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The audience for The Met's first performance of La fanciulla del West this season arrived loaded for bear. Not only were they disappointed that Jonas Kaufmann was not singing (he's slated for shows starting 17th October), but their disappointment was heightened by the fact that tenor Yusif Eyvazov was singing.

Netrebko met the audience’s high expectations, as she does every time, conquering the challenges with her remarkable artistry. 

A debuting conductor, two new singers, and a fine ensemble of singers bring unexpected joy to the Met's traditional La bohème with fresh and youthful energy.

The Met's new season opens with a new Samson et Dalila only marginally more trashy than Saint-Saëns’ peculiar brand of kitschy orientalism.

And the new, Spring casting for David McVicar's new production of Tosca has an ace in the hole – Anna Netrebko – and she certainly did not disappoint. 

Bartlett Sher's production of Gounod's Romeo et Juliette returns to the Met. 

Laurent Pelly’s staging provided some of the most memorable moments in this performance of Cendrillon. 

The role of Luisa, some of the daintier coloratura aside, fits Sonya Yoncheva like a glove. 

Amidst mixed vocal performances, competent orchestral playing and spectacular staging, Guanqun Yu took the limelight as a devout and sincere Liù.

Phelim McDermott’s new Met production is set in Brooklyn’s Coney Island in the late 1950s and is brilliantly vivid looking, but Mozart's music plays second fiddle. 

"She commands the stage, she commands the notes, she commands the tension": Christine Goerke's portrayal of Elektra haunts The Met. 

A star-turn from Ermonela Jaho as Puccini's heroine. 

A terrific cast in the Metropolitan Opera's revival of La bohème... “near the top of a lifetime of Bohèmes” for our reviewer. 

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

The Met’s production of Wagner’s Parsifal is a harrowing affair, entrancing in its refusal to charm. 

Towering above all the other meritorious singers in this performance, was the phenomenal Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili 

David McVicar's uninspiring Cavalleria rusticana remains problematic, but a strong Pagliacci leaves the New York audience gasping. 

A decision to offer traditional stagings for standard repertoire may be a dangerous path to tread for the Met's future.

A conventional and quite predictable staging of Lehár’s most famous operetta was saved by dedicated musicians.

Under elegant leadership of conductor Harry Bicket, the Met's revival of the "Marriage of Figaro" succeeds with a strong ensemble of cast.

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

Ailyn Pérez draws every eye and ear to her in an easy-on-the-eye production that doesn't solve some of the work's inherent contradictions.

 “The Minghella Butterfly” has physically lost none of its luster, but the singing did not live up to the staging.

Adès opera resists explanation, and the ambiguity of the story drives much of its compelling nature. 

The Met succeeded in casting two strong singers for the difficult lead roles of Puccini's final opera. 

The musical experience was dominated by the imagery making spectators feel, at least at times, overwhelmed.

A revival of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1981 production was graced by an impressive case, including the Met debut of soprano Angel Blue. 

Bartlett Sher's production of The Tales of Hoffmann, revived at The Met, takes a Kafka-esque, surreal view of the opera.

Sondra Radvanovsky scores a rousing success in the taxing title role of Bellini's masterpiece in New York.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin led an intriguing performance of Wagner's Flying Dutchman at the Met with a superb orchestra and an excellent ensemble of singers. 

There are several things wrong with the new Robert Carsen directed Der Rosenkavalier that just opened at the Met, but the singing is not among them.

The evening was dominated by Anna Netrebko, who reprised the role of Tatiana with fresh insights and vocal charisma.  Robin Ticciati led the Met Orchestra to probe a new depth of the score.

The Metropolitan Opera’s now 29-year old production of Aida is still standing and still looking good.

The Met revived Beethoven's only opera Fidelio with a strong cast and excellent chorus and orchestra, with a production that celebrates liberty and love.

Mozart's Idomeneo proved to be a challenge for some of the soloists initially but the superb orchestra under James Levine brought about a successful opening evening at the Met.

About halfway through the second act of Verdi's La traviata at the opera's second Met performance of the season, soprano Sonya Yoncheva went from being a really good Violetta to being a great Violetta.

From the moment he stepped on stage as our ill-fated title character, Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo seemed as if he may burst at the seams. 

As it turned out, the second performance of the Met’s revival of I puritani was the one to see – it offered some of this season’s greatest singing – and a surprise.

The Metropolitan Opera's new produdtion of Rusalka fails to explore a deeper complexity of the fairy tale, although a strong ensemble of singers and the superb Met Orchestra make it a musically compelling performance.

The gambling tables and neon lights of Las Vegas might not be the images which immediately enter your head when you think of Verdi’s Rigoletto, but bold art is often created and progressed by the pushing of boundaries and by challenging audiences to reimagine the familiar.

Vittorio Grigòlo and Diana Damrau repeated and cemented their intense on-stage relationship at the Met in Bartlett Sher's new production of Roméo et Juliette.

Elijah Moshinsky’s 15-year old production of Verdi’s Nabucco has returned to the Met, ostensibly as a vehicle for Placido Domingo.

The Met revived Jurgen Flimm's modern production of Salome, with Patricia Racette making a successfu last minute role debut in the title role.

Conductor Susanna Mälkki, in her Met Opera debut, led the Met Opera Orchestra in a limber performance of Ms Saariaho's gorgeous music, the first woman-authored score to be heard at the Met in 113 years.

Anna Netrebko scored an unmitigated success in her first Manon Lescaut at the Met, almost obliterating director Richard Eyre’s and designer Rob Howell’s misconceived production.

The return of the Met's Aida was a joyous celebration of the art form with excellent singers and orchestra doing what they do best against the backdrop of a traditional but effective staging.

Don Giovanni is an opera which has as its title character a man who is an unrepentant womaniser, who ultimately receives his just reward in one of the most famous scenes in opera where he is consumed into the fires of hell.

Olivier Tambosi’s controversial production of Janáček's Jenůfa first appeared at the Met in 2003.

Fabio Luisi conducts a solidly cast Guillaume Tell with panache, Rossini's final opera returning to the Metropolitan Opera after a long absence. 

A winning ensemble of singers led by James Levine makes the revival of Rossini’s early opera a success.