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A new opera by Gregory Spears subverts the Sleeping Beauty trope, with middling results.

Conceived by Anthony Roth Costanzo and Sarah Ruhl, this high-handed pasticcio sets the climate crisis to a soundtrack of Vivaldi.

The intrepid company brings Damiano Michieletto’s well-traveled production of a Rossini rarity to the US for the first time. 

The new opera by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek draws on cult mindsets and conspiracy theories but smartly avoids sensationalism. 

In his role debut as the Genoan Doge, the American baritone continues to burnish his bona fides as the premier Verdi baritone of his generation.

Yuval Sharon's La bohème for Opera Philadelphia proves a mix of great singing and disorienting navigation. 

Lawrence Brownlee further cements his status as the world's leading bel canto tenor with a blazing performance as Rodrigo, the unlikely central figure in Rossini's rendering of the Shakespearean tragedy.

The company returned to its home at the Academy of Music after three years with a brutalist take on Verdi's middle-career masterpiece.

Unstaged performances of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and George Walker's Lilacs highlighted musical inadequacies and deprived audiences of the creative productions they've come to expect from this company.

Director and star Johnathan McCullough gives a riveting performance as a young man scarred by his experiences on the battlefield.

This Requiem was a gift to Music Director Corrado Rovaris for the anniversary of his twenty years with the company.

New National Theatre Tokyo's new staging of Donizetti's jolly Don Pasquale, in Stefano Vizioli's classic production, featured some sparkling vocal performances from a fine cast.

Alessandro Talevi production for Festival O has sight gags and vaudeville tricks aplenty and features splendid voices in a fine cast. 

Davide Livermore's production of La bohème is inspired by the Impressionist troves at The Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Barnes Collection.

The director's world-renowned 1991 conception of Benjamin Britten's 1960 operaA Midsummer Night's Dream finally makes it to America. 

Top-notch singers and some sensitive direction almost make up for Laurent Pelly's frustrating Opera Philadelphia production. 

Written on Skin is a cold but effective opera full of musical and dramatic energy. Opera Philadelphia's new staging and talented young cast do it justice.

Puts’ and Campbell’s fast and furious neo-Victorians launch Philadelphia’s Annual Opera Festival.

Static blocking and an uneven cast can't kill a Lucia di Lammermoor with a star this bright.

Great performances by Lawrence Brownlee and Angela Brown in a fantasia on Charlie Parker's life and death.

Some very fine singing and beautiful, if sometimes confusing, visual effects in Opera Philadelphia's Don Carlo.  

Visually and vocally beautiful, but the case for updating the setting of this story is not made.

With smart direction, elegant design, and vocal fireworks, the Canadian Opera Company's Roberto Devereux offers a complex portrait of a much-loved historical figure.

Bravo to Opera Phila for presenting a startlingly beautiful contemporary operatic work by Osvaldo Golijov, one that's vital in the evolving landscape of 21st century opera.

During Verdi’s bicentenary month and year, it’s fitting that Opera Philadelphia kicked off its 2013/14 season with the work that Verdi himself considers as having launched his own career – Nabucco. Written at a time when Italy longed to be free of foreign rule, Verdi’s name and the expression “Viva Verdi” became synonymous with Italian nationalism and unification.

Take four very talented performers. Throw in a score that pushes them to their vocal limits. Add an accordion and a fishing reel to the orchestra. Mix with a healthy dose of wry humor. Dot with ostrich features in Mary Kay pink. Simmer with sexual innuendo for two hours and eleven minutes.

For the first time in twenty-five years, the Opera Company of Philadelphia has mounted a production of Puccini’s first great opera, Manon Lescaut. The result was an inspired testament to thoughtful direction by Michael Cavanagh, gorgeous sets and costumes by John Pascoe, and several winning performances.

Combine a pleasing production, in a stunning venue (The Academy of Music), located on one of the most picturesque streets in Philadelphia – the Avenue of the Arts – with the marvelous music of Mozart, and you have the makings of a lovely winter afternoon.As I stepped into the street, I remember wishing more February days could have been like this one.

Some operagoers contend that Carmen, the fatalistic gypsy doomed to die, is unlikable. She antagonizes other women at the cigarette factory. She seduces men with abandon. She makes an inexperienced corporal of the guard fall for her, manipulates him into abandoning his military career for a life of smuggling, and then heartlessly turns him out like a pesky stray.

One great advantage of premiering an opera in the United States is that audiences can’t compare productions and casts of past performances and find you lacking. One major disadvantage is that the audience has little or no fluency with the work and may struggle to comprehend its meaning and significance. With the U.S.

La reprise de cette production de 2013 laisse une impression mitigée ; si la mise en scène reste sobrement efficace, le plateau vocal ne convainc pas totalement.

Pour le dernier spectacle de la saison 2015/16, l’Opéra National de Lorraine a choisi une œuvre du répertoire, Lucia di Lammermoor, ce qui sans doute devait lui garantir à la fois une belle présence du public et un succès presque assuré. Pari réussi... seulement en partie.