It was Nietzsche who suggested that Bayreuth was a werkstatt , or workshop. And in the past few decades, the festival has been transformed into a laboratory for experimental productions featuring highly advanced forms of  Regietheater, where … » Read

LONDON—The announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II caused the Royal Opera House to cancel its September 8 performance of Don Giovanni with the audience already seated. On September 9 it was determined to go ahead with a revival of … » Read

CHICAGO—Once the curtain goes up, most opera lovers have little trouble suspending belief. A change of heart by a ruthless king who suddenly decides to pardon a gang of assassins gathered to kill him? Check. After heaping scorn on unwelcome … » Read

Last year Michael Spyres appeared in New York with another tenor of notable bel canto accomplishment, Lawrence Brownlee, in a dazzling, even over-the-top display of vocal acrobatics by each. The event had the added attraction of revealing … » Read

BAYREUTH—As described  yesterday in Part I, the first two operas of the Bayreuth Festspiele’s new Ring Cycle unfolded as a mix of a few powerful ideas brought down by silly, outlandish gestures, the entire cycle reimagined as … » Read

PORTLAND, OR—Philip Glass’s The Fall of the House of Usher , based on the classic horror story by Edgar Allen Poe, received a fresh interpretation that successfully blurred the lines of repressed sexuality in a new production for … » Read

BAYREUTH—Richard Wagner created this festival and designed its festspielehaus, specifically for his Ring cycle. Always been run by the composer’s descendants (currently his great-granddaughter Katarina), the venerable event has … » Read

On Aug. 27 Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) conducted the penultimate concert of the summer season at Tanglewood with a performance one critic characterized as “another milestone in the institution’s rich history.” In March MTT had … » Read

If Salzburg Festival Artistic Director Markus Hinterhäuser was justified in calling the festival’s first-ever performances of Puccini’s Il Trittico “important,” it had little robust competition, as illustrated by the … » Read

New music for orchestra, chamber musicians, and voices this month includes a second volume reflecting the eclectic palette of the late Julius Eastman and an important environmental work from crack choir The Crossing. To start, though, John … » Read