SAN FRANCISCO--Often, when there’s a new piece on the program, much of the audience will be unfamiliar with the composer. That was certainly not the case at Davies Symphony Hall on November 11, when Danny Elfman’s Cello Concerto had … » Read

LOS ANGELES – Lately, Rhiannon Giddens has been, and will be, visible all over Southern California. She turned up at the 2021 Ojai Festival in several programs that ran the table of her multiple interests and talents. This past October, she … » Read

In “Wind & Wave,” the National Symphony Orchestra offered a program apparently inspired by works named for the sea and sky. The Nov. 10 evening began with the overture to Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer in a … » Read

LONDON--Hot on the heels of Glyndebourne’s immaculately sung and stylishly staged Alcina comes another original take on Handel’s magical extravaganza. The Royal Opera House’s version—a co-production with the Met, which … » Read

LOS ANGELES – The endlessly inventive Los Angeles Philharmonic is putting forth yet another mold-breaking festival this month. They call it “Rock My Soul,” a celebration of historical and present-day collaborations between … » Read

When the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) takes the stage in Yokohama's Minato Mirai Hall Nov. 9, it will be the first American orchestra to visit Japan since the pandemic. The four-city, six-concert tour of Japan is the ensemble’s first … » Read

Last week’s New York Philharmonic program offered another good test of the new David Geffen Hall acoustics. Earlier programs embraced a wide range of repertory, both as an attestation of the orchestra’s fresh efforts at diversity and … » Read

LONDON—Life met art on November 3 although few spectators realized it at the time. Gilbert and Sullivan, arch dissectors of the 19 th -century’s ruling classes, reached into the 21st as English National Opera mounted a rare production … » Read

Last summer, a surge of coronavirus cases among Teatro Nuovo personnel led to the cancellation of the company’s brief, two-opera season. Happily, and as promised, it finally came to light on November 2, with Rossini’s Maometto … » Read

SAN DIEGO—At the center of El último sueño de Frida y Diego ( The Last Dream of Frida and Diego ), Frida Kahlo decides to cross over from the underworld and return to the realm of the living. It’s a conceit that cries … » Read