First, three recommendations:

1. This summer, Will Crutchfield’s Teatro Nuovo will be presenting, along with Rossini’s delightful “Il Turco in Italia,” the somewhat revised version of “Don Giovanni” that the Garcia company, at the behest of Lorenzo da Ponte, brought to New York in a season considered the birth of Italian opera in the city. In connection with the production, Will has unearthed a witty, pointed, and thought-stimulating essay by da Ponte, which he has published, along with some commentary of his own. The views of both authors should be of interest to any opera devotee, and can be found here.   

2. David McKee, a longtime colleague on the lamented Opera Quarterly (I in the eyewash masthead position of Advisory Editor or some such, but David as an actual Contributing Editor and writer), frequent contributor back then to Opera News, and winner of a First Prize award from the Society of Professional Journalists for his coverage of Van Cliburn’s final tour. More recently, he has established a critical blog centered in the Atlanta area, where he covers the Atlanta Opera, one of our important regional companies, and the Atlanta Symphony, but also reports on new opera and classical music recordings. He writes clearly and insightfully, and in good humor. I think you’ll enjoy his work. 

3. By way of an advance save-the-date alert: on Thursday, September 24th, Will Crutchfield and I will be discussing “Opera’s Place in Society—Going or Gone?” via videocast for the Jussi Björling Society, USA. A large and gnarly topic, but I think a vital one, which we hope to at least make a beginning on opening up. There’ll be a Q&A after our presentation. You’ll get further notice and info as we get closer, but keep us in mind in the meanwhile.

And to today’s subjects: 

I’ve attended and written about only five performances during the Metropolitan Opera’s 2025-26 season, so I can’t very well give you a responsible artistic overview of it. On the economic struggle front, the most momentous event has been the breakdown of the company’s agreement with the government of Saudi Arabia, which would have involved a large cash infusion in exchange for a three-week stand in Riyadh during the Met’s now-annual February hiatus. Though the agreement reeked of political patronage from a morally compromised source, and though I think Peter Gelb’s artistic policies have been have been unconstructive and his development ideas dubious, this is an area in which I have considerable sympathy for him. If, at a time of financial crisis in the performing arts unequaled since the Great Depression, a national cultural institution of the Met’s stature does not qualify for significant subsidy from one’s own government, perhaps one can be forgiven for turning to another, and not feeling in a position to be too choosey. Given our ongoing Iranian “excursion,” hospitality from any other regime in that region (Dubai? The Emirates?) is surely not forthcoming, and short of descending on Caracas for a week or two or sticking it to Xi with a tour of Taiwan, I’m afraid it’s back to the usual bowing and scraping here.