Rigoletto is the perfect opera. The story is straightforward and powerful; none of the action occurs backstage or between scenes or twenty-seven years before curtain rise; and the ethical anvil lands not once but twice, on the title character singing, “La maledizione!” The curse!
Lincoln Center is in full diva mode. Or at least that is what it seemed as I passed the line of posters outside Alice Tully Hall for the forthcoming Maria Callas biopic.
Les Contes d’Hoffmann is something of a puzzle in which some of the pieces are missing and others been altered to fit since Offenbach died before he could complete and revise the work.
Marco Armiliato conducts Benjamin Bernheim, Erin Morley, Pretty Yende, Clémentine Margaine, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, and Christian Van Horn in a live opening night broadcast from New York
Andrew Lokay discusses the real world of warfare behind Jeanine Tesori and George Brant‘s Grounded, which opens the Met season on Monday.
The outdoor recitals that the Metropolitan Opera presents in New York City Parks every summer are a wonderful way to showcase rising young stars and promising beginners from the Met’s Lindemann Program.
J. David Jackson conducts Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ying Fang, and Elena Villalón in the final Saturday matinée broadcast of the season from New York
Emmanuel Villaume conducts Isabel Leonard, Emily D’Angelo, Stephanie Blythe, Laurent Naouri, and Jessica Pratt in a performance from 2022
Marco Armiliato conducts a 2018 performance with Eva-Maria Westbroek, Jonas Kaufmann, and Zeljko Lucic
Opera has always been Orpheus-obsessed.
J. David Jackson conducts Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ying Fang, and Elena Villalón in a live broadcast from New York
Asmik Grigorian, as Cio Cio San, along with Jonathan Tetelman, Lucas Meachem, and Elizabeth DeShong are conducted by Xian Zhang in a broadcast from New York
In its first go-around in November 2022, Kevin Puts’s The Hours (libretto by Greg Pierce based on the novel by Michael Cunningham and the screenplay for the Stephen Daldry’s 2002 film was a box office bullseye for the Metropolitan Opera.
Asmik Grigorian, in her Met debut run as Cio Cio San, along with Jonathan Tetelman, Lucas Meachem, and Elizabeth DeShong are conducted by Xian Zhang
When it premiered at the Opéra Comique in 1875, Carmen shocked audiences with its frank depictions of female sexuality, the proletariat, and violence: subjects that have ensured the piece’s continued relevance and that have inspired numerous retellings and revisions.
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
×
Sign up for Parterre’s free newsletter.
Exclusive opera reviews, commentary, and top reads
delivered to your email weekly…ish.