Golden ‘Girls’ season finale Golden ‘Girls’ season finale

The conclusion of our Fanciulla del West video overview in three parts looks at a trio of performances from the 2010s.

Minnie happy returns Minnie happy returns

Puccini’s Girl closes out the 20th century and gallops into the 21st.

I think we’ve got her number I think we’ve got her number

“Are we Team Guelf or Team Ghibelline?”

Glamour, reconceptualized Glamour, reconceptualized

Opera Philadelphia’s O18 Festival continues through the weekend, but Friday represented a finale of sorts with the last two premieres.

Go away from my window Go away from my window

Hunger was the note of the night, a sentiment shared between the audience and Proving Up, a lean and hungry one-act telling a story of drought and desperation on the post-Civil War Western frontier.

Mortal raises veil from before goddess’s face Mortal raises veil from before goddess’s face

Anna Netrebko is the greatest performing artist singing opera today. Nobody else comes close; she makes me love her in a way that verges on the erotic.

Take me out to the bull game Take me out to the bull game

I braved the alarming and majestically colorful wall-graffiti-art of Bushwick to attend Bullfight Boylesque, which runs to October 28.

Must the winter come so soon? Must the winter come so soon?

On Tuesday we got one of the Met’s inveterate classics, which meant yet another opportunity to gaze upon the old accessories: Donkey cart! Teal shawl! Fugly plaid slacks!

Shorn yesterday Shorn yesterday

For opening night 2018, the Met offered the creaky but appealing biblical epic Samson et Dalila, presumably as a vehicle for Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna.

The art of the steel The art of the steel

This Sony Classical set of live performances covers a golden quarter century in the singing and staging of Wagner. Birgit Nilsson shared it with many other legends, and many of them appear on these discs.

“The silky-toned Miss Verrett makes the most of the situation” “The silky-toned Miss Verrett makes the most of the situation”

On this day in 1968 mezzo-soprano Shirley Verrett made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Carmen.

A stolen life A stolen life

“Trove Thursday” offers a broadcast from last year’s London world premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie.

Drama, Queen Drama, Queen

Lightning struck again here when, after a wait of 39 years, San Francisco Opera unveiled a new production of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux.

Do you believe in Zajick? Do you believe in Zajick?

“Trove Thursday” gives a preview of Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila with a broadcast featuring an unexpected temptress—Dolora Zajick—who will celebrate the 30th anniversary of her Met debut next month.

The man who would be nymph The man who would be nymph

Sometimes the fates conspire, preventing an artist from recording the role for which he is his generation’s touchstone.

I put a spell on you I put a spell on you

Armide with a superbly grand Francophone heroine in Karina Gauvin and conducted by the always excellent Ivor Bolton.

Rosa’s turn Rosa’s turn

To heck with Bayreuth and Salzburg, Glimmerglass and Santa Fe as Rosa Feola sang Mozart at Lincoln Center Friday night and I wouldn’t have been anywhere else!

You shall know them by their ‘Flutes’ You shall know them by their ‘Flutes’

This year’s Salzburg Festival opens Saturday with a new production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, an opera often performed elsewhere in translation, so “Trove Thursday” offers two for the price (!) of one.

O sofa fanciulla

Winsome, tony, and studded with overbooked bistros, Tanglewood is not exactly crawling with bohemians these days.

Who’s that girl? Who’s that girl?

“Trove Thursday” goes modest with Donizetti’s domestic comedy Don Pasquale featuring Ileana Cotrubas, Alfredo Kraus, Vicente Sardinero and Wladimiro Ganzarolli.

More than words More than words

This week’s star-spangled “Trove Thursday” offers the second crazy-quilt installment of divas in the wrong language.

Making out like a bandit Making out like a bandit

“Trove Thursday” turns for the third of Verdi’s four Schiller adaptations to a recent I Masnadieri with risen stars Lisette Oropesa and Russell Thomas.

Fan mail to La Nilsson Fan mail to La Nilsson

On the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of your birth, I am perplexed as to what to write about you that isn’t of the highest, most ecstatic praise and of deliriously effusive encomiums.

Senza nube e senza vel Senza nube e senza vel

I attended the Sunday, May 13, performance with bittersweet anticipation.