Fine music-making meets a clunker of a production in La Monnaie‘s revival of Norma
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
Dmitry Matvienko led a performance of Mussorgsky and Shostakovich at La Monnaie with meticulous rectitude.
Carmen in Brussels is dramatically vibrant, if vocally stretched
As I mentioned in my last article (on the subject of Calixto Bieito’s production of Das Rheingold at the Paris Opera), in what the French might call une histoire belge, La Monnaie’s Ring cycle started with Romeo Castellucci as its director, and is now ending with Pierre Audi.
The conclusion of Romeo Castellucci‘s Pierre Audi‘s Ring cycle live from Brussels
Back to Brussels last Sunday for my third new opera of the season (after The Time of our Singing, also at La Monnaie, and Picture a day like this, at the Opéra Comique): Mikael Karlsson’s Fanny and Alexander, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek.
A live broadcast from Brussels of a new opera by Mikael Karlsson and Royce Vavrek
Nigel Wilkinson reviews Kris Defoort‘s kaleidoscopic, unsettling new opera in Brussels.
Alain Altinonglu conducts Gábor Bretz, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Anett Frisch, Scott Hendricks, and Nicky Spence live from Brussels.
Krzysztof Warlikowski‘s controversial production of Don Giovanni at La Monnaie is now streaming online.
The controversial production of La traviata from La Monnaie directed by Andrea Breth is now available for viewing online.
Since our usual (and always welcome) catalog of webcast radio opera is temporarily interrupted this week (get well soon, Betsy!), La Cieca offers as an alternative a video presentation that will become available at 2:00 PM EST (20:00 CET): Enescu’s Oedipe, from La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels.
