In its U.S. debut at Carnegie Hall, the exuberant Teatro Real Orchestra wasn’t leaving the stage until it was good and ready: With an already-generous program, the addition of two encores made the Sept. 15 concert unfurl beyond the … » Read

The Marriage of Figaro is essentially about the boundaries social class establishes and how people choose to challenge them. To relocate the opera’s action to British colonial India, as the San Jose Opera’s new production of … » Read

Robert Spano, newly arrived as music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra after a 20-year stint in Atlanta, opened the season with a performance that was, according to Scott Cantrell in the Dallas New s, “compelling start to … » Read

FRANCE & SPAIN--The Ravel Festival’s three weeks of late summer offerings took place in a range of Basque Country locales—in a farmhouse in the Spanish resort town of San Sebastian, on September 3 [see The Ravel Festival, Part I … » Read

FRANCE & SPAIN— Almost as old as the Pyrenees Mountains that loom above it, the Basque community nestles in the crook where southwest France meets the north coast of Spain. The Basques are fiercely proud and protective of their ancient … » Read

HONG KONG – Jaap van Zweden’s season-opening program with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra last weekend, intended to celebrate the music director’s first appearance here since September 2021, lost much of its thunder due … » Read

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