SANTA FE, NM—“Wokeness” doesn’t guarantee artistic success. Santa Fe Opera’s first full season since 2019 includes the premiere of an opera based on M. Butterfly , a Broadway play that used a true story to explore … » Read

LONDON—The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the mainstay of the BBC Proms, covering a wide range of music across the season under a variety of different conductors. It requires a nimble and disciplined approach, and this impressive August 5 … » Read

Following continues Stearns's BOAC review, posted yesterday . The post-minimalist aesthetic has staying power among the Bang on a Can (BOAC) composers, influenced by Dutch minimalist Louis Andriessen, thanks to their ways of applying it on every … » Read

NORTH ADAMS, MA--Any major Bang on a Can event is bound to test what you think music is, what it can say, and even how sound is made. But during the Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend July 28-30 at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in … » Read

LONDON--Cognoscenti of Puccini’s less-performed operas have long recognized that Il Tabarro , the opening act of his 1920 trilogy Il Trittico , is one of his most enthralling and advanced scores.  When followed by the emotional … » Read

PORTLAND, OR--Based on an ancient love story, Dido Reimagined , a new monodrama by Pulitzer-prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, received a thought-provoking performance from Dawn Upshaw and the Brentano … » Read

Caramoor’s summer festival for years held a place on the itinerary of opera goers, thanks to Will Crutchfield’s Bel Canto at Caramoor series. After 2017, when the latter, rebranded as Teatro Nuovo, ventured forth on its own, Caramoor … » Read

LONDON—Opera Holland Park has a reputation as an operatic lifesaver, resuscitating the neglected, and even at times resurrecting the dead. Its double bill of Delius’s scarcely heard of, let alone heard Margot la Rouge and … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO—Charles Jennens’s Biblically based libretto for Handel’s 1745 oratorio Belshazzar stakes out its agenda in straightforward terms. Held captive in Babylon by the title character, the Judeans are freed by Cyrus the … » Read

SEATTLE—A gripping performance of the Verdi Requiem last month not only served as the Seattle Symphony’s (SSO) season finale but drew a double bar over a year marked by turbulent change. Thomas Dausgaard’s abrupt resignation as … » Read