Get in the zone
Tamara Wilson and Stanislas de Barbeyrac are the standouts in Calixto Bieito’s underwhelming Die Walküre in Paris
France
Boris Godunov
Dmitry Ulyanov sings the title role in a performance recorded last month at the Opéra de Lyon
Streamed November 22, 2025 at 2:00 PM
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Damned to hell
Only the singers, led by Benjamin Bernheim, can salvage a dismal La Damnation de Faust at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées.
Frieze frame
Shirin Neshat‘s Aïda in Paris is a typical instance of what happens when an artist is brought in to direct an opera.
Psychic gestures
Rolando Villazón opens up about his production of La sonnambula, how he develops characters, and what makes opera dance.
Nothing makes me feel better than Grisélidis
From an early age I knew I should have been French.
By Belfagor
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Sing out, Louise
Christof Loy‘s Louise in Aix-en-Provence scratches at the urban– and operatic– unconscious
Agrippina
A performance recorded last month at the Festival International d’Opéra Baroque & Romantique de Beaune featuring Les Épopées
The Aix factor
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.
Les pêcheurs de perles
Marc Minkowski conducts a performance recorded last week at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
Louise
A performance of Gustave Charpentier‘s opera recorded last week at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
Don Giovanni
A live broadcast from the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
There’s a parade in town
Les Brigands at the Paris Opera is an expensive joke that never lands
Der Rosenkavalier
A performance recorded last month and reviewed here featuring Véronique Gens, Niamh O’Sullivan, Regula Mühlemann, and Peter Rose
Il trittico
Asmik Grigorian pulls a hat trick in Puccini‘s triple bill recorded (and reviewed) last month in Paris
Those in glass houses
Krzysztof Warlikowski‘s Der Rosenkavalier at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées surpasses even Nigel Wilkinson‘s high ‘WTF threshhold’
Georges has Georges
A double bill of rare Bizet works in Paris is not something any of us needs to do more than once
Werther
Benjamin Bernheim sings the title role opposite Marina Viotti in a performance from Paris recorded last month
Three ages of woman
Asmik Grigorian’s scorching turn in Il trittico in Paris has Nigel Wilkinson wondering, ‘what is it that makes Americans so weepy?’
Mitridate, re di Ponto
Philippe Jaroussky conducts a performance recorded last month in Montpellier featuring Levy Sekgapane
Frick in the sheets
The Jupiter Ensemble with Lea Desandre and Anthony Roth Costanzo offers sleek and sexy HIP inaugurates the Frick Collection’s new Stephen A. Schwartzman Auditorium
Kevin Ng says you must watch Marie Antoinette
Sofia Coppola‘s cult classic Marie Antoinette is best known for blending a whimsically baroque visuals with a post-punk score.
By Kevin Ng
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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).