Strauss in the Shadows: Germany Spearheads a Revival of the Composer’s Lesser-Known Operas

I. In a city as operatically overdetermined as Berlin, even a new production of Richard Strauss’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten” might be expected to pass with respectable {…}

How Teatro Real Madrid’s Production of ‘The Tale of Tsar Saltan’ Transforms Fairy Tale Into Modern Psychological Drama

(Photo Credit: © Forster) The premiere of “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” at the Teatro Real de Madrid became an extraordinary event. Dmitri Tcherniakov offered the audience a new interpretation of the famous opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, transforming it from a fairy-tale into a psychological drama. The director boldly departs from familiar images and, like a surgeon, reveals the hidden meanings {…}

The Person Behind The Opera, Pt. 1: Malcolm X

(Photo Credit @ Micah Shumake / Detroit Opera) As summer approaches, there are many exciting things on the horizon for the operatic world. While the 2025-2026 season at the {…}

Opera Meets Film: A Second Look At Stephen Frears’ ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’

(Photo Credit @Paramount Pictures) Stephen Frears‘ 2016 film, “Florence Foster Jenkins,” was a instantaneous, worldwide success among critics and the public alike. It was one of the most popular biopic projects in recent Hollywood history to touch upon the musical scene before the release of Pablo Larraín’s “Maria.”  The film tells of the exploits of Florence Foster Jenkins (1868-1944), who {…}

Stream the Most Important New Opera of the Year for Free [Editorial]

(Credit: © Sandra Then) The sounds of history often linger, echoing into the present in ways that demand our attention. Sometimes they whisper, unsettling but distant; other {…}

Opera Meets Film: The Psychological Heart of Opera in Niklas Paschburg’s ‘Opera’

Who knew that a music video entitled “Opera” could instigate a conversation on the nature of opera and being human? Thanks must be given to Niklas Paschburg, a German musical artist whose ‘ambient pop’ style blurs the distance between conscious and unconscious feeling: itself the very constitution of opera’s ‘third death.’ In this month’s “Opera Meets Film,” I explore the {…}