This year’s commemorations received a boost when President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. The event dates back to the end of the Civil War when, on June 19, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union … » Read

Opening in May, Opera Theater of St. Louis became one of the first companies in the U.S. to offer the semblance of a season to a live audience. The al fresco venue, with 263 socially distanced seats, is a makeshift facility in a parking lot … » Read

LOS ANGELES – When James Conlon struck up the first chord from Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex June 6 in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, it came as a shock – a delicious shock. Technology is a wonderful thing, a lifesaver … » Read

LONDON--England’s number two opera festival (after Glyndebourne) is on a roll of success that not even a pandemic can stall. It’s been heart-warming to follow Garsington Opera’s ascent under Douglas Boyd, music and artistic … » Read

Written for the German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the title role in Aribert Reimann’s Lear remains one of the ultimate challenges for a great singer and actor. This new staging at the Bavarian State Opera, which streamed May 30, … » Read

CINCINNATI—“Singing is back,” posters for the May Festival exclaimed—a sentiment echoed by conductor Robert Porco on stage Friday evening. After cancelling all activities in 2020, the country’s oldest choral festival … » Read

CHICAGO--The concert was short, but savoring the moment could not have been sweeter. Last weekend, for the first time in more than 14 months, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was back onstage at Symphony Center playing for a live audience. Given … » Read

LONDON--Considering the logistical nightmares of the U.K.’s current public health legislation, all kudos to Glyndebourne Festival for pulling off its second new staging in three days. Il Turco in Italia might not be Rossini’s greatest … » Read

Hard on the heels of Covent Garden’s May 17 return to live performance came U.K. opera’s second big event: the May 20 re-start of Glyndebourne headed by Damiano Michieletto’s penetrating new staging of Janácek’s … » Read

LONDON--Anticipation was certainly running high for this May 17 performance of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito , the first full staging at the Royal Opera House in front of a live audience since the onset of the global pandemic. While the work … » Read