Vasilisa Berezhanskaya and Dmitry Korchak in Norma / Photo: Roberto Ricci

Grand Tier Grab Bag

Otherwise occupied

Parterre Box features a performance from two belcantisti who would rather you not think about their political affiliations.

Carlisle Floyd / Photo: Houston Grand Opera

Feature

Of Floyd and Houston

Ilana Walder-Biesanz discovers how Houston Grand Opera is celebrating 250 years of America and 100 years of Carlisle Floyd with a new production of Of Mice and Men.

Marc Chagall Les Souces de la Musique (The Sources of Music) 1966, oil on canvas, 420" x 360" Grand Tier North Photo: Metropolitan Opera

Breaking

Look to the rainbow

"Even Peter Gelb’s critics concede that he has had a long run of finding pots of gold," says The New York Times of the Metropolitan Opera's dire money troubles. "But is he running out of rainbows?"

Photo: Örjan Jakobsson

Grand Tier Grab Bag

Northern star

Parterre Box previews an upcoming performance of Hercules with Ann Hallenberg in some very unique Baroque repertoire.

Ken Howard

our own

Can spring be far behind?

Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!

Feature

Married to their jobs

Ahead of their opening in Don Carlo in Dallas tonight, Christopher Corwin chats with Nicole Car and Étienne Dupuis — and offers a special edition of Chris's Cache!

Lisa Davidsen as Isolde and Michael Spyres as Tristan in Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde." Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera

Tunnel vision

Lise Davidsen, Michael Spyres, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin are astonishing in Tristan und Isolde at the Met, while Yuval Sharon's new production is anything but.

Back to school

Time to Act at Pittsburgh Opera effectively employs Greek tragedy to explore the all-too-common tragedies haunting schools across the United States.

Photo by G. Schied

Is this head kosher?

A captivating Asmik Grigorian leads the Bayerishce Staatsoper's revival of its Holocaust-set Salome. 

Photo: Opera Baltimore

This wine tastes funny

Confused dramaturgy dampens an otherwise sparkling night of singing in Opera Baltimore’s Lucrezia Borgia.

The Italian connection

American Bach brings out the operatic side of Bach in a program featuring sparkling vocal talents.

A favorite bass performance from Bel Raggio

No one in my experience both live and on records could swagger, spin out roulades, and ripple through Rossini and Handel like Samuel Ramey.

A favorite bass performance from Mr. Fabulous

Before hearing Samuel Ramey as Zaccaria in Nabucco, I had always been more interested in higher voices.

A favorite bass performance from William Guanbo Su

This performance features Samuel Ramey in what I consider one of the most powerful deliveries of this aria on record.

A favorite bass performance from Peter Russell

Nobody in my experience has come close to rivaling Samuel Ramey as the shy, lovelorn Englishman Lord Sidney from that first cast.

A favorite bass performance from Mister Snow

The great bass Len Dresslar became famous (if unknown) as the voice of the Jolly Green Giant on all those ads that those of us (of a certain age) grew up on