The aesthetic vision of M. Lamar’s Funeral Doom Spiritual was undeniable.
Mortality is ugly—it smells, it makes uncomfortable noises, it takes its time; and then there is the overwhelming sense of dread and helplessness.
Beaumarchais clearly delighted in this unobtrusive realm.
Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now presented new works in which women were variously gang-raped, eviscerated and executed by firing squad.
It’s easy to see why Leonard Bernstein’s Candide was a flop when it premiered on Broadway.
The DVD of Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen‘s 2013 opera The Picture of Dorian Gray.
anatomy theater, receiving its New York premiere Saturday night at this year’s Prototype Festival, is a conceptual exercise in which nothing, absolutely nothing is left to the imagination.
Breaking the Waves is not only a “real opera,” it is an immensely powerful work of music drama.
“A case of histronic personality disorder a deux.”
The Met ushers out this wretched year and rings in the new with an elegant and effective new production of Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.
strong>Christian Gerhaher does not appear at first to sing but rather to speak on pitches, telling stories, explaining words by lingering on them or biting them off short.
Blood-and-guts singing is the reason to see Nabucco at the Metropolitan Opera this season.
How often do you hear Macbeth with four really good singers in its four big roles?
I can think of no other role that provides the most unique promise of humiliation, and consequently the most opportunity for glory.
L.A. Opera offered an inspired concert staging of Leonard Bernstein’s musical-comedy bouquet to New York, Wonderful Town.
Much like Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, which launched the Met’s 2016-2017 season, Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin is an opera about love and death.
It is a good rule of thumb that if you emerge from a massive grand opera like Aida feeling any less than overwhelmed, you have a right to be somewhat disappointed.
Joyce DiDonato’s atest album, In War & Peace: Harmony through music, is more specific than it sounds.
Operatic history can be cruel where multiple works with the same subject are concerned
Like our beloved Cubs, Chicago Lyric Opera is in the midst of a championship season.
Last evening’s scorching performance of Fallujah by the New York City Opera demonstrated that sometimes impact is not limited by physical proximity.
In one important respect, a great production of Puccini resembles a great production of Wagner.
Jonathan Dove’s Flight is an opera that makes excellent use of setting.
Anna Netrebko‘s Manon was deeply unforgettable for its wide scope, control, and incredible virtuosity.
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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