Find articles | Susan Stempleski

The Australian conductor leads a superb performance of Bruckner’s Sixth paired with Steven Isserlis playing Schumann’s Cello Concerto. 

Singers Susanna Phillips, Michelle DeYoung and Ben Bliss impress in an intimate performance with members of the Met Orchestra.

A haunting account of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto is paired with a vivid rendition of his Eleventh Symphony.

Bartlett Sher’s 2006 production of Rossini’s tuneful masterpiece is showing its age, but a superb cast and conductor keep the comedy moving. 

In a rare visit to New York, the Philharmonic’s incoming Music Director leads the ensemble in an exhilarating program of works by Varèse, Gershwin... and a Ravel world premiere. 

Fifteen years after its Dallas Opera world premiere, Jake Heggie’s grand adaptation of Herman Melville’s sprawling epic arrives in New York in a stunning production with a standout cast.  

The pianist impressed but the soprano proved less than ideally suited to some of the selections in a wide-ranging recital program that included Rachmaninov, Strauss, standards and spirituals.

Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic deliver emotionally charged accounts of Bruckner and Schubert in the first of three consecutive programs at Carnegie Hall. 

In commemoration of Maurice Ravel’s 150th birthday, the Seoul-born, Berlin-based virtuoso performs all of the composer’s solo works for piano over the course of a single evening.

The virtuoso violinist glows in Brahms’ Violin Concerto and the Met musicians display their virtuosity and versatility in the composer’s complex final symphony. 

The captivating pianist leads the orchestra from the keyboard in works by Stravinsky, Janáček and Gershwin. 

Music Director Emeritus Riccardo Muti led the Chicagoans in smoldering Bellini, vividly realized Verdi and revitalized Tchaikovsky.

The American soprano heads an uneven cast in Michael Mayer’s archeologically inspired staging of Verdi’s great tale of love, war and betrayal.

Semyon Bychkov and the much-lauded ensemble are joined at Carnegie Hall by Yo-Yo Ma in dazzling performances from the Czech repertoire. 

Rising conductor Kazuki Yamada conducts a clear, forthright and flowing account of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony. 

The star violinist and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra bring their two-night traversal of Mozart’s complete works for violin and orchestra to a stunning conclusion.

The Moldavan-born violinist dazzles in a generous, emotion-laden program led by the LPO's Principal Conductor, Edward Gardner. 

Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads The Philadelphia Orchestra in a multifaceted performance of Mahler’s monumental, life-affirming score.

After a heavily promoted but underwhelming opening night, the company gets the new season back on track with plenty of star power in Offenbach’s final masterpiece. 

In their final Carnegie Hall appearance of the season, the Philadelphians offered a superbly integrated program bookending a Valerie Coleman premiere with groundbreaking pieces by Ravel and Debussy. 

In a luminous recital, the cellist and pianist commemorate four decades of collaboration and pay tribute to Isaac Stern, the master violinist who saved Carnegie Hall from destruction. 

An exceptionally strong cast, led by Ryan Speedo Green, fails to disguise Blanchard's bland score and the opera's weak libretto.

The American conductor and German-Japanese pianist shine in a mostly meditative program of Webern, Strauss, Ravel and Scriabin. 

Mitsuko Uchida and the MCO continue their exploration of Mozart’s piano concertos and the players deliver a polished New York premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Chorale Quartet.

In his Carnegie Hall recital debut, the young Canadian pianist delivers a challenging, highly varied program of preludes by six different composers spanning three centuries.

The renowned pianist glows in Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 9, while the rising star conductor impresses in selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

Franz Welser-Möst elicits expertly played performances in a program of Hindemith, Richard Strauss, Schoenberg and Ravel.

Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony in a thrilling concert performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s1932 potboiler.

Franz Welser-Möst elicits shimmering performances in a tight-knit program of Krenek, Mahler and Bartók.

Anthony Minghella’s highly stylized Madama Butterfly returns to New York for its ninth revival, with the Polish soprano delivering a thrilling performance in a Met role debut.

The Austrian pianist’s expressive and elegant interpretation of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto is the highlight in a New York Philharmonic program of classics of the German Romantic repertoire.

Carrie Cracknell’s modernized take on Bizet’s 1875 iconic opera moves the action from early 19th-century Spain to a 21st-century American industrial town.