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Reviews, Stage Reviews

West Edge Opera 2017 Review – Hamlet: Solid Singing Can’t Overcome Opera’s Dramatic Deficiencies

https://operawire.com/west-edge-opera-2017-review-hamlet-solid-singing-cant-overcome-operas-dramatic-deficiencies/

Of course, it is impossible – to rewrite, even for opera, Shakespeare’s masterpiece. It is untouchable, even if the Bard wouldn’t have sized up the various Folios and Quartos and come up with a right-as-rain manuscript. But, for Ambroise Thomas, in 19th century France, (1868) to tackle the probing young man and make him sing for his supper – well, {…}

News

Metropolitan Opera Preview 2016-17: Kristine Opolais Set to Enrapture Audiences in ‘Rusalka’

https://operawire.com/metropolitan-opera-preview-2016-17-kristine-opolais-set-to-enrapture-audiences-in-rusalka/

Dvorak’s “Rusalka” makes a much-anticipated return to the Metropolitan Opera this Thursday, Feb. 2 in a brand-new production by noted director Mary Zimmerman. The Director Zimmerman made a splash at the Met with her work on three operas from the Bel Canto three – Donizetti, Rossini and Bellini. Her work in “Lucia di Lammermoor” was universally hailed for gothic style. Her {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Oper Frankfurt 2026-27 Review: Ottone

https://operawire.com/oper-frankfurt-2026-27-review-ottone/

(Photo: Xiomara Bender) Being one of his most fascinating works, Handel’s “Ottone” was famous in its day as a massive box-office hit. It also served as the vehicle for legendary singer Francesca Cuzzoni’s London debut. The famous story between her and Handel during the rehearsal is unforgettable. Yet today, it rarely gets the stage share awarded to “Giulio Cesare” or {…}

Behind the Scenes, Interviews

Q & A: Royce Vavrek on Premiering ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ at the Met & His Work with Missy Mazzoli

https://operawire.com/q-a-royce-vavrek-on-premiering-lincoln-in-the-bardo-at-the-met-his-work-with-missy-mazzoli/

(Credit: Ricardo Beas) When composer Missy Mazzoli went into a meeting with Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb, she hoped for a commission and had one idea to offer: a huge graveyard full of ghosts, built around Abraham Lincoln’s grief. That idea became “Lincoln in the Bardo,” adapted from George Saunders’ novel, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, with whom {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

BBC Proms 2026 Review: The Met Orchestra Plays Mahler

https://operawire.com/bbc-proms-2026-review-the-met-orchestra-plays-mahler/

Caressing with a trembling hand, the characters of Mahler’s works exert the urgent longing gripping those near death. In restless staggers figures grasp for memories, confusing themes that strike a chord with turns of flittering illusion. Tiptoeing through this limbo with a limited imagination, the MET Orchestra extracted only glints of these travails under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin at {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Birgit Nilsson Festival 2026 Review: Matilda Sterby in Recital

https://operawire.com/birgit-nilsson-festival-2026-review-matilda-sterby-in-recital/

(Photo: Gunilla Hovenäs) Tall and statuesque, Swedish soprano Matilda Sterby stepped onto the stage of Ravinen Kulturhus on August 6, 2026, in Båstad and immediately captivated the audience with a winning smile. The recipient of the 2024 Birgit Nilsson Stipendium appeared during the Birgit Nilsson Festival with her pianist Matti Hirvonen. Their program reflected this year’s festival theme, “The Sea,” {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Bayerische Staatsoper 2025-26 Review: Fidelio

https://operawire.com/bayerische-staatsoper-2025-26-review-fidelio/

(Photo: Geoffroy Schied) Beethoven’s only opera has always occupied a singular and somewhat anomalous position in the repertory. Despite repeated revisions, the composer never entirely reconciled the conventions of Singspiel with the elevated moral and philosophical aspirations that animated the work. Yet it is precisely this unresolved tension that has guaranteed “Fidelio” its enduring fascination. At once a domestic drama, {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Teatro alla Scala 2025-2026 Review: Lucia di Lammermoor

https://operawire.com/teatro-alla-scala-2025-2026-review-lucia-di-lammermoor/

“Lucia di Lammermoor” remains one of the supreme achievements of Romantic opera, capable of transforming inner conflict into pure musical expression. Premiered at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples in 1835, Gaetano Donizetti’s masterpiece transcends the conventional sentimental tragedy to offer one of the most complex female psychological portraits of the nineteenth century. Based on Walter Scott’s The Bride {…}