I have often been struck by how suddenly an opera audience can erupt. Not a polite swell of applause, but an immediate, collective response, as if the entire hall had agreed in advance. No signal is given, no delay occurs; it happens after a phrase, a held note, sometimes even a silence. What fascinates me is not simply that audiences {…}
This week, in time for Valentine’s Day, the San Diego Opera is set to present “The Barber of Seville” featuring a cast of rising stars including Dean Murphy, who returns to the United States after eight years. The American baritone first debuted the role of Figaro 11 years ago at the Connecticut Lyric Opera in 2015 and has gone on {…}
This February, Opera San José is set to open the famed double bill of “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Pagliacci.” These highly dramatic verismo operas are notable as stories in which women’s fidelity and sexuality are called into question by the male-directed societies. Men have the upper hand in these operas and their machismo views of fidelity, as well as their lust {…}
(Credit: Guergana Damianova / OnP) This week the Opéra de Paris will open a new production of “Eugene Onegin” with a cast of rising stars. It will also mark the operatic debut of famed actor Ralph Fiennes, who will direct the Tchaikovsky work. It will also mark his Paris Opera debut. Fiennes’s first experience with the famed Pushkin work was {…}
What is it about Emily Dickinson that keeps us coming back? Perhaps that her life feels like finding a door to another world in the cupboard. She lived a quiet, isolated life, mostly confined to home. But after her death, a blooming inner life burst forward with the poems she left behind. Her poems are an “endless trove of inspiration,” {…}
A dominant force in the world of opera at the turn of the 20th century, alongside contemporaries like Marguerite Bériza, Germaine Bailac, and Blanche Deschamps-Jéhin, French soprano Emma Calvé left more than a mark during her 28-year career. However, it is not her operatic achievements I wish to talk about today, but her relationship with Hinduism, particularly Swami Vivekananda — Hindu monk, spiritual {…}
(Photo: Sakari Viika/Finnish Music Quarterly) Throughout operatic history, family difficulties are among the most widely utilized themes by composers, with the more recognizable feuds seemingly being children and their (step) mothers. From Pamina and her mother (“Die Zauberflöte”), Hansel, Gretel, and their stepmother (“Hansel and Gretel”), Lucette/Cinderella and her stepmother (“Cendrillon”), and Elektra and her stepmother (“Elektra”), there is something {…}
As we wrap up 2025, here is a look back at some of the most-read articles of the year. We will focus mainly on longer-form pieces like reviews and interviews for this article. Top 10 Most-Read Reviews of 2025 Metropolitan Opera Review of New “Aida” Production Royal Ballet & Opera Review of “Tosca” with Anna Netrebko Metropolitan Opera Review “La {…}
Photo Credit: Opéra national du Rhin A multitude of operas are premiered every year, some of which never really get as publicly highlighted as they should. Often this is because other operas take the limelight, funds, and critical attention. Thus, in this three-month series, “Opera History Flashbacks,” we will be taking a look at three historically important years and the {…}
