The rumored surge in popular demand for yet another opera blog having failed to materialize, a few words about what can be expected here may be in order. That word “critical,” I’d say, is the key. In my dictionary, the first definition of “criticism” reads, “The act of making judgments; analysis of qualities and evaluations Continue reading…
The Met’s New Macbeth. Plus: Notes on Our Orchestras, and on Ballet.
My main topic today is Verdi’s Macbeth, which opened the 2026-27 season of the Metropolitan Opera on September 22 (I saw the third performance, on September 29). But first, a few notes on two closely related subjects—the present condition of orchestral playing, and some similarities and dissimilarities between opera and ballet, as revealed by recent local Continue reading…
Minipost: schedule for the first post of the new season—”Macbeth” and more.
My first article of the 2026-27 season will be published on Monday, Oct. 19. Its principal subject is the new Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi’s Macbeth, but it will also include a recommendation (with links) for a significant series of entries on the state of orchestral playing by Joseph Horowitz, and some thoughts on the relationship between Continue reading…
Announcing: Webinar Conversation with Will Crutchfield: Opera’s Place in the New Society
Dear devotees: On Thursday, Sept. 24, at 7:00 EST, my longtime friend and colleague Will Crutchfield and I will be tackling the daunting topic of “Opera: Going or Gone?” We’ll try to answer three questions: 1) What sort of society is coming into being as we speak? 2) Can opera find a place in that Continue reading…
Summer Surprise: The Firestone Hour!
By way of tiding us over till the start of a new season, I’m reviving an otherwise obscure article from my archive that I think will interest many readers. It’s another in the series of pieces I wrote for the Sunday New York Times in the early 1990s, whose re-publishing rights I was able to retain.(I) Continue reading…
“Onegin/Traviata,” Grigorian/Feola, and Notes on the Plight
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. Continue reading…