Performer: Meredith Lustig

Peter Boyer’s oratorio A Hundred Years On, commemorating the centenary of the 1876 World’s Fair, softens the blow of jingoism, looking to an earlier era of hope and broken promise.

The New York City Opera has spent the season reinventing itself from a large company with a large theater to a peripatetic one presenting small works. Perhaps it was apt that they closed their season with Telemann’s Orpheus.

When attending professional opera, patrons can and should expect to see a solid production, strong singing, and elevated production values—a well-rounded show that leaves them more satisfied than not. At the professional level, opera is a commercial transaction around an artistic product.