On December 2, 2025, the Metropolitan Opera delivered a ray of sunshine with a jubilant opening of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.” Last seen on the Met stage in their 2021 season, this year’s run featured new and returning artists who all came together for something as uplifting as it was exciting. In regard to James Robinson’s production, many of my {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera) The Metropolitan Opera is set to revive Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” for the first time since 2019 in James Robinson’s production. The opera will open on Dec. 2 and be performed 13 times. The production will feature conductor Kwamé Ryan in his company debut, leading a cast that includes bass-baritone Alfred Walker and soprano {…}
Pittsburgh Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. Puccini’s “La Bohème” will open the season and will star Zachary Nelson, Daniel O’Hearn, Matthew Soibelman, Erik Nordstrom, Kevin Glavin, and Vuvu Mpofu. Antony Walker conducts the production by Kristine McIntyre. Performance Dates: Oct. 18-26, 2025 Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce’s “Fellow Travelers” will star Erik Nordstrom, Logan Wagner, Shannon Crowley, Matthew Soibelman, {…}
Pittsburgh Opera is set to perform Verdi’s “La Traviata” for the first time in seven years. The opera is set to be performed by Vuvu Mpofu in her Pittsburgh debut, Duke Kim, also making his Pittsburgh Opera debut and Michael Chioldi. The cast also includes Julia Swan Laird, Fran Daniel Laucerica, Brandon Bell, Evan Lazdowski, Oren Gradus, and Leah Heater. Antony Walker will {…}
The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma is set to present a double bill “Gianni Schicchi / L’heure espagnole.” The production will be directed by Ersan Mondtag and conducted by Michele Mariotti. “Gianni Schicchi” will star Carlo Lepore, Vuvu Mpofu, Sonia Ganassi, and Giovanni Sala. It will be rounded by Ya-Chung Huang (Gherardo), Roberto Accurso (Betto), Nicola Ulivieri (Simone), Daniele Terenzi (Marco), Domenico {…}
The Pittsburgh Opera has announced its 2023-24 season. Opera Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” opens the season with Lunga Eric Hallam, John McCullough, Stephanie Lauricella, and Musa Nqungwana. Antony Walker conducts the production by Crystal Manich. Performance Dates: October 14, 17, 20, 22, 2023 Kyle Albertson, Marjorie Owens, Daniel O’Hearn, and Leah Heater lead Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman.” Antony Walker {…}
Photo credit: © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. “La bohème”, as the archetypal verismo opera, tends to resist stagings that take it much beyond the confines of nineteenth-century Paris, and indeed non-naturalistic approaches to the work. (Audiences tend to resist them too.) The two most successful in London recently have been John Copley’s recently retired version at the Royal Opera House – {…}
(Credit: Gerard Collett) Theater St. Gallen is set to showcase Verdi’s “La Traviata” starting on March 19, 2022. The showcase, which will be presented in the UMIBAU venue, will be directed by Nina Russi who has no intention of setting the opera in its original 19th-century milieu. Instead, she will present the opera in a newer time period noting in {…}
(Credit: Richard Hubert Smith) On Sept. 18, Switzerland’s Theater St. Gallen will open a new production of Missy Mazzoli‘s 2016 “Breaking the Waves,” one of the most acclaimed operas of recent years. This run of performances will mark the first time the country presents the work, which will bring a cast of rising stars including Vuvu Mpofu. Mpofu will interpret {…}
This week climaxes in World Opera Day on Oct. 25. So in leading up to that momentous celebration (which will feature half of the entries on this list), our recommendations will spotlight diversity in the opera world, offering up audiences a chance to check out works by and featuring BIPOC composers and performers as well as unique performance experiences that {…}
(Credits: Michael Cooper / Boston Symphony Orchestra official website / Jiyang Chen / Fay Fox OperaVision has announced, in collaboration with Opera Europa, Opera America, Ópera Latinoamérica, and Opera For Peace, the final program for the big World Opera Day Celebration concert on Oct. 25, 2020. The concert is structured in four acts, in four different time zones. The first {…}
