CHICAGO—After more than a decade attending Haymarket Opera Company’s seasons of Baroque opera, I’ve finally figured out why the ensemble’s productions are so delightful. The idea struck me after Friday night’s … » Read

The good fairies generously allotted the skills required to succeed as a conductor to Stephanie Childress . Or so it occurred to me while recently seeing this 24-year-old phenomenon in action leading a spirited, remarkably poised account of … » Read

Upon first blush, the appointment of Christian Thielemann to succeed Daniel Barenboim as music director at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden beginning with the 2024-25 season seemed a good fit. One of the great interpreters of Wagner, Bruckner, and … » Read

Early in the opera Dead Man Walking , based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir of counseling death-row inmates, the protagonist’s car gets stopped for speeding. Sister Helen is racing to cover the 150 miles between her New Orleans … » Read

Scott Altman, current president and CEO of the Cincinnati Ballet, onetime opera singer and opera company executive, is to be the new president and CEO of the Los Angeles Master Chorale as of January 2. He succeeds Jean Davidson, who exited in … » Read

LOS ANGELES—Mozart’s Don Giovanni owes a lot of its durability to its ambiguity. Everyone has a different take on it. Just the description of it as a dramma giocoso invites a vast interpretive range. Take, for instance, the startling … » Read

On the heels of a $100 million renovation to fix a host of problems that had long plagued the iconic venue, the Sydney Opera House is celebrating its 50 th anniversary with a range of special offerings. Among them is the publication of … » Read

LONDON—Whether it was an appearance by rising-star Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho, or just the relative ease of getting to and from London’s Royal Festival Hall for a three o’clock Sunday afternoon event, this September 24 … » Read

T-shirts have taken center stage in the contract negotiations between the New York City Ballet (NYCB) and its orchestra members, whose contract expired in August. The musicians voted on Sept. 19 to wear short-sleeved black t-shirts with … » Read

PHILADELPHIA—In the 1880s, reporter Nellie Bly feigned madness in order to infiltrate the Women’s Lunatic Asylum in New York City. She chronicled its brutal conditions in a series of first-person articles in the New York World , and … » Read