Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Jill Grove

The young soprano Lise Davidsen scored a successful debut at the Met, with impressive support by conductor Vasily Petrenko, also making a debut, led a memorable revival of Pique Dame. 

Tenor-turned-director José Cura transplants the action from southern Italy to Buenos Aires. 

Chicago's new Faust is a quest for youth but also a reflection on insipiration, fabrication and manipulation. 

A thought-provoking production and killer cast make San Francisco Opera's Elektra top-notch music drama.

The finale was the dramatic and musical high of the night, when both Ana María Martínez and Mariusz Kwiecień let themselves cut loose, laying waste to the bare stage.

Andrea Chénier returns to San Francisco Opera after a long absence, in Sir David McVicar's realistic production. 

Remarkable performances from Karita Mattila and Malin Byström head this strong production of Janáček’s Jenůfa at San Francisco Opera. 

Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka, moving between the worlds and rooted in myth, is a shivering opera to experience with its opulent music and its fantastical plot. 

Bringing out the unabashed colour and detail of the score, Andrew Davis delivered a superb reading in the pit, tightly coherent and with exemplary attentiveness to articulation. 

Ana María Martínez takes on the title role as Dvořák’s nymph Rusalka in a new Lyric Opera production by David McVicar.

The Canadian Opera Company has judiciously chosen a real chestnut (La bohème) and a more complex if less popular work, Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, for its fall season. The latter is given a well-sung and directed production despite some faux pas in the set design and the characterization of Grimes by tenor Ben Heppner.

Aida typifies all that is grand about opera. Its exotic setting, majestic music, and dramatic love triangle can make for an evening unique among performing arts events. It’s not a bad way to close an opera season either. San Diego Opera did so on Saturday, capping a uniformly satisfying season with Zandra Rhodes’ vibrant production that was refreshing and at times thrilling.

“Nibble, nibble, like a mouse – who is nibbling at my house?” As a preschooler, I used to giggle with glee when I would hear this quote from the wicked witch in Hansel and Gretel. No doubt the story was dark, yet Eloise Wilkin’s delightful illustrations and the touching message of brother/sister love enticed me to return frequently to this beloved tale during nightly story time.

Between acts, and between shows, the stage at Chicago’s Civic Opera House is usually blocked from view by a solid mural painted with baroque figures in gold – perhaps the gaudiest feature of an already fussily ornate hall. The gilt-painted screen was up, however, for Elektra, the first show of the Lyric Opera’s new season (along with Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, which runs concurrently).

In our youth, my brother and I adored Cecil B. DeMille’s epic film The Ten Commandments. Not only did we like the well-written and brilliant take on the beloved biblical story of Moses, but we were also fascinated by the lavish sets and historical aspects of the film.

Two years ago, my voice teacher invited to my very first Messiah performance with the Downers Grove Choral Society, of which he was the director. During the three-hour performance, I vividly recall feeling incredibly uplifted in indescribable spiritual bliss for the whole time I spent in the seat, intensely listening to the historically-informed rendition.