Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | Bryan Hymel

Carmen dans la mise en scène de Calixto Bieto, présentée actuellement à l'Opéra Bastille, dépeint une héroïne victime du machisme et d'un certain ordre moral conservateur, tout en affirmant sa nécessité d'indépendance et la légimité de ses désirs de liberté.

Ouverture en grande pompe de l'édition 2016 des Chorégies d'Orange avec une Madama Butterfly de haute tenue. 

L'Opéra National de Paris clôture sa Trilogie Populaire de Verdi avec une Traviata théâtralement bien pauvre. 

Pour la Damnation de Faust, Stéphane Lissner a réuni à l'Opéra de Paris sous la baguette de Philippe Jordan la crème des interprètes du moment, et notamment un Faust au style impressionant, pour lequel on se damnerait ! Hélas le metteur en scène A. Hermanis a choisi de transformer l'œuvre en un concept de science-fiction hors de propos.  

Barrie Kosky's divisive production returns to The Royal Opera but has lost its zing. 

In der altbewährten Zeffirelli-Inszenierung glänzt vor allem Maria Nazarova als Musetta.

In einer morbiden Inszenierung von Antú Romero Nunes ist Verdis Les Vêpres siciliennes in München erstmals im franzöischen Original zu sehen.

After its Christmas break, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci return to the Royal Opera in Daminano Michieletto's arresting production. 

Even stronger than first time round, Michieletto's impressive staging is complemented by an outstanding double role debut from Hymel and a heartbreaking Santuzza from Elīna Garanča.

A mural depicting Etna erupting is the only hint of Sicily in Stefan Herheim’s opulent staging, returning to Covent Garden for the first time since the Royal Opera’s Verdi bicentenary celebrations in 2013. 

The LSO’s pedigree in Berlioz is second to none so La Damnation de Faust acted as the perfect showcase in its “This is Rattle” festival. 

Has Health and Safety finally caught up with the Spanish Inquisition? A flameless auto-da-fé and some low-key individual performances meant this revival took time to hit its stride. 

A beautiful production by Alvis Hermanis of Madama Butterfly to open La Scala's new season, but it was Riccardo Chailly's presentation of Puccini's original 1904 score which caught the ear. 

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

Bryan Hymel and Irene Roberts explored the boundaries of love in the latest splendid performance in the Rosenblatt Recitals.

For anyone seeing Carmen for the first time, this Royal Opera revival will have been a more than satisfactory evening. Old hands hoping to see something extra will find it in Hymel's Don José and Car's Micaëla, but not elsewhere.

WNO integrate dance and song to capture the soul of Carmen for the opening of their 60th anniversary season. 

Quinn Kelsey's Rigoletto is commanding, emotional and complex. His bass-baritone has all the qualities you could ask for – darkness and light.

Staging the operatic behemoth that is Berlioz's Les Troyens comes with huge challenges to harness the artistic, technical and dramatic qualities in a work which spans more than four hours. 

American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is the reason to see Anna Bolena, though the production provides plenty of other reasons to stay. 

Zeffirelli's La Bohème at the Met never fails to charm. Balance issues aside, a beautifully sung performance by a very capable cast.

Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin invokes an unattainable glimpse of heaven in a uniquely crafted Verdi Requiem. 

In the opera world, where loyalty to the libretto is oftentimes taken for poor taste and the use of period sets and costumes is attributed to the lack of a directorial concept, seeing a traditional production becomes a rare (and very comforting) treat.

It’s very difficult to write about Berlioz’s Les Troyens without mentioning its length. Tonight’s cinema screening of Fransesca Zambello’s lush production was billed at 341 minutes – that’s 5.6 hours. But beamed live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, those 5.6 hours entailed spectacular operatic entertainment.

Robert le diable’s 1831 opening was perhaps the most successful opera première of all time. Meyerbeer was lauded by luminaries like Chopin, Dumas, Balzac and Heinrich Heine, the opera was played in 69 cities in its first two years and spawned an entire genre of French Grand Opera.

David McVicar’s production of Berlioz’s opera Les Troyens at the Royal Opera House last month was notable for several reasons. Firstly, stellar vocal performances from world-class lead singers; secondly, brilliant acting; thirdly, ravishing music; and lastly, a memorable set – including a curious giant horse and human made out of what looked like scrap weapons and tools.

It's one of the most famous, most studied, most archetypal passages in epic poetry: in Book I of Virgil's Aeneid, the Trojans, exhausted from their voyage and desolate at the loss of their city, gaze down on the city of Carthage as it rises from the African soil, its people scurrying like worker bees in their manifold tasks.

When, in 1859, Gounod’s Faust premiered in Paris, it got an icy cold reception. In fact, shocking as it may sound to anyone even slightly familiar with this opera’s glorious arias, breathtaking duets and melodious ensembles, it got rejected by Paris Opera on the grounds of not being sufficiently “showy”.

Most of Dvořák's ten operas are rarely performed, but Rusalka, his tragic fairy tale of the water nymph who takes human form, has become popular in recent years and is a regular visitor to British opera houses. Last night's production, by directors Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito, started life at the 2008 Salzburg festival and has now arrived in Covent Garden.

When in 2009 Baltimore Opera Company announced bankruptcy and closed its doors indefinitely, opera lovers were devastated. Being left without opera felt like losing a dear family member. However, sad as they were, Baltimoreans never gave up hope that one day their opera would rise from the ashes and come back in its full grandeur.