En direct, Vidéo: Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | Kennedy Center: Opera House

The dancers of the United Ukrainian Ballet succeeded on all fronts, which bodes well for its future. Hopefully Giselle is just the beginning for this company.

Strong singing but a stellar orchestra and staging make for a riveting production at the Kennedy Center. 

Lots of people talk about keeping opera relevant. WNO shows why this opera always has been.

The combination of a strong, spirited cast and a first-rate orchestral performance led by Daniele Callegari rendered the opera a moving experience in spite of drab staging and latent, unexplored tensions.

A strong new Traviata from Washington National Opera with the welcome house debut of Venera Gimadieva as a fabulous Violetta.

The team of soloists, the chorus and the orchestra, under the baton of Philippe Auguin, powerfully conveyed the spectacular qualities of Verdi's Don Carlo.

Francesca Zambello’s engaging Aida opened the season at Washington National Opera, eventually getting into its stride. 

Space-Age Ballet Frontier premiered to honour JFK. 

Kaneko's vivid designs grace this charming Butterfly. 

Open-ended works provide different angle on Ballet across America

Misty Copeland curates the first of a richly diverse programme celebrating American dance

John Neumeier’s 2005 ballet The Little Mermaid is an exquisitely layered story, told with profound psychological insight, and a burning intensity.

American composer Jake Heggie's early opera performed by Washington National Opera was one of those rare experiences of an opera full of raw power and wrenching emotion with superb performers that one is not likely to forget soon.

Washington National Opera continues its cycle of social justice operas.

Mad Hatters in Alvin Ailey's Gala performance

Ratmansky's outrageously charming screwball comedy for the Mariinsky

American Ballet Theater's Swan Lake is enjoyable

A spirited, fearless fantasy in Cincinnati Ballet's Nutcracker. 

Robert Longbottom's take on Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment captures the spirit of bel canto in Washington DC. 

A fairy-story for grown-ups. Wheeldon's charming Cinderella for the San Francisco Ballet. 

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. 

Mat Eks kicks his dancers loose from the stable: a fresh take on Shakespeare's most celebrated romance. 

Tonight’s Götterdämmerung brought the cycle to a fitting – and wholly American – conclusion. 

Zambello's Ring for the WNO continues to engage and impress. 

Zambello's Die Walküre engages and excites in this promising Ring cycle. 

Das Rheingold stages flawed American Ambitions in the first Ring Cycle in Washington DC. 

A high-spirited divertissement from the New York City Ballet.

Mixed feelings form the Mariinsky Ballet's first performance of Raymonda in Washington. A shortfall in story-telling and emotional communication despite the polished dancing. 

Emotionally-engaged performance of Weill's Apartheid Opera. 

All praise for Ratmansky's Sleeping Beauty, its old graces newly restored. 

A gracious US première of The Winter's Tale by the National Ballet of Canada. 

A righteous, politically-relevant but musically questionable world premiere of Philip Glass' revised Appomattox.

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

Fluttering fans and hearts in Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote, performed by the Royal Ballet in Washington.

A visually striking production of Rossini's La Cenerentola for Washington National Opera.

A pleasing performance from WNO of The Flying Dutchman, with Eric Owens brooding magnificently over the whole. 

A safe performance of Poulenc's extraordinary opera in Washington, lacking in pity and terror.

The arrival of Show Boat at the Washington National Opera this month, after stops in Chicago and Houston, has provoked a certain amount of consternation in operatic circles.

The title role of Bellini’s Norma is one of the most challenging roles in the female repertory. It has been called the most profound portrayal of womanhood in all of opera. It demands a dramatic coloratura soprano with immense vocal power, rare agility, a wide dynamic range, a broad palette of vocal coloration, and instinctive theatricality.

On Saturday night the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts was packed with ardent opera lovers who came to the Washington National Opera to enjoy one of Puccini’s most heartbreaking love stories, Manon Lescaut.

On Wednesday night the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts was more crowded than a shopping mall during the holiday season. Apparently, nothing could keep DC opera lovers from getting to the Washington National Opera - not even the notorious peak hour traffic.It comes as no surprise that Mozart’s Don Giovanni, known to some as "the greatest opera ever written" is on most opera fans’ must-see lists.

When I heard that Nathan Gunn was opening Washington National Opera’s 2012-13 season Celebrity Series, I could not be more excited. Indeed, this American baritone, known in the musical world as “the opera divo”, represents everything that today’s opera fans look for in a singer: a beautiful voice, first-class acting, an appealing physique and of course, a great sense of humor.

Ladies and gentlemen of Washington DC and the nearby lands!If last fall you did not get a chance to journey to New York for the Met’s season-opening production of Anna Bolena – do not fret! Last Saturday the Washington National Opera opened its new season with a production of Anna Bolena (a little too bloody for a season opening if you ask me, but maybe that’s what attracts most people to opera th

When I heard that Washington National Opera’s upcoming production of Jules Massenet’s romantic and beautifully tragic opera Werther would be set in the 20th century, I was intrigued.

When I saw a three-tiered theater set-up on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, consisting of boxes decorated with blue velvet, gold and exquisite paintings, I have to admit that even having seen various different stagings of Verdi’s Nabucco before, I was intrigued.

Ever since I saw Angela Gheorghiu in the title role of Barbara Willis Sweete’s brilliant opera film Romeo and Juliette, this soprano has been on my must-see-no-matter-what list. However, seeing Gheorghiu live is much easier said than done.

I hear that both you and your friend are getting married to wealthy and pretty ladies from Washington DC?My heartiest congratulations, gentlemen! As my early wedding gift, allow me to offer you some marriage wisdom: when your beloved betray you, remember to forgive them and keep living happily ever after.Don’t believe in betrayal? Well, then, allow me to prove my point.

On Thursday night the DC opera fans gathered at the Washington National Opera for the opening night of David Alden’s production of Donizetti’s timeless tale of love and horror, Lucia di Lammermoor. It soon became obvious that the production presented to us was not the most conservative one.