Et O ces voix d’enfants Et O ces voix d’enfants

Brundibár at the Opéra Comique combines whimsy with historicity to sobering effect.

Bembo eruption Bembo eruption

Supported by an ingenious production and strong performances, Antonia Bembo’s Ercole Amante makes a successful Paris Opera debut.

The company of wolves The company of wolves

Matthias Pintscher’s Nuit sans aube at the Opéra Comique conjures up plenty of atmosphere — but not much else.

Married to their jobs 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!

Mother is mothering Mother is mothering

Marina Rebeka comes tantalizingly close to triumph in Cherubini’s Médée at Théâtre des Champs Elysées.

I listen to the wind of my soul I listen to the wind of my soul

Washington Concert Opera began its 39th season last month with Christoph Willibald Gluck’s late masterpiece Iphigénie en Tauride.

Psyché’d up Psyché’d up

It would be difficult to find a better description for Ambroise Thomas’s newly-recovered Psyché, recently heard in a new recording from Palazzetto Bru Zane, than the one uttered by her suitors: “Charmante Psyché!”

All the fine young cannibals All the fine young cannibals

Offenbach‘s Robinson Crusoé is salvaged from obscurity. 

The rain in Spain The rain in Spain

Wolf Trap Opera concluded its 2025 summer season last month with a production of Carmen that was vocally strong, though not entirely dramatically satisfying, amid challenging weather.

There’s a parade in town There’s a parade in town

Les Brigands at the Paris Opera is an expensive joke that never lands

Drama therapy Drama therapy

Carmen in Brussels is dramatically vibrant, if vocally stretched

Fractured féerie tales Fractured féerie tales

Félix Fourdrain‘s “féerie” Les Contes de Perrault by the Frivolités Parisiennes is as fun for adults as it is for children

Sorrowful mystery Sorrowful mystery

As tenor Pene Pati continues his Rodolfo-across-America tour, parterre box presents a snippet of his role debut as Werther from earlier this year.

Haircut and paste Haircut and paste

Back to Rameau again this week with Samson at the Opéra Comique, my third Rameau production in as little as three months, after Les Fêtes d’Hébé in the same house, and Castor et Pollux at the Palais Garnier.

Think of the children Think of the children

One of the highlights, if not the highlight, of No-Met-February was an all-Ravel evening presented by the Juilliard Orchestra.

Sung and spoken tragedy Sung and spoken tragedy

The return of Cherubini‘s Medée to the Opéra Comique may be a homecoming, but Nigel Wilkinson almost went home at intermission.

Quand sur la plage Quand sur la plage

What can you say, other than that everything was fab?

Rise and look around you Rise and look around you

My first opera of the new season in Paris, after kicking off in Brussels with Kris Defoort’s thought-provoking The Day of our Singing, was another nearly-new work, totally new to me: Sir George Benjamin’s Picture a day like this.

Neither fish nor fowl Neither fish nor fowl

Nigel Wilkinson reviews Kris Defoort‘s kaleidoscopic, unsettling new opera in Brussels.

One that was a woman One that was a woman

Earlier this month the opera world was stunned to learn of the death of Belgian soprano Jodie Devos who died of breast cancer at just 35, and Chris’s Cache remembers her with a broadcast from last November of Devos as Ophélie in Hamlet, her only US appearance.

But not Rose But not Rose

parterre box is excited to present again Mike Richter’s collection of recordings of Rose Ader along with this biographical tribute in honor of a significant artist whose Jewish identity perhaps prevented her from achieving the renown she deserved

Exotic asphyxiation Exotic asphyxiation

Both the mise-en-scène and the musical direction amplified the absolute worst tendencies of the Opéra Comique’s Lakmé in the most tasteless and baffling ways.

Back to baroque Back to baroque

The always elegant Véronique Gens has recently returned often to her earliest roots in the French baroque.

Ring my bell Ring my bell

The monsoon outside was no match for the torrents of gorgeous, dramatic singing and playing that was unleashed inside George Washington University’s Lisner Hall Sunday afternoon when Washington Concert Opera, in a glorious deluge of Léo Delibes, presented Lakmé to round out its return season.