A passing mood
Mascagni‘s Zanetto, a slight, Renaissance scene, gets a new recording from the Berlin Opera Group.
Germany
Married to their jobs
Ahead of their opening in Don Carlo in Dallas tonight, Christopher Corwin chats with Nicole Car and Étienne Dupuis — and offers a special edition of Chris’s Cache!
Di qualità, di qualità!
San Diego Opera presents a strongly directed and cast revival of Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Some unholy wars
Caitlin Vincent‘s new book Opera Wars paints a persuasive picture of the problems facing opera today, though her solutions leave something to be desired.
Was keinem in Worten ich künde
In Modena, Teodor Currentzis‘s Ring ohne Worte foregoes words but not gimmickry.
No shrinking Violanta
A chic production of Violanta at the Deutshce Oper Berlin continues the Korngold craze on the other side of the Atlantic.
Faust
Nathalie Stutzmann conducts Jonathan Tetelman, Olga Kulchynska, and Kyle Ketelsen in a live broadcast from Munich.
Streamed February 8, 2026 at 12:00 PM
7 comments
“I don’t play a wilting flower very well”
Jennifer Holloway, star of Salome at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, talks with Christina Colanduoni about re-launching her career as a soprano and how her Salome is “just trying not to disappear under everybody else’s rule.”
A lady of coarse and vulgar inclinations
A stark, sweltering performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk shocks the Komische Oper Berlin.
You’re as cold as ice
A classic German fairytale gets a modern update at the Staatsoper Berlin.
Dad, I’m seria
Sir Simon Rattle and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra strike (almost) all the right notes in their new recording of Mozart’s Idomeneo.
Settling scores
Tobias Kratzer digs beneath the surface of Strauss‘s Intermezzo in an excellent new DVD from Deutsche Oper Berlin.
The offal truth
“Call me traditional, but I want to see a silver platter!”
Die schweigsame Frau
Christian Thielemann conducts a performance recorded this summer in Berlin
Streamed January 3, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Comment
Capital punishment
A patchy production and musical performance can’t dull the edge of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Komische Oper Berlin
Now I’m an old believer
Big voices overwhelm Claus Guth‘s toothless staging of Khovanshchina at the Berlin Staatsoper.
Zampa, ou La fiancée de marbre
A live performance from Munich's Prinzregentheater of Ferdinand Hérold's opéra-comique
Streamed November 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Comment
Christmas Eve
Rimsky-Korsakov's opera in a live broadcast from the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich
Streamed November 29, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Comment
Hear, O Israel
As Messiah season begins, Christopher Corwin reports on two of Handel’s forays into the Old Testament.
By Christopher Corwin
Comment
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).