Cavalcade of stars
Back-to-back casts in the Metropolitan Opera’s revivals of Madama Butterfly and La traviata offer ample opportunity for soprano-gazing.
Metropolitan Opera
Innocence
The opening night of Kaija Saariaho's final opera, live from New York
Streamed April 6, 2026 at 6:55 PM
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French revolution
Benjamin Bernheim opens up to Emma Hoffman about what really makes a French tenor ahead of his New York recital debut.
La gioconda
Renata Tebaldi, Carlo Bergonzi, Fiorenza Cossotto, and Cornell MacNeil are the golden age quartet in a performance of Ponchielli's opera from 1968
Streamed April 4, 2026 at 1:00 PM
515 comments
Youth has no age
Led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Yoann Combémorel, the Curtis Symphony Orchestra proves themselves the equal of any major American orchestra in a program of Mahler, Wagner, and Dawson.
La traviata
Lisette Oropesa leads a live broadcast from New York
Streamed March 28, 2026 at 1:00 PM
466 comments
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.
Road shows
Brendan Latimer hitches a ride with members of the “site-responsive opera” movement who are taking their shows out of the opera house — and out of the box.
Gild the Lily
Lisette Oropesa, Piotr Buszewski, and Luca Salsi feature in a rote revival of Michael Mayer‘s cloying production of La traviata.
Death becomes her and him
El último sueño de Frida y Diego at the Lyric Opera of Chicago is a visual and sonic wonder, but a weak libretto dampens its effect.
Laffont Grand Finals Concert
Young singers vie for $20,000 apiece and a shot at operatic fame in a live broadcast from New York
Streamed March 22, 2026 at 2:55 PM
75 comments
Tristan und Isolde
A momentous live broadcast from New York starring Lise Davidsen and Michael Spyres
Streamed March 21, 2026 at 12:00 PM
586 comments
Here, there, and everywhere
David Fox and Dan Johnson report on Yannick Nézet-Seguin‘s recent performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Philadelphia and New York.
By David Fox and Dan Johnson
13 comments
Madama Butterfly
A live broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera
Streamed March 14, 2026 at 1:00 PM
258 comments
Tunnel vision
Lise Davidsen, Michael Spyres, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin are astonishing in Tristan und Isolde at the Met, while Yuval Sharon‘s new production is anything but.
Tristan und Isolde
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Michael Spyres, and Lise Davidsen open a new production live from New York
Streamed March 9, 2026 at 6:25 PM
1,304 comments
A favorite bass performance from William Guanbo Su
This performance features Samuel Ramey in what I consider one of the most powerful deliveries of this aria on record.
By William Guanbo Su
22 comments
Look to the rainbow
“Even Peter Gelb’s critics concede that he has had a long run of finding pots of gold,” says The New York Times of the Metropolitan Opera‘s dire money troubles. “But is he running out of rainbows?”
A passing mood
Mascagni‘s Zanetto, a slight, Renaissance scene, gets a new recording from the Berlin Opera Group.
Les Troyens à Carthage
The second part of Berlioz's Les Troyens in a broadcast from 1974 starring Christa Ludwig and Jon Vickers, chosen by Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Streamed March 7, 2026 at 1:00 PM
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They do the sand dance, don’t you know?
Akhnaten has lost none of its power or glitz at the Los Angeles Opera.
I’m likin’ this American boy
Baritone John Brancy smoothly traverses the American songbook at Carnegie Hall.
She’s no basic britch
Samantha Hankey’s Composer is the standout in the Wiener Staatsoper’s episodically sublime Ariadne auf Naxos revival.
La Prise de Troie
The first part of Berlioz's Les Troyens in a broadcast from 1974 starring Shirley Verrett and Jon Vickers, chosen by Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Streamed February 28, 2026 at 1:00 PM
116 comments
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).