opera review

With the right cast, Bellini’s florid music of “I Puritani” makes for a compelling experience, and in the Metropolitan Opera’s current production we mostly have one.

Sir Richard Eyre’s production of Bizet’s “Carmen” manages to be colorful while eschewing kitsch.

Gioachino Rossini’s 1816 comic opera “The Barber of Seville” has returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Bartlett Sher’s production with a starry cast.

The rewards of this production of “Nabucco” are ample, as the audience applause and cheering confirmed.

This year, the Met brought back Julie Taymor’s 2004 production of “The Magic Flute”--a stripped-down, 100-minute version of the opera, performed in English.

Georges Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers” is back at the Metropolitan Opera, where the work was last performed was 1916.

The Metropolitan Opera’s production of “Rigoletto” updates the action to 1960 Las Vegas, and the Duke is a Sinatra-style nightclub singer.

The Met is giving Sondra Radvanovsky the opportunity to sing all three Tudor queen roles, and she has made a spectacular start.

Jonas Kaufmann has certainly won the genetic sweepstakes. He has a unique tenor voice, powerful with a baritonal quality and explosive high notes.

Donizetti’s 1834 opera, based on Schiller’s play “Mary Stuart,” is about the conflict between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots.

“Turandot” was Puccini’s last opera, unfinished at his death and completed by Franco Alfano.

While men may be the warriors in the epic opera, women clearly dominate the Met’s performance of Hector Berlioz’s “Les Troyens"—a revival of Francesca Zambello’s 2003 production.

With the right cast, Bellini’s florid music of “I Puritani” makes for a compelling experience, and in the Metropolitan Opera’s current production we mostly have one.

Sir Richard Eyre’s production of Bizet’s “Carmen” manages to be colorful while eschewing kitsch.

Gioachino Rossini’s 1816 comic opera “The Barber of Seville” has returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Bartlett Sher’s production with a starry cast.

The rewards of this production of “Nabucco” are ample, as the audience applause and cheering confirmed.

This year, the Met brought back Julie Taymor’s 2004 production of “The Magic Flute”--a stripped-down, 100-minute version of the opera, performed in English.

Georges Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers” is back at the Metropolitan Opera, where the work was last performed was 1916.

The Metropolitan Opera’s production of “Rigoletto” updates the action to 1960 Las Vegas, and the Duke is a Sinatra-style nightclub singer.

The Met is giving Sondra Radvanovsky the opportunity to sing all three Tudor queen roles, and she has made a spectacular start.

Jonas Kaufmann has certainly won the genetic sweepstakes. He has a unique tenor voice, powerful with a baritonal quality and explosive high notes.

Donizetti’s 1834 opera, based on Schiller’s play “Mary Stuart,” is about the conflict between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots.

“Turandot” was Puccini’s last opera, unfinished at his death and completed by Franco Alfano.

While men may be the warriors in the epic opera, women clearly dominate the Met’s performance of Hector Berlioz’s “Les Troyens"—a revival of Francesca Zambello’s 2003 production.