The coronavirus pandemic forced the Metropolitan Opera to shut its doors for more than a year and a half. It also upended plans that had been in the works for the Met Orchestra’s first Asian tour. Now, that idea is being revived. The Met announced on Thursday that the orchestra
Tag: Operas
Review: The Met Opera’s ‘Turandot’ Returns With a Strong Debut
Puccini’s “Turandot,” a verismo opera set in a fabled version of ancient China, makes for an odd love story. Its unlikable romantic leads go largely unfazed by the death and dismemberment they instigate; when they finally share true love’s kiss, they’re standing atop a figurative pile of corpses. On Wednesday
The Met Opera’s New Season: What We Want to See
Contemporary works will be front and center in the coming season, the Metropolitan Opera announced on Wednesday, with four company premieres among its six new productions. The 2024-25 season will open in September with “Grounded,” about the toll of drone warfare, by Jeanine Tesori and George Brant, and will also
Schubert’s Operas Were Failures. Is Their Music Worth Saving?
In a program note, Pichon says that in Schubert’s opera catalog, there is “no forgotten masterpiece to revive.” But while going through those works, he added, he came across moments of “almost spiritual meditation,” in which Schubert the composer of “the universal voice” emerges. From those, he and the director
A Model for Modern ‘Ring’ Operas Is Unfolding in Brussels
Castellucci is an auteurist director who makes the extraordinary seem natural, who conjures surprises that baffle and amaze, sometimes self-indulgently, but often brilliantly. Driven more by imagery than plot, he has been best suited to staging oratorios or concert works like Mozart’s Requiem and Mahler’s Second Symphony. When it was
Minute-Long Soap Operas Are Here. Is America Ready?
When Albee Zhang received an offer to produce cheesy short-form features made for phones last spring, she was skeptical, and so, she declined. But the offers kept coming. Finally, Ms. Zhang, who has been a producer for 12 years, realized it could be a profitable new way of storytelling and
5 Operas You Can Stream at Home
Enjoying opera — fully staged opera — at home has become easier. Recent productions from top European houses have begun to appear for rental and purchase on Amazon Prime Video. So, on an impulse, you can take in these works — and keep them, too. (There are other opera-focused streaming
Can One of Opera’s Greatest Singers Get Her Voice Back?
Anita Rachvelishvili was pregnant when she began to lose her voice. It was the middle of 2021. She and her husband had tried for years to conceive, and it seemed like a child would be the storybook ending to being forced to slow down during the pandemic. Rachvelishvili, the Georgian
North Carolina radio station plans to reject broadcasts of 'inappropriate' Met operas
Ryan McKinny and Joyce DiDonato star in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Dead Man Walking, which opened Tuesday at the Met in New York. Karen Almond/Courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera hide caption toggle caption Karen Almond/Courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera Ryan McKinny and Joyce DiDonato star in the Metropolitan
Female Singers Shine in Royal Opera’s ‘Don Carlo’
Across the monumental, hourslong opera “Don Carlo,” two female characters take a journey unparalleled in Verdi’s canon of 28 operas. No witches here. No coughing courtesans. Just two real-life characters from history caught in a love triangle that rocked 16th-century Spain. And for the Royal Opera’s revival of Nicholas Hytner’s