Review: When Akhmetshina's CARMEN Is On Stage at The Met, Don't Fence Her In
by Richard Sasanow
- Jan 6, 2024
Sometimes you hear a singer who embodies a role so completely that it’s hard to imagine her in anything else. That’s how I felt about the wonderful mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina, who’s singing the title role in the Met’s new production of Bizet’s CARMEN, which I saw at its second performance. Her portrayal was as full-bodied as her voice and she sizzled, filling up the stage as much as one can imagine. It’s little surprise that she’s considered the Carmen of the moment, having appeared in seven other productions (with two to come).
VIDEO: Get A First Look At The Met's New Production of CARMEN
by Alan Henry
- Jan 2, 2024
Get a first look at The Met Opera's highly anticipated new production of Carmen. For the winter run of performances through January 27, young mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina stars in the complex and volatile title role.
Review Roundup: Critics Sound Off On CARMEN at The Met Opera
by Joshua Wright
- Jan 2, 2024
What did critics think of The Met's new production of Carmen? In her highly anticipated Met debut, Cracknell reinvigorates the classic story of deadly passion with a staging that moves the action to modern day and explores themes that could not be more relevant today: gendered violence, abusive labor structures, and the desire to break through societal boundaries.
The Met: Live In HD 2023�"24 Season Continues With FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONA
by Chloe Rabinowitz
- Dec 4, 2023
Don't miss the live transmission of Daniel Catán's 1996 opera Florencia en el Amazonas, the first Spanish-language opera at the Met in nearly a century. Join in for this historic cultural and artistic moment as a majority Latinx cast brings this magical realism-inspired production to life.
Review: THE SOUND OF MUSIC at Lyric Opera Of Kansas City
by Alan Portner
- Nov 9, 2023
Now being performed at the Kauffman Center and concluding this weekend is a wonderful rendition by the Lyric Opera of Kansas City of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s final composition together, “The Sound of Music” This production is as good as it gets. Framed by massive settings by Peter J. Davison and glorious costumes by Alex Valasek, “Sound of Music” is the incredible, mostly true tale of the Von Trapp family singers and their escape from the Nazis taken from the Matriarch Maria Von Trapp’s 1949 memoir.
Review: Met Revival of BALLO IN MASCHERA Opens in Alden Production
by Richard Sasanow
- Oct 23, 2023
One of the troubles of being a major institution like the Met is that when they produce a new production of a major opera--and Verdi’s UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, which opened in revival the other night, certainly falls into that category--it’s an expensive undertaking. It's true that sometimes a production can be pulled out of its death tumble, with a new cast or simply time making the absolutely awful suddenly make sense. In the case of the current run of the opera, with Angela Meade, Charles Castronovo and Quinn Kelsey heading the cast, even good and sometimes inspired singing can’t save the day. Alden’s take is simply too laden with concept for it to breathe.
Review: THE FLYING DUTCHMAN at Metropolitan Opera
by Peter Danish
- Jun 2, 2023
Thomas Guggeis, the young German conductor making his Met debut, is Kapellmeister at the Staatsoper Berlin and the designated Generalmusikdirektor of the Oper Frankfurt; pretty impressive for one who has yet to hit his 30th birthday! His Met debut was justly anticipated, as across Europe he is known as something of a Wagner and Strauss specialist. His performance was well-paced and well-colored and energetic. The score provides for enormous surges of energy and power, and the orchestra was certainly up to the task, but Guggeis’ rendition while quite good, was perhaps a tad lacking in thrills – the magnificent Wagner bombast was a little timid and the quieter passages were lovely but just a bit bland. With time and more experience with this orchestra, one can safely expect some exceptional performances in the future.
Review: Thar's Gold �" DAS RHEINGOLD �" at Atlanta Opera in Tomer Zvulun's Entry into 'The Ring'
by Richard Sasanow
- May 1, 2023
There are no supernatural women arriving on horseback to escort slain warriors to the afterlife--just a trio of mermaids, a couple of giants and a loveless dwarf, along with a bunch of gods, demi-gods and grotesque humans in Richard Wagner’s DAS RHEINGOLD, the first part of the composer’s Ring cycle (officially DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN). Saturday night’s audience stayed to cheer the opening of General and Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun’s production after nearly three intermission-less hours.
Review: In This Corner �" Terence Blanchard's CHAMPION Arrives at the Met with Ryan Speedo Green
by Richard Sasanow
- Apr 13, 2023
In search of new audiences, the Met has followed Terence Blanchard’s FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES with the jazz musician/composer’s first opera, CHAMPION, the story of closeted boxer Emile Griffith’s rise and fall from grace. Honestly, never have I heard people whose usual venues are Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium and Monday Night Football on ESPN talk about how they “wanted to see the new opera at the Met.”
Review: Wonderful Music, Marvelous Performances in Met's Season Debut of ROSENKAVALIER
by Richard Sasanow
- Apr 1, 2023
It took Richard Strauss only about 100 minutes apiece (with no breaks) to tell the lurid tale of SALOME and the tragedy of ELEKTRA. So why on earth did he and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal need almost five hours (including two intermissions) to tell the personal stories of an “aging” (she was really in her 30s) noblewoman, a couple of teenagers in love and a repulsive sexual predator?
Annette Bening, Laura Dern, Michael C. Hall, and More Join WAR UNFOLDING Documentary
by Blair Ingenthron
- Apr 1, 2023
Sypher Studios have announced its upcoming documentary, War Unfolding, narrated by four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening and featuring an all-star cast including Eliza Bennett, Rachel Bloom, Gary Cole, Abigail Cowen, Oscar-winner Laura Dern, Monique Edwards, SAG Award winner Michael C. Hall, SAG Award winner Kelvin Harrison Jr., Golden Globe winner Paul Walter Hauser, Thurn Hoffman, Richard T. Jones, Jay Lee, Erick Lopez, Sandra Seacat, Oscar-winner Wes Studi, DeWanda Wise, and others.
Review: Are Met Audiences Blue? Yes, Because TRAVIATA Has an Angel
by Richard Sasanow
- Mar 10, 2023
Soprano Angel Blue’s Violetta didn’t seem as tragic as we’re used to seeing in Verdi’s masterwork and maybe that's right. She’s lived life on her own terms and if she’s dying of tuberculosis, well, c’est la vie. (After all, the source of the piece is French: the Alexandre Dumas fils “La Dame aux Camellias”).
Sonya Yoncheva to Star in Bellini's NORMA at the Met in February
by Chloe Rabinowitz
- Jan 23, 2023
After her highly acclaimed performances as Fedora earlier this month, soprano Sonya Yoncheva will return on February 28 for her Met role debut as the fearless title priestess of Bellini’s scorching bel canto drama Norma.
Review: Met Audience Tips Its Hat to FEDORA on New Year's Eve
by Richard Sasanow
- Jan 1, 2023
Musicologist Joseph Kerman is probably most widely remembered for calling Puccini’s TOSCA “a shabby little shocker.” I wonder whether he’d have something similar to say about Giordano’s FEDORA, which brought the Met audience to its feet on New Year’s Eve?
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