The Talk of the Town
Nothing makes me feel better than Grisélidis
From an early age I knew I should have been French.
Next season I’m excited for Bellini operas at the Met
We will have two Bellinis in new productions, with the best possible casts that can be assembled.
Next season I’m excited for Handel oratorios
Messiah remains ubiquitous, but several of Handel’s other superb English oratorios will be given enticing performances during the 2025-26 season.
Next season I’m excited for Andrea Chénier
Next season I am looking forward to performances of Andrea Chénier at the Met.
Next season I’m excited for Götterdämmerung
Atlanta Opera’s Götterdämmerung (Stage Direction Tomer Zvulun with set design Erhard Rom).
Next season I’m excited for The Death of Klinghoffer
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino presents John Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer next May.
Next season I’m excited for Palm Beach Opera
Palm Beach Opera has listed its 3 operas for next year — La bohème, The Pearl Fishers, and Rigoletto — but has not listed any casting yet!
Before the fall
If you haven’t yet sounded off for this fall’s The Talk of the Town, what on earth are you waiting for?
Next season I’m excited for Corinne Winters in Il trittico
Corinne Winters will take on a trio of roles in Puccini’s Trittico in Houston.
Next season I’m excited for Lisette Oropesa in Roméo et Juliette
I am looking forward to seeing The Greatest Thing Ever as Gounod‘s Juliette, a role I have never seen her in, at the Berlin Staatsoper on 6 November.
Next season I’m excited for Pacific Opera Project
I am pretty excited to add coverage of nearby performances while I am getting settled here in Southern California.
Next season I’m excited for Der Freischütz en français
Thank you, Leon Botstein, for giving us a chance to hear the Berlioz adaptation of Der Freischütz (or Freyschütz).
Next season I’m excited for Aïda
My next production will be Aïda with the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta.
Next season I’m excited for Kyle Ketelsen in Don Giovanni
It’s always interesting to hear the master of one role in an opera take on another one.
Next season I’m excited for Innocence
Kaija Saariaho’s gifts for vocal and instrumental writing and the uncanniness of the themes she musicalized resonate with unforced power
Next season I’m excited for De Materie
De Materie (1989) by Louis Andriessen is unsuitable for home listening, so I’m really looking forward to hearing the great Asko|Schönberg ensemble perform it live in Rotterdam next season.
Next season I’m excited for Robinson Crusoe
‘Expect nothing and you’ll never be disappointed.’
Next season I’m excited for Lise Davidsen’s first Isolde
One of the most exciting things in prospect next season is Lise Davidsen‘s role debut as Isolde, to take place in Barcelona in January.
Next season I’m excited for The Crucible
The announcement that the increasingly Trump-annexed Kennedy Center would be presenting Robert Ward‘s The Crucible seemed too on-the-nose to be true.
Next season I’m excited for Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
Barrie Kosky directs Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. Sickos: “Yes… ha ha ha YES!”
Next season I’m excited for Arabella and The Monkey King
In a world of guilty pleasures, Arabella is mine.
Next season I’m excited for Eugene Onegin
I’d love to have a better answer than ‘movie star directs opera’, but I’m curious to see what Ralph Fiennes does with Eugene Onegin in Paris.
Next season I’m excited for Les pêcheurs de perles
This season, I’m looking forward to Washington Concert Opera’s (WCO) production of Georges Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles on 14 March 2026.