The Barber of Seville turned out to be the most overall solid production of the year and even a bit of old-fashioned fun.
Whether full-bodied and rich or comic and actorly, the baritone voice contains multitudes.
I attended the Sunday, May 13, performance with bittersweet anticipation.
I mean, how often does one get to hear Bernstein’s gorgeous, rollicking, and varied score nursed by a full orchestra and the artistic resources of an opera company?
Ah, finalmente!
Though orchestrally lavish, this “semi-staging” delivers less theater than no staging at all.
There was a lot expectation about the new opera by George Benjamin and Martin Crimp. Their previous collaboration, Written on Skin, was an enormous critical and public success, earning the work a place in the exclusive club of 21th century classics with selected works by Saariaho, Heggie and Birtwistle.
I have a confession to make. I have been taking Rigoletto for granted.
Mozart was barely sixteen when he wrote Lucio Silla to open the Carnival in Milan in 1772.
Asking the musical question, “They say we know why the poor sleep three in a bed, but why do the rich?
Heartbeat is, after all, a company that loves to tinker.
While one sympathized with Matthew Aucoin’s urge to add his voice to the Orpheus canon it was difficult to figure out how his work complemented Gluck’s.
By the end of the first act, it was clear to me that I was experiencing an artist performing at her absolute peak.
The Verdi Chorus celebrated their 35th anniversary with their spring concert weekend entitled The Force of Destiny last Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
A revival of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center makes a muddle of the show’s thoughtful elements and isn’t particularly funny either.
Just a few years back it would have been seen as ridiculous to put “Lyric Opera of Chicago” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” in the same sentence.
How do you like your Carmen? Mezzo or soprano? Flirtatious? Confrontational? Smolderingly sexy?
The new cast at the Met suggested an alliterative retitling of Lucia di Lammermoor was needed—perhaps Lost Loonies in Love or its Italian equivalent?
b>Lawrence Brownlee, star tenor of stage and NFL games is a real “pillar of the community.”
Plácido Domingo’s conducting reduced the score’s urgency to the lethargy of a jellyfish.
Like Julius Caesar before her, Anna Netrebko can rightly proclaim “Veni vidi vici” about her decisive Roman victory at the Metropolitan Opera where she took on her first-ever Tosca.
Julia Bullock revisited a few well-trodden song cycles and lieder but pointed up their hidden politics.
Celebrating Lenny’s 100th this year has made Candide ubiquitous at opera houses worldwide.
I had my head in my hands groaning in disbelief instead of joining in the general applause around me.
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.
