Review: New York Becomes HOMETOWN to Kaminsky-Reed Opera About ICE Raid on Slaughterhouse in Iowa
by Richard Sasanow - November 10, 2022
HOMETOWN TO THE WORLD--the 70-minute contemporary chamber opera by Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed about the aftermath of a 2008 raid by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa--is about as far from the Midwest of Meredith Willson’s THE MUSIC MAN imag...
Review: Crutchfield's Teatro Nuovo Breathes Life into Rossini's MAOMETTO SECONDO at Rose Theatre
by Richard Sasanow - November 07, 2022
Will Crutchfield’s gutsy Teatro Nuovo brought New Yorkers a chance to evaluate Rossini's MAOMETTO SECONDO the other day at Jazz from Lincoln Center’s Rose Theatre. Kudos to Crutchfield, who continues on his quest for the most authentic of the authentic in bel canto, even when the originals weren’t e...
Review: CARMEN (in English Translation) Rose Hall, Jazz At Lincoln Center
by Joanna Barouch - November 05, 2022
If you were under the impression that the term 'Opéra Comique' meant a 'comic opera', you might be literally correct, but truthfully the joke would be on you. What does it really mean? Opéra Comique is a genre of French opera first developed in the eighteenth century....
Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S WORLD PREMIERE OF THE LAST DREAM OF FRIDA AND DIEGO at the San Diego Civic Theater
by Ron Bierman - November 02, 2022
What did our critic think of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S WORLD PREMIERE OF THE LAST DREAM OF FRIDA AND DIEGO at San Diego Civic Theater?
The San Diego Opera, reveling in modern phantasies, has followed its successful production of Aging Magician with El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Fri...
Review: CARMEN Burns Bright in Canadian Opera Company's Latest Production
by Isabella Perrone - October 25, 2022
Quite possibly one of the best known opera comiques, CARMEN has returned to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts’ stage in a bright blaze....
Review: TOSCA Thrills Edmonton
by Sarah Dussome - October 24, 2022
One of the world’s most beloved operas takes centre stage in Edmonton....
Review: How the Wisdom of Elders Influenced Musicians Davone Tines and Jennifer Koh in EVERYTHING RISES at BAM
by Richard Sasanow - October 18, 2022
In EVERYTHING RISES--a one-hour performance piece from African American bass-baritone Davone Tines and Korean American violinist Jennifer Koh that had its East Coast premiere last week as part of BAM’s Next Wave series--we see these two virtuoso musicians take control of their careers, with the help...
Review: That Was No LADY, in Mtsensk or Anywhere Else, But Boy Was She Spectacular!
by Richard Sasanow - October 10, 2022
Afraid of Shostakovich? Don’t be. LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK is a glory to behold, in Graham Vick’s knockout production, designed and costumed by Paul Brown, staged this time by Paula Suozzi, with Ron Howell’s choreography. And there were times when the music, with the Met orchestra under the firm, sma...
Review: GODS OF THE GAME, Grange Park Opera
by Gary Naylor - October 07, 2022
Football opera land perfectly between the Women's Euros and the Men's World Cup finding plenty of common ground to delight fans of both art forms...
Review: A Singular Sensation Returns to Philadelphia Opera with the O22 Festival
by Richard Sasanow - October 06, 2022
O22, as Opera Philadelphia's festival was called this year, wasn’t exactly “something old, something new” but more like big fat sandwich cookie. On one side, there was a kind of “traditional” contemporary opera, Hosokawa’s THE RAVEN , a big filling of Rossini’s OTELLO opera seria in the middle, and ...
Review: AIDA, Royal Opera House
by Gary Naylor - September 29, 2022
A provocative and ultimately successful reimagining of opera's most operatic of works...
Review: IDOMENEO Returns to Met with Splendid Spyres, Glistening Fang, under Honeck's Fluid Conducting in House Debut
by Richard Sasanow - September 30, 2022
On the second night of the new season, the Met went for Mozart, with his early success, IDOMENEO, in a fluid and elegant performance, but it was hardly 'business as usual.'...
Review: Cherubini's MEDEA with a Shattering Radvanovsky Opens Met Season, Proving 'Hell Hath No Fury like a Woman Scorned'
by Richard Sasanow - September 28, 2022
Written over 400 years ago, Cherubini’s MEDEA finally made it to the Met on the season’s opening night, in a new production by David McVicar. Was it worth the wait? If you take it for Sondra Radvanovsky’s performance in the title role, a chilling, a Herculean task, it earns an unqualified yes. She’s...
Review: DIDO AND AENEAS at Bodhi Tree Concerts is filled with 'Music, Love, Magic, And Tragedy'
by E.H. Reiter - September 24, 2022
The opera DIDO AND AENEAS may clock in under an hour, but this production by Bodhi Tree Concerts is a delightful evening spent at a theatre. Performances are only this weekend through Sunday, September 25th so don’t delay!...
Review: New Camerata Opera Has 'Something Familiar, Something Peculiar…' in Its Boulanger-Ravel Double Bill at the Irondale Center
by Richard Sasanow - September 22, 2022
The new opera season started out for me far from Lincoln Center’s madding crowds, in Brooklyn’s Irondale Center, near BAM, with a pair of short pieces by French composers that definitely had their charms....
Review: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at Opera San José Transports the Action to Colorful Northern India
by Jim Munson - September 19, 2022
What did our critic think? BroadwayWorld reviews Opera San Jose's vibrant new production of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' set in a colorful Northern India, running through September 25th.hat did our critic think of THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at Opera San Jose?...
Review: THE BEAR and AND I DECIDED..., Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre
by Gary Naylor - September 07, 2022
Opera at Home's double bill offers the traditional and the avant-garde...
Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE, Arcola Theatre
by Clementine Scott - August 18, 2022
Mozart’s elaborately plotted Singspiel concerning Prince Tamino’s fish-out-of-water immersion in a fantasy land of seductive Egyptian cults, demons, and vengeful queens resists straightforward transferral to a modern setting, but this is what Opera Alegría has attempted....
Review: Preview of Upcoming AMERICAN APOLLO Brings Des Moines Metro Opera Season to a Fine End
by DC Felton - August 17, 2022
Des Moines Metro Opera recently brought its 50th Anniversary season to a close, and they saved a special treat for their audiences. For the 2024 season, they are commissioning a full-length opera of AMERICAN APOLLO. As a treat to those in attendance this season, they offered the opportunity to see t...
Review: HMS PINAFORE, Opera Holland Park
by Gary Naylor - August 10, 2022
The Charles Court Opera company team up with Opera Holland Park in a co-production that that is just what we need right now...
Review: A THOUSAND ACRES by Kristin Kuster and Mark Campbell Makes a Stunning World Premiere at Des Moines Metro Opera
by DC Felton - August 08, 2022
When an organization reaches a milestone like 50 years, it can be easy to look back at everything that brought you to that milestone. While Des Moines Metro Opera's productions of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and PORGY AND BESS do that, they are also looking at the future with the world premiere produ...
Review: BLACK, EL PAYASO, THE CLOWN, Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre
by Gary Naylor - August 04, 2022
Grimeborn delivers another little gem with this pared back version of a somewhat obscure Spanish zarzuela...
Review: It's THREE DECEMBERS in July at Berkshire Opera Festival in New York
by Richard Sasanow - July 28, 2022
I’ve heard much praise about the quality of the vocal writing of Jake Heggie from singers who adore the way his music caresses their voices. But THREE DECEMBERS, performed this past weekend at the Berkshire Opera Festival at Pavilion Theatre, PS21 in Chatham, New York, was the first time I heard a c...
Review: DIE LUSTIGE WITWE/THE MERRY WIDOW at Opera On The Lake
by Jared Fessler - July 27, 2022
What did our critic think of THE MERRY WIDDOW at Opera On The Lake? Opera On the Lake is thrilled to be bringing Franz Lehar's operetta masterpiece to life at the Como Lakeside Pavilion on July 26, 27, and 29, 2022!...
Review: LITTLE WOMEN, Opera Holland Park
by Gary Naylor - July 25, 2022
Bold programming pays off with an opera that has its demands but offers rewards in equal measure...