LONDON—The French have a word for it: loufoque . It means zany, bizarre, bewildering…in fact all things preposterous. In opera, there is nothing more “loufoque” than Offenbach’s satirical operetta Orphée aux … » Read

In June 2020 the 45-year-old Takács Quartet will welcome a new violist in Richard O'Neill. He succeeds Geraldine Walther, who is retiring after 15 years with the ensemble; her final concert with the group will be on May 22, 2020, at the … » Read

British director Amy Lane, head staff director for the Royal Opera, is to become artistic director of the ten-year-old Copenhagen Opera Festival. Having started out as a backup singer for the likes of Barry Manilow, she subsequently moved on to … » Read

Two recent incidents signal the growing and disruptive intrusion of cellphones into performances. In New York, Joshua Henry reached into seats onstage during the Off-Broadway musical The Wrong Man to grab a phone being used to record his … » Read

Luigi de Magistris, Mayor of Naples (Italy) and president of the city’s Teatro San Carlo, has announced that St é phane Lissner [pictured] current general director of the Paris Opera, is to be the new superintendent of the Teatro San … » Read

Annilese Miskimmon—current director of opera at Den Norske Opera and Ballet/Norwegian National Opera & Ballet—is to be the new artistic director of the English National Opera. She succeeds Daniel Kramer, who left in August after … » Read

Jörg Widmann is no stranger to the U.S. Music by the Munich-born composer (and Juilliard trained clarinetist) has proved popular over here with works popping up on the programs of most major orchestras. This summer he was resident at the … » Read

After an absence of almost fifty years—49 years and 253 days to be exact—the Beatles’ Abbey Road is back on top of the charts in the U.K. The last album recorded by the Fab Four was released in 1969. Although Let It Be was … » Read

NEW YORK — Some in the audience wore tuxedos and evening gowns, others wore jeans and sneakers. There was even a man wearing a black sleeveless shirt and blue suede cowboy boots. The Metropolitan Opera began regular Sunday-afternoon staged … » Read

The other shoe dropped today, as the Los Angeles Opera announced that its President and CEO Christopher Koelsch will add the responsibilities of general director to his role in the wake of Plácido Domingo’s resignation last week. … » Read