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After a 19-year absence, the legendary conductor returned to the podium of the Philadelphia Orchestra, leading an inconsistent performance of a signature work.

Angela Meade and Russell Thomas provide the vocal fireworks in LA Opera's staging of David Hockney's beloved production designs. 

An attractive supporting cast isn't sufficient to bring this revival of David Alden's Ballo in maschera to life in New York. 

Angela Meade fills in for an indisposed soprano in Los Angeles Opera’s company debut of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux.

A bland staging: at the end what really emerged was Rossini’s glorious music, its intelligent construction and perfect beauty.

Angela Meade shone in the soprano solo, beautifully backed by leader Tamas Kocsis, in the passage that segues into the stunning "Abraham thou didst promise" section.

Mefistofele proves a mixed blessing: good meets evil, devils fight with angels, lovely lyricism alternates with bombast and second-rate material.

In a dated production by Hans Neuenfels, conductor Giacomo Sagripanti leads a musically successful Trovatore, where Angela Meade and Anita Rachvelishvili show their vocal brilliance.

Despite a great cast, the Metropolitan Opera's revival of Semiramide bores with tacky costumes and no direction.

The winter revival of the Met’s opening night Norma brought a new conductor and new stars in the main two female roles.

Under Will Crutchfield’s direction the festival has focused on the rediscovery of forgotten 19th-century Italian works and celebrates the legacy of the bel canto era. 

Angela Meade is the standout on opening night of Los Angeles Opera's Norma.

We find Donald Runnicles and his BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on fine form for a dramatic Verdi Requiem, packed with magical sound pictures and lashings of all-important terror. 

Placido Domingo was "suffering from a bad cold" on Saturday afternoon, so baritone Luca Salsi, scheduled to sing Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor later that night, put on the costume and delivered a convincing last minute Don Carlo in Verdi's Ernani.

New York Philharmonic under its music director Alan Gilbert delivered an impressive performance of Verdi's famous Requiem, with an excellent ensemble of soloists and chorus.

In the spirit of Hallowe'en, Mahler’s Second Symphony focuses on the idea of Zombification; however, any mention of eating brains didn’t pass Mahler’s final edits. 

At the 2014 Edinburgh International Festival, Gianandrea Noseda leads the Teatro Regio Torino in a concert performance of Rossini's William Tell that offers enormous variety without quite hitting the bull's eye.

Like Falstaff, I found myself attempting to gobble up as much as I could: the amusing story, Robert Carsen's resourceful directing, and the brilliant music. In addition to the strong instrumental performing, the singing was, on the whole, delightful.

The title role of Bellini’s Norma is one of the most challenging roles in the female repertory. It has been called the most profound portrayal of womanhood in all of opera. It demands a dramatic coloratura soprano with immense vocal power, rare agility, a wide dynamic range, a broad palette of vocal coloration, and instinctive theatricality.

Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs hold an important place in the musical canon for voice and orchestra. The 81-year-old composer wrote them in 1948 from his post-war home in Switzerland, setting poetry by Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eichendorff.

The prefab riffs of computer programs like GarageBand aren’t entirely new. As shown by the musicologist Robert Gjerdingen, many 18th- and early 19th-century composers used pedagogical materials as a basis for their compositions, “composing out” passages in creative ways. But this method is not something the ordinary listener is supposed to recognize.

On Saturday night the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater was packed with opera fans who had come to enjoy a solo recital from aspiring American soprano Angela Meade. No wonder this one-time-only performance was a complete sell-out – there was no way that DC opera fans would pass up the opportunity to sneak-preview her performance, as she is up for the title role in Bellini’s Norma later this season.

Read our review of Pier Luigi Samaritani's production of Verdi's Ernani in its 2012 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

When death takes away everyone you ever loved, acting cool and staying amiable might not be the easiest things to do. You start having thoughts you never dared think before. You start questioning the unquestionable. Chances are you will turn into an agnostic. Giuseppe Verdi did.