Cherchez la femme (fatale) Cherchez la femme (fatale)

Lilith. Pandora. Circe. Salome. “La Belle Dame sans Merci.” Carmen. Brigid O’Shaughnessy: the eternal “femme fatale” still fascinates us.

Multicolored Multicolored

Polish singers are chameleons. They have to be.

Martyr system Martyr system

William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants made a much-anticipated appearance at Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival Saturday performing Theodora.

Barton glances Barton glances

The annual Richard Tucker Gala is probably the event of the year to indulge your love of verismo staples and can belto screaming.

Veiled threat Veiled threat

Angela Gheorghiu‘ s idiosyncratically alluring, sometimes maddening, always fascinating Floria Tosca inevitably became the evening’s unmissable raison d’être.

Trick or trill Trick or trill

With help from the Met’s invaluable performance archive, here is a look back at just some of what you could have seen, and perhaps did see, on October 31st through the years at the Met.

Bizet, Bizet, Bizet! Bizet, Bizet, Bizet!

“Trove Thursday” presents Don Procopio, an early two-act confection in Italian featuring an all-star French (and Belgian) cast.

Pa-Pa-Pa-Planter’s Punch Pa-Pa-Pa-Planter’s Punch

With a primary color, projection-heavy English-language Magic Flute that’s going to feel like a matinee whenever you see it, the SFO season has lived up to its initial promise.

Dream girl Dream girl

Whatever happened to Stefania Bonfadelli?

Aged in blood Aged in blood

Simply put, Christine Goerke is a stupendous Elektra.

Keeper of the flame Keeper of the flame

Several prima donnas have ought to resurrect La Vestale, including Renata Scotto, whose priestess highlights this week’s “Trove Thursday.”

Lounge act Lounge act

After nearly three years and over 20 performances Michael Mayer’s “Las Vegas” production of Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera still outrages many.

Outer Burroughs Outer Burroughs

New York is different now, and John Zorn has this hangout, The Stone, on Avenue C (you heard me) at Second Street, a performance space the size of a largeish dorm room.

Dancing in the dark Dancing in the dark

One Saturday afternoon during my freshman year in college, Richard Strauss’s Elektra made me fall in love with Ursula Schröder-Feinen—or maybe vice versa.

Lost soul Lost soul

Lisette Oropesa sang “The Lost One”—the meaning of “traviata.”

Starry starry night Starry starry night

Although the season is less than three weeks old, Metropolitan Opera audiences may hear nothing else this season as beautiful as Peter Mattei’s “Song to the Evening Star.”

Beyond the blue horizon Beyond the blue horizon

Besides the heavens and a sweater in The Devil Wears Prada, it is the hue of Hibla Gerzmava’s soprano, in contrast to the red or rose or red-orange voices of most sopranos.

Lady in the bark Lady in the bark

Three decades before Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez dazzled the world with their La donna del lago roadshow, another deluxe team headed by Frederica von Stade and Marilyn Horne shone in Rossini’s neglected masterpiece.

“What gets me…!” “What gets me…!”

What gets me, La Cieca snaps, is not so much that Levine bit off more than he could chew, because that’s old news.

Trapped in the web of love Trapped in the web of love

Which operatic character could be best described as a spider?

Lady on demand Lady on demand

If you had told me 20 years ago that at some point in the future I would have over 550 of the Metropolitan Opera’s performances, audio and video, at my command with the touch of a button I would say my eulogy had just been read and I’d been taken to my reward.

Out here in the dark Out here in the dark

This is the tenth season of the Met’s HD broadcasts, not that I would know it.

Battle of the network tsars Battle of the network tsars

For all their orchestral and vocal attractions, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s 15 operas are rarities in the West.

Joseph Gordon-Who? Joseph Gordon-Who?

This weekend Il Trovatore outgrossed the The Walk, a new IMAX film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ben Kingsley.