Challenging How Germany Remembers the 1972 Olympics Attack
You don’t expect to see security guards roaming the foyer of the Hannover State Opera, a well-regarded, midsize opera house in a midsize central Germany city. But before the Saturday…
How Directors Mine the Gold at the Heart of Wagner’s ‘Ring’
Is it oil? Is it youth? Is it tactile? Invisible? For Wagner, the magic gold that is stolen from the bottom of the Rhine at the start of his four-opera…
On Site Opera Shuts Down, Citing Financial Woes
For more than a decade, On Site Opera, a small but nimble performing arts group, brought opera to unexpected places: the Bronx Zoo, Madame Tussauds, cafes and soup kitchens. The…
Edmond Dédé’s Opera ‘Morgiane’ to Be Staged for the First Time
In fall 2000, Cox and Danielson traveled to Peyrotte’s house outside Paris, where they chatted over wine and cheese. Then Danielson spent a few hours there reviewing Peyrotte’s scores and…
Angel Blue Doubted Her Path in Opera. Now She’s a Star.
Moments before she went onstage in “Aida” at the Metropolitan Opera on a recent night, the soprano Angel Blue was in her dressing room, smiling and blowing kisses on a…
150 Years of See and Be Seen at Paris’s Palais Garnier Opera House
The Palais Garnier in Paris is among the world’s oldest theaters that still functions more or less in its original state. And long before the appearance of the selfie-stick, the…
At the Cloisters, Sor Juana’s Words Ring Out in Song
The Met Cloisters were alive with the sound of music on a frigid January afternoon. Six nuns in white surrounded a seventh dressed in black, and all were singing. The…
Review: The Philharmonic Breezes Through Wagner’s Epic ‘Ring’
The Metropolitan Opera’s next “Ring” cycle is years away. But for local Wagnerians champing at the bit, the New York Philharmonic offered a teaser this weekend in the form of…
At Prototype Festival, Opera With Lynchian Strangeness
Even before news of his death broke on Thursday, the spirit of the director David Lynch hovered over the Prototype Festival. For 12 years, this annual showcase of experimental opera…