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 {…}

Artist of the Week: Rachel Willis-Sørensen

(Credit: Bernd Uhlig) On April 13, the Berlin State Opera kicked off a new production of “Norma” by Vasily Barkhatov. The opera opened the company’s 2025 {…}

The Many Extremes of Opera in 5 Examples

(Picture Credit @Wonge Bergmann) What happens when opera is pushed to the far reaches of the socially acceptable, artistically expected, narratively conventional, and formally structured? You end up with controversial productions, reconstructed variations of well-known stories, and strange configurations of unknown ones. One may remember what happened not so long ago with Stutgart’s “Sancta Susanna” or, longer ago, Adams’ “The {…}