The timing was a bit unfortunate. Just days before the opening night of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Fedora , the company announced in The New York Times that it was planning to intensify its focus on contemporary works. … » Read

The latest trifecta of recordings of new American orchestral and instrumental works includes a disc of strikingly immersive music by Steven Mackey played by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. These recordings hail from David Robertson’s … » Read

John Adams’s opera-oratorio El Niño - Nativity Reconsidered has always felt imposing, immense, and possibly something that could be a Christmas concert piece. Which could be one reason why the enterprising soprano Julia Bullock has … » Read

LONDON—The sun shines brightly in Australia during December, but this account of Schubert’s chilling (and chilly) masterpiece in song, first seen and heard in Sydney earlier this year, practically froze the stage when it reached a … » Read

The audience perches on barstools or lolls on padded ottomans and low-slung couches, diverted by dreamy projections on multiple screens and cocktails they’re free to sip during the show. Performances begin at a fashionable 9 pm. … » Read

This season is contralto-cum-conductor Nathalie Stutzmann’s first as music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and has thus far drawn an ambivalent response from the local music critic. Her third appearance on the podium—for a … » Read

At 26, Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, who made his New York Philharmonic debut last week, is a year older than Leonard Bernstein was when he first appeared with the orchestra, as a replacement for Bruno Walter in a broadcast … » Read

MILAN--Given the tragic war in Ukraine, the choice of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov to open the season of Italy’s leading opera house would seem unfortunate. But opera bookings are made years in advance; not even a moving plea from … » Read

LONDON--Given its recent woes, it was heartening to feel the love for English National Opera at this December 8 concert performance of Benjamin Britten’s Gloriana . Not only did the company receive several rounds of applause before the … » Read

MILAN--Francesco Cavalli composed Eliogabalo in 1667, intending to premiere it during the Venetian Carnival  the following year. That never happened. In fact, it would take over 300 years for the opera to first see the light of day, in 1999 … » Read