Live, Video: Kritiken zu klassischen Konzerten, Opern, Ballett und Tanz finden | David Cushing

Jennifer Johnson Cano’s stamina and total commitment were exceptional in the East Coast premiere of Poul Ruders' opera. 

Under Andris Nelsons' baton, the musical canvas was remarkably supple with proper light shed on Puccini’s melodic inventiveness and wondrous orchestration.

Muted portrayals dilute the danger of the work, but excellent singing saves the performance. 

Despite its title, the victims dominate Julian Grant and Mark Campbell’s caustic one-act opera. 

Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Le nozze di Figaro boasted a young, capable, and energetic cast, a lively staging, and an intimate venue to put it all across. 

Between Baz Luhrmann’s recent film The Great Gatsby, Northern Ballet’s The Great Gatsby currently at Sadler’s Wells, and Elevator Repair Service’s circulation-testing, eight-hour Gatz at the Noël Coward Theatre last year, Londoners such as myself could be forgiven for feeling all Gatsbied out (in truth, Gatz could probably have achieved that by itself).

Boston Lyric Opera opened a new production of Madama Butterfly on Thursday night, with gorgeous results. From the beautifully articulated set to the connection of the singers, the production was clean and inspired. While the music and the libretto go unchanged, different productions bring out different aspects of the well-loved opera. In one, Butterfly’s lost honor may be central to the retelling.

Just as it seemed that contemporary American opera had sworn off melody completely, composer John Musto brings us The Inspector. Paired with Mark Campbell's brightly comic libretto, Musto's score sweeps the hilarious plot along, punctuated by clever musical references and familiar tunes.

Boston Lyric Opera's production of The Barber of Seville looks, sounds and feels like a storybook come to life. Wildly improbable and completely over the top, the story recounts the antics of Count Almaviva and his quest to win the love of Rosina, freeing her from her vile guardian in the process.

In 1900, a relief ship arrived at a lighthouse in Northern Scotland's Orkney Islands, and discovered the three lightkeepers had gone missing without a trace. Peter Maxwell Davies' opera The Lighthouse takes this moment of history and explores the possibilities of what may have happened. It is a stormy ride of shifting identities, guilt and fear.