CHICAGO—There’s something surprisingly luxurious about seeing Verdi’s Luisa Miller live. For one thing, it’s rarely performed. Lyric Opera of Chicago, which unveiled a splendidly sung production Saturday night at the Lyric … » Read

LONDON—The French have a word for it: loufoque . It means zany, bizarre, bewildering…in fact all things preposterous. In opera, there is nothing more “loufoque” than Offenbach’s satirical operetta Orphée aux … » Read

Jörg Widmann is no stranger to the U.S. Music by the Munich-born composer (and Juilliard trained clarinetist) has proved popular over here with works popping up on the programs of most major orchestras. This summer he was resident at the … » Read

With its 99 choristers, 75 supernumeraries and enough bling to sink the Titanic, Franco Zeffirelli’s ultra-lavish production of Turandot is rightly considered a trinket in the Metropolitan Opera’s treasure chest, having held its place … » Read

As the train pulls into Ossining, in Westchester, NY, I catch the glimmer of the barbed wire surrounding Sing Sing Prison through the window. It’s an eerie welcome; the proximity successfully magnifies the impact of The Wait Room , San … » Read

LONDON—Gluck’s most famous opera should be a gift to any creative team but—in the U.K. at least—it’s surprising how rarely it has worked in recent years. Orfeo ed Eurydice has a singing cast of three and an ocean of … » Read

Although opera is more familiar next door at the Met, the New York Philharmonic gave its cousin a run for its money with a double bill of Schoenberg’s rarely staged monodrama Erwartung and Bartók’s more familiar … » Read

In the annals of the great Romantics, few embody the tensions among fame, fortune, and the pleasures of worldly love—and the contrasting desire to sublimate oneself in a straightjacket of religiosity—like Franz Liszt. The flamboyant … » Read

LONDON—There was a stirring in the bowels of Covent Garden this week as Irish composer’s Gerald Barry’s first opera received its first London airing since its inception almost three decades ago. It proved to be a trying … » Read

On September 26, high society and celebrity guests entered Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater on a red carpet for New York City Ballet’s Fall Fashion Gala, an annual event pairing choreographers with couture designers to create … » Read