Defying gravitas Defying gravitas

Benjamin Yarmolinsky’s The Constitution: A Secular Oratorio, performed by Vertical Player Repertory on Thursday evening, was an awful lot of legal speak for one evening.

Ladies’ Quadrille Ladies’ Quadrille

It is much to be regretted that song recitalists stick to the tried, the true, the excessively familiar when the repertory of song is so vast, so full of treasures ready for the light

Home brew Home brew

An extraordinarily rich variety of opera happens locally, under the umbrella of New York Opera Fest.

Live and empoisoned Live and empoisoned

In how many operas does the heroine drink poison and then go lengthily mad?

Playing at gods

“Playthings of the Gods: Essential Myths,” the Vertical Player Repertory’s evening of Monteverdi, Britten and Milhaud, heard October 8, was a satisfying treat. The soloists were excellent, although the venue, Christ Church Cobble Hill, had overwhelmingly boomy acoustics and robbed the audience of any nuance in the voices.