In upstate New York, director R.B. Schlather sought to wrestle Handel’s opera into modernity; in Brooklyn, Anthony Roth Costanzo offered a performance considering the high male voice that included an olfactory component. Randall Scotting in the title role of ‘Giulio Cesare.’ PHOTO: MATTHEW PLACEK By Heidi Waleson April 21, 2025 at 5:15 pm ET Hudson, N.Y. Director R.B. Schlather’s operas …
Continue reading “‘Giulio Cesare’ and ‘Countertenor’ Review: Experiments in Sound and Scent”
At the Detroit Opera, Yuval Sharon reimagined Mozart’s tale of infidelity for the age of artificial intelligence; at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Barrie Kosky offered a fiercely expressive staging of Kurt Weill’s Weimar-era work. By Heidi Waleson April 14, 2025 at 4:57 pm ET Olivia Boen in Yuval Sharon’s AI-themed production of Mozart’s ‘Così fan …
Recent productions in Germany and the Netherlands—of classics, curiosities and contemporary works by composers ranging from Strauss to Saariaho—powerfully exemplified the scene’s risk-taking artistic ethos. By Heidi Waleson April 7, 2025 at 4:43 pm ET The company of Offenbach’s ‘Die Schöne Helena.’ PHOTO: IKO FREESE Berlin; Dresden, Germany; Amsterdam New Yorkers who visit Berlin often feel at home—the …
Continue reading “Opera in Europe: Established but Adventurous”
The New York company recently opened two underpowered productions: Jake Heggie’s 2010 adaptation of the Herman Melville classic, and Beethoven’s tale of a political prisoner and his wife featuring the star soprano Lise Davidsen. By Heidi Waleson March 6, 2025 at 5:31 pm ET A scene from ‘Moby-Dick.’ PHOTO: MET OPERA New York If “operatic” is a synonym …
Continue reading “‘Moby-Dick’ and ‘Fidelio’ Review: Opera Adrift at the Met”
Heartbeat Opera presents a radically stripped down and re-orchestrated version of Strauss’s classic in Brooklyn; in Manhattan, Opera Lafayette and OperaCréole staged the world-premiere production of what is thought to be the oldest existing opera by a black American. By Heidi Waleson Feb. 11, 2025 at 11:45 am ET Melina Jaharis, Patrick Cook and Jeremy Harr …
Continue reading “‘Salome’ and ‘Morgiane’ Review: Reinvention and Excavation”
This year’s edition of the festival opened with a compelling rock-influenced opera, based on Dana Spiotta’s novel about two 1970s radicals who go underground after a protest bombing goes awry. By Heidi Waleson Jan. 13, 2025 at 5:04 pm ET The cast of ‘Eat the Document.’ PHOTO: MARIA BARANOVA New York According to its co-founder and co-artistic director …
Continue reading “‘Eat the Document’ Review: The Prototype Festival’s Musical Fugitives”
Starring Angel Blue and Piotr Beczała, Michael Mayer’s new staging of Verdi’s Egyptian classic favors monumentality at nearly every turn, but it struggles to come to fiery dramatic or musical life. By Heidi Waleson Jan. 2, 2025 at 5:19 pm ET Angel Blue PHOTO: KEN HOWARD / MET OPERA New York You know you’re in trouble when a …
Continue reading “‘Aida’ Review: Glum Grandeur at the Metropolitan Opera”
Lucy Shelton plays a renowned singer with dementia in Laura Kaminsky’s chamber piece at On Site Opera; Lise Davidsen stars in Puccini’s melodrama at the Met. By Heidi Waleson Nov. 18, 2024 at 5:07 pm ET Lucy Shelton in ‘Lucidity.’ PHOTO: DAN WRIGHT New York Like “As One” (2014), her much-performed first opera, Laura Kaminsky’s “Lucidity,” given its world …
Continue reading “‘Lucidity’ and ‘Tosca’ Review: Sopranos of Two Generations”
Osvaldo Golijov’s work about the murder of the Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca in 1936 tells its haunting story with ferociously contemporary musical style. By Heidi Waleson Oct. 17, 2024 at 5:39 pm ET Daniela Mack PHOTO: MARTY SOHL / MET OPERA Operagoers who think that Bizet’s “Carmen” is Spanish should be sure to catch Osvaldo Golijov’s …
Continue reading “‘Ainadamar’ Review: Fascism and Flamenco at the Met Opera”
At the Metropolitan Opera, Jeanine Tesori’s work about an American drone pilot proves eerie and emotionally resonant; Meredith Monk’s performance piece at Park Avenue Armory takes inspiration from Asian religions to affirm our interconnectedness. By Heidi Waleson Oct. 7, 2024 at 5:21 pm ET Emily D’Angelo (center) and company in ‘Grounded.’ PHOTO: KEN HOWARD / MET OPERA …
Continue reading “‘Grounded’ and ‘Indra’s Net’ Reviews: Modern War and Ancient Legend”
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