Performer: David McFerrin

Soula Parassidis gives a fierce vocal and dramatic performance astutely calibrated to the unusual venue.

An opening night of Gregory Spears' opera is more like a dress rehearsal in Boston. 

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

A complex portrait of obsessive and destructive passion.

In James MacMillan’s Clemency, three strangers visit Abraham and Sarah. The aging couple make them welcome and receive the news that Sarah will bear a son – to Sarah’s disbelief. They appear to be angels, coming to bless the couple. But as the travelers prepare to leave, they reveal that their next stop is one of condemnation. The people of the twin towns, Sodom and Gomorrah, will be destroyed.

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.