Foolish love
The Met ushers out this wretched year and rings in the new with an elegant and effective new production of Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.
New York
There arose such a clatter
With Christmas Eve 2016 falling on a Saturday, the Met offers contrasting orchestral splendors at noon and 6 p.m.
Mahlerei
strong>Christian Gerhaher does not appear at first to sing but rather to speak on pitches, telling stories, explaining words by lingering on them or biting them off short.
Conversion narrative
Blood-and-guts singing is the reason to see Nabucco at the Metropolitan Opera this season.
Will you tell me what it’s all for?
“Good God—an adult musical!”
Daggers are a thane’s best friend
How often do you hear Macbeth with four really good singers in its four big roles?
Mourning glory
I can think of no other role that provides the most unique promise of humiliation, and consequently the most opportunity for glory.
Chanson d’amour
Much like Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, which launched the Met’s 2016-2017 season, Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin is an opera about love and death.
Gone girl
Anna Netrebko‘s Manon was deeply unforgettable for its wide scope, control, and incredible virtuosity.
Something Aten!
Akhnaten, seen at the Los Angeles Opera on November 13 tells the story of the Pharaoh who abandoned traditional Egyptian polytheism.
Battlemania
Miss Battle was greeted with a thunderous ovation befitting a beloved singer at the end of an illustrious career.
Leonie on the Nile
Leonie Rysanek, would have turned 90 today.
Stage beauty
>What does a great opera production do, and what does a bad production fail to do?
The elephant in the room
At the election-eve Jenufa at the Met, Trumpism made an unexpected, if timely appearance.
Trouble in Thebes
What to do with all those glorious short operas: play them alone or find companion pieces?
Search for Tamara
The 2016 Richard Tucker Award recipient is Tamara Wilson.
The lady is a camp
Verdi’s Macbeth gets true blood-and-guts treatment from Guillermo Sarabia and the legendary Marisa Galvany.
Rock, star
The centerpiece of Janácek’s Jenufa was the performance of Karita Mattila as the murderous Kostelnicka.
Rooting for the underdoge
“Take a good deal of trouble with it, because it is a fine subject, delicate and full of pathos.”
Higher and higher
The good news is that the first concert was devoted to the exceptional artistry of Lawrence Brownlee.
Hell and back
A simply gorgeous performance of Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice starring Juan Diego Flórez.
Mark, missed
Thoughtless direction stifled the epic drama.
Sex and violets
Adriana Lecouvreur with the 1970s dream cast of Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, and Fiorenza Cossotto.
Period piece
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s production of L’Italiana in Algeri for the Met remains steadfastly ignorant of postcolonial theory.
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).