way to save opera might be to just blow up the standard repertoire altogether.
Philippe Sly is sublime as Messiaen’s Saint François D’Assise in Salzburg, though Romeo Castellucci‘s production could brush up on its catechism.
Alexander Köpeczi, currently plying leading roles in two operas in Santa Fe and, rumor has it, the life of one prominent soprano, is the object of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
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.
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.
Lorenzo Molajoli is a mysterious figure.
Les Arts Florissants (lightly) stages two Charpentier rarities as a summer wedding gone wrong.
Cher public is exhorted to join the Geplauder when the annual week of broadcasts from Bayreuth begins on Saturday
I trust, fellow Parterre readers, that we can all agree that Riccardo Muti is a great opera conductor.
While it may not be top-tier Rossini, Teatro Nuovo’s mounting of Il turco in Italia is still good summer fun.
Lucia di Lammermoor at La Scala, starring Rosa Feola, proves as airless as this summer’s heatwaves.
Antonio Pappano‘s versatility in both German and Italian repertoire and beyond is both rare and impressive.
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.
Zany gags keep Zar und Zimmermann zipping along at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Daniel Barenboim’s Tristan und Isolde is a performance I keep coming back to, again and again.
I first experienced the magic of Seiji Ozawa in 1972 when I was 12 years old.
A Pasolini-inspired Tosca at La Monnaie does not quite find the pleasure in the pain.
Mesdames et Messieurs, this summer’s broadcasts from the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence begin this weekend!
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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