The news that the Metropolitan Opera would be starting to present operas on Sunday afternoons came as a massive surprise for a number of reasons. On the one hand, the Met has never done this and has retained a rather conservative approach to its scheduling throughout its history. This, of course, is the result of the company working with a {…}
Is art merely a form of entertainment or can it serve a greater purpose? Many people believe the latter is true although it’s possible that they are deluding themselves in order to partake in something they enjoy. It’s a question that can be debated forever. It came to mind for me this past week when I attended Lawrence Brownlee’s “Cycles {…}
Editorial Note: Per a recent report from the New York Times, Copley’s remarks were aimed at the chorister and were largely inappropriate. Of course, the dispute rages and there seems to be much debate about who or what was said. Some of our own investigation has yielded similar contradiction. As such, we do note that until the clarity of the {…}
Back on Jan. 4, I published this piece of criticism on this website. Entitled “Metropolitan Opera 2017-18 Review – Tosca: Yoncheva, Grigolo, Villaume Not Ready for Primetime,” it was clearly no ringing endorsement for the major performers of this hotly anticipated Met Opera production. In fact, it was scathing takedown in some ways of everyone involved, done in the greatest {…}
I was lucky enough this past November that a friend of mine had an extra ticket for “Die Walküre” at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Now I had already seen it opening night and reviewed it for this site. Of course, the chance to again see Wagner at Lyric with top-notch performers like Christine Goerke and Eric Owens wasn’t something that {…}
Opera Philadelphia’s new commission based on Peter Ackroyd’s “The Trial of Elizabeth Cree” came as a breath of fresh air; when I heard the announcement of its coming, I jumped in excitement at the opportunity for a female title character in a new opera. While the traditional canon of opera has plenty of operas named after their lead female characters, the contemporary repertoire {…}
Let me preface this by saying that I love the Metropolitan Opera. It is my home opera house and OperaWire.com does not exist if not for the hundreds of nights spent at that house over the past decade. But it was truly disheartening this week to read that the company is still struggling to fill the theater. The New York {…}
During this weekend’s broadcast of “I Puritani,” Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb was given the floor to talk about the company’s upcoming 2017-18 season, which was announced this past Wednesday. But instead of launching into his offerings, Gelb moved in a different direction, turning his attention toward the social-political challenges facing arts institutions. “I think it’s really important that {…}