If not Leon Botstein, then who?  Nobody but this venerable impresario/conductor—president of Bard College and its annual music festival, music director of the American Symphony Orchestra, author, scholar, etc.—regularly sets out … » Read

AIX-EN-PROVENCE— The Aix Opera Festival is thriving under the artistic direction of Pierre Audi, now in his fourth summer at the helm, and the riches on offer in 2022 are copious indeed. That’s not to suggest that everything in the … » Read

LONDON--Anna Netrebko’s latest  shameful shenanigans aside, blackface in opera seems thankfully to be a thing of the past. Fortunately, such is the depth and power of Verdi’s Otello that in recent years we’ve had ample … » Read

On July 8 the Boston Symphony launched its first full Tanglewood season since 2019. On the podium was Music Director Andris Nelsons, and on the program were Opening Prayer , a brief work by Leonard Bernstein written for the reopening of Carnegie … » Read

Tracing the length and breadth of noteworthy changes in music is an assignment for only the most discerning of writers. Stuart Isacoff--pianist/ musicologist/cultural archeologist—proves well up to the task in his remarkable collection of … » Read

LONDON--It may not have the most profound of plots, but Alcina contains some of Handel's greatest music. For Glyndebourne’s first staging of the opera, which opened July 2, the company has assembled a cast of exceptional vocal beauty, … » Read

LONDON--Given the high quality and stylistic daring of much of the music in Saverio Mercadante’s Il Proscritto ( The Exile ), it seems remarkable that this June 28 concert performance at London’s Barbican Centre was the opera’s … » Read

LONDON--The UK’s opera grandees have invested a great deal of faith in Violet . After languishing for two years in Covid limbo, the debut opera by young English composer Tom Coult was unleashed on the UK this summer in a flurry of … » Read

Like its  new production of Don Giovanni , San Francisco Opera’s other offering this summer—before returning to the customary three in 2023—begins with striking images of a once-great estate that has collapsed. The world … » Read

CHICAGO—In June 2011 Riccardo Muti closed his first season as Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director with a riveting concert version of Verdi’s Otello . I still remember cowering in my seat during the opening storm scene, fearful … » Read