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Joana Mallwitz makes a radiant Met debut leading a vigorous Figaro revival

By Susan Stempleski, 31 March 2025

A rising German conductor draws superb playing from the orchestra in the Met’s fifth revival of Richard Eyre’s witty 2014 production.

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New York City

01 Apr 2025

Joana Mallwitz makes a radiant Met debut leading a vigorous Figaro

By Susan Stempleski

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Philadelphia

Mahler and Heggie: songs of love and loss from the Philadelphia Orchestra

By Cameron Kelsall, 11 January 2025

Yannick Nézet-Séguin pairs Mahler's weighty Ninth Symphony with Jake Heggie's Songs for Murdered Sisters, which considers the scourge of domestic violence against women.

***11

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***11

Philadelphia

12 Jan 2025

Songs of love and loss from the Philadelphia Orchestra

By Cameron Kelsall

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Pittsburgh

Mendelssohn Choir shines in Pittsburgh Symphony’s mostly choral program

By Sam Jacobson, 06 December 2024

Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony perform five diverse works, culminating in an affecting reading of Fauré’s pensive Requiem.

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Pittsburgh

07 Dec 2024

Mendelssohn Choir shines in Pittsburgh Symphony’s choral program

By Sam Jacobson

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Edinburgh

Malin Byström stars in a radiant Capriccio to close the Edinburgh International Festival

By David Smythe, 25 August 2024

Capriccio proves a fitting end to the Philharmonia’s EIF residency, with Alexander Soddy conducting a fine cast headed by Swedish soprano Malin Byström.

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Edinburgh

26 Aug 2024

Malin Byström stars in a radiant Capriccio to close the EIF

By David Smythe

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High Wycombe

Madcap comedy from young Verdi – who knew? Un giorno di regno at Garsington

By David Karlin, 29 June 2024

Christopher Alden, Chris Hopkins and an excellent cast send us a comic roller coaster ride with Verdi’s ultra-rarely performed second opera.

*****

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High Wycombe

30 Jun 2024

Madcap comedy from Verdi: Un giorno di regno at Garsington

By David Karlin

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Toronto

Canadian Opera Company’s Don Pasquale gets a one-note Dolce Vita treatment

By Gianmarco Segato, 26 April 2024

Canadian Opera Company's Don Pasquale offers a stylish Italian 1960s Fellini-inspired concept that delivers comedy but omits the pathos.

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Toronto

27 Apr 2024

COC’s Don Pasquale gets a one-note Dolce Vita treatment

By Gianmarco Segato

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Brussels

Mixed messages lost in the medium: Foccroulle's Cassandra premieres at La Monnaie

By Eleanor Knight, 10 September 2023

Foccroulle’s limited score imitates environmental catastrophe while Jocelyn’s libretto tries – unevenly – to understand why we might ignore it.

**111

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**111

Brussels

11 Sep 2023

Mixed messages lost in the medium: Foccroulle's Cassandra

By Eleanor Knight

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Toronto

Joshua Hopkins and the NACO shine in Heggie and Atwood’s new Songs for Murdered Sisters

By John Gilks, 11 February 2023

The National Arts Centre Orchestra and Joshua Hopkins bring Jake Heggie and Margaret Atwood’s Songs for Murdered Sisters to Roy Thomson Hall, intriguingly partnered with two works from the high Romantic.

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Toronto

12 Feb 2023

Hopkins shines in Heggie and Atwood’s Songs for Murdered Sisters

By John Gilks

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New York City

Matthew Aucoin's timeless mythology Eurydice opens at The Metropolitan Opera

By Kurt Gottschalk, 23 November 2021

Hell is a cold place with black walls and a black moon in Mary Zimmermann's production, which premiered at Los Angeles Opera in early 2020, and transfers to New York.

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New York City

26 Nov 2021

Matthew Aucoin's timeless mythology Eurydice opens at The Met

By Kurt Gottschalk

Edinburgh

Edinburgh International Festival closes in style with a terrific Ariadne auf Naxos

By David Smythe, 25 August 2021

Memorable role debuts from Dorothea Röschmann, David Butt Philip and Catriona Morison make Ariadne auf Naxos with the RSNO and Lothar Koenigs a night to savour.

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Edinburgh

26 Aug 2021

EIF closes in style with a terrific Ariadne auf Naxos

By David Smythe

Los Angeles

Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice: a new take on an heroic journey

By Matthew Richard Martinez, 01 February 2020

Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice enjoys its world premiere at LA Opera.

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Los Angeles

02 Feb 2020

Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice: a new take on an heroic journey

By Matthew Richard Martinez

New York City

Met’s family-friendly Magic Flute vanquishes the forces of darkness

By Linda Holt, 15 December 2019

New York City's Metropolitan Opera restages its shorter, family-friendly version of Mozart's The Magic Flute with great music and delightful visuals.

*****

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New York City

16 Dec 2019

Met’s family-friendly Magic Flute vanquishes the forces of darkness

By Linda Holt

San Francisco

It's a Wonderful Life: a new holiday tradition for the opera world

By Donna Stoering, 20 November 2018

A wonderfully realized production at San Francisco Opera of Jake Heggie's operatic version of a holiday classic.

*****

*****

San Francisco

21 Nov 2018

Heggie creates a new holiday tradition for the opera world

By Donna Stoering

New York City

An unexpected Met debut in Roméo et Juliette

By Hilary Stroh, 23 April 2018

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

***11

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New York City

24 Apr 2018

An unexpected Met debut in Roméo et Juliette

By Hilary Stroh

Chicago

Questions remained unanswered in a Così fan tutte revival in Chicago

By Edward Sava-Segal, 21 February 2018

Synergies between singers compensated for accurate but unexciting orchestral playing.

***11

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Chicago

23 Feb 2018

Questions unanswered in a Così fan tutte revival in Chicago

By Edward Sava-Segal

Oslo

An underwhelming Barber in Oslo

By Aksel Tollåli, 14 October 2017

François de Carpentries' Oslo production of The Barber of Seville was both unfunny and underwhelming.

**111

**111

Oslo

17 Oct 2017

An underwhelming Barber in Oslo

By Aksel Tollåli

Amsterdam

The New Prince a colourful and fast-paced revue in Amsterdam

By Nicolas Nguyen, 24 March 2017

Mohammed Fairouz’s second opera, The New Prince, premiered in Amsterdam, is directed by Lotte de Beer as a colourful, dizzyingly fast-paced revue.

***11

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Amsterdam

26 Mar 2017

A colourful and fast-paced revue in Amsterdam

By Nicolas Nguyen

Washington

Upstairs Downstairs comedy: Figaro opens Washington's season

By Hilary Stroh, 22 September 2016

With the many glories of the score and the easy butts of class and marital comedy, it is hard not to be pleased by a Figaro performance, although tonight’s did not sparkle as much as it might have.

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Washington

23 Sep 2016

Upstairs Downstairs comedy in Washington

By Hilary Stroh

Santa Fe

Consummate good taste: Amanda Majeski stars in a superb Santa Fe Capriccio

By Maria Nockin, 05 August 2016

Maestro Leo Hussain’s translucent rendition of the score made Capriccio the crowning glory of the Santa Fe Opera Season.

*****

*****

Santa Fe

09 Aug 2016

Majeski stars in a superb Santa Fe Capriccio

By Maria Nockin

Chicago

The warmth of tragedy: Roméo et Juliette at the Lyric

By Dan Wang, 22 February 2016

If the production is full of pleasures, they do not immediately or obviously connect to a sense of some larger plan, which might have been helped along with a more dynamic set.

***11

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Chicago

26 Feb 2016

Roméo et Juliette at the Lyric

By Dan Wang

Houston

A charmed Little Prince at Houston Grand Opera

By Sydney Boyd, 04 December 2015

As part of the season of Scrooges and Santas, it’s a refreshing reminder of sweet simplicity in a complicated world.

***11

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Houston

06 Dec 2015

A charmed Little Prince at Houston Grand Opera

By Sydney Boyd

Santa Fe

Celestial Mozart despite the earthbound plot: La finta giardiniera at Santa Fe Opera

By Michael Wade Simpson, 25 July 2015

Mozart himself might have pulled a few weeds from this early opera. Lovely voices and sprightly playing can't overcome an overgrown plot in Santa Fe.

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Santa Fe

28 Jul 2015

Celestial Mozart despite the earthbound plot

By Michael Wade Simpson

Chicago

Weinberg's The Passenger only partially successful at Lyric Opera of Chicago

By Dan Wang, 04 March 2015

David Pountney's production of Mieczysław Weinberg's opera The Passenger travels to Chicago.

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Chicago

09 Mar 2015

Weinberg's The Passenger only partially successful

By Dan Wang

Glyndebourne

Rinaldo at Glyndebourne: If only all history lessons were this much fun!

By Mark Pullinger, 09 August 2014

Chalk and talk is dead. Teachers scramble to bring history to life in classrooms up and down the country through dressing-up days and interactive whiteboard activities. Few, however, can equal Robert Carsen’s efforts in his riotous production of Handel’s Rinaldo, here on its first Glyndebourne revival since its 2011 première.

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Glyndebourne

10 Aug 2014

If only all history lessons were this much fun!

By Mark Pullinger

New York City

The Met in HD: Turandot, 2009

By David Karlin, 07 November 2013

Read our review of Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's Turandot in its 2009 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

New York City

01 Dec 2013

The Met in HD: Turandot, 2009

By David Karlin

Toronto

La bohème from Canadian Opera Company

By James Karas, 09 October 2013

The Canadian Opera Company provides a traditional production (that’s a complement) of Puccini’s La bohème at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Its strengths are a well-sung Mimì (Grazia Doronzio) and Marcello (Joshua Hopkins), and fine directing by John Caird. The set design is very good except for the first act and the orchestral playing is sound.

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Toronto

14 Oct 2013

La bohème from Canadian Opera Company

By James Karas

New York City

The Met live in HD at the Barbican: Maria Stuarda

By Emily Owen, 19 January 2013

It was with great curiosity that I set off for the Barbican on Saturday night. I’ve never been to see an opera in the cinema before – I don’t think I’ve even sat through a pre-recorded film of an opera for many years, as I am a great fan of the “real thing”: opera performed live on stage.

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New York City

22 Jan 2013

The Met live in HD at the Barbican: Maria Stuarda

By Emily Owen

New York City

The Met in HD, Maria Stuarda, 2013

By Chanda VanderHart, 19 January 2013

Read our review of David McVicar's production of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda in its 2013 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

New York City

01 Dec 2013

The Met in HD, Maria Stuarda, 2013

By Chanda VanderHart

New York City

Messiaen and Bach at Carnegie Hall

By Stephen Raskauskas, 15 December 2011

Robert Spano conducted the Orchestra of St. Luke's and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus in an ambitious concert in Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. The results were as mixed as the programming, which featured J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 and Magnificat, alongside Messiaen's Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine.

New York City

05 Jan 2012

Messiaen and Bach at Carnegie Hall

By Stephen Raskauskas

Glyndebourne

Glyndebourne's Rinaldo on Tour

By Nahoko Gotoh, 22 October 2011

Glyndebourne has a great track record with staging Handel’s works. In recent years, there have been great productions of Theodora, Rodelinda and Giulio Cesare, all of which have proved equally popular at subsequent revival and Glyndebourne on Tour (GTO) productions as well.

Glyndebourne

26 Oct 2011

Glyndebourne's Rinaldo on Tour

By Nahoko Gotoh

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Brussels

La Dame de Pique et la tristesse du socialisme réel à La Monnaie

By Patrice Lieberman, 11 September 2022

En ouverture de saison, la production mise en scène par David Marton et dirigée par Nathalie Stutzmann est un succès, porté par une belle distribution.

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Brussels

13 Sep 2022

La Dame de Pique et la tristesse du socialisme réel à La Monnaie

By Patrice Lieberman