No need to grin and bear it
An exciting cast digs their claws into a heady production of La Calisto at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées.
France
Iolanta
Mané Galoyan and Bogdan Volkov lead a performance of Tchaikovsky's opera recorded in Rouen in March
Streamed May 9, 2026 at 2:00 PM
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Billy Budd
Sean Michael Plumb, Derek Walton, and Paul Appleby lead a performance recorded last month in Lyon
Streamed May 2, 2026 at 2:00 PM
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Come and Gandhi
Led by a mesmerizing Anthony Roth Costanzo, Satyagraha at the Paris Opera dispenses with historical particularities for something for more elusive.
Music to heal the hurt
Ten years since the death of countertenor Brian Asawa, Charles Stanton remembers his friend and corrects the record on his untimely passing.
By Charles Stanton
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That time of evening
Golda Schultz soldiers through illness at the New York Philharmonic.
A favorite bass performance from Christopher Corwin
As we reach the end of “Bass Month” I’d like to call attention to the superb American Gregory Reinhart who particularly shone in music by Jean-Philippe Rameau.
By the (little red) book
Kent Nagano gives a boost to the Opéra national de Paris‘s revival of Nixon in China.
The company of wolves
Matthias Pintscher’s Nuit sans aube at the Opéra Comique conjures up plenty of atmosphere — but not much else.
Hercules conquers Carnegie
William Guanbo Su and Ann Hallenberg are compelling in The English Concert’s presentation of Handel‘s Hercules at Carnegie Hall.
Once I was a schlepper, now I’m Miss Mazeppa
John Danaher on the world-premiere recording of Clémence de Grandval‘s wild and worthy Mazeppa, the latest release from the operatic archaeologists at Palazzetto Bru Zane.
Onegin, off again
The Ralph Fiennes production of Eugene Onegin at the Paris Opera is just…fine.
Diva down
An excellent Věc Makropulos at Opéra de Lille makes the case for the vitality and necessity of France’s regional companies.
Mother is mothering
Marina Rebeka comes tantalizingly close to triumph in Cherubini’s Médée at Théâtre des Champs Elysées.
Nature boy
With Siegfried, the directorial vision of the Paris Opera‘s Ring cycle finally takes root.
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Manon
I had the pleasure of attending Manon starring Lisette Oropesa and Benjamin Bernheim at Opernhaus Zürich this past October.
By Mario C
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The best thing I saw in 2025 was Robinson Crusoé
“When there’s so much to get right, unsurprisingly a lot can and, as we all know, does go wrong.”
The best things I saw in 2025 were Nina Stemme and Les Arts Florissants
I can’t say 2025 was my best operagoing year; apart from a superb Fille du régiment, most of my good nights at the opera were decidedly mixed affairs.
By Cornelia
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Car Park Casta Diva
Fine music-making meets a clunker of a production in La Monnaie‘s revival of Norma
La damnation de Faust
Benjamin Bernheim and Victoria Karkacheva star in a production recorded last month at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
Streamed December 27, 2025 at 2:00 PM
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Life in the Faust lane
Théâtre de l’Athénée Louis-Jouvet mounts a raucous production of Hervé’s Le petit Faust.
Old friends, new friends
Les Arts Florissants present two ravishing programs in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Psyché’d up
It would be difficult to find a better description for Ambroise Thomas’s newly-recovered Psyché, recently heard in a new recording from Palazzetto Bru Zane, than the one uttered by her suitors: “Charmante Psyché!”
All the fine young cannibals
Offenbach‘s Robinson Crusoé is salvaged from obscurity.
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).