Our favorites include premiere recordings of works by Thomas Adès and Anna Thorvaldsdottir, as well as portraits of Missy Mazzoli and Kaija Saariaho.
Category: Opera
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Can One of Opera’s Greatest Singers Get Her Voice Back?
Anita Rachvelishvili, the once-blazing mezzo-soprano, has struggled with vocal problems since her pregnancy two years ago.
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Trinity Church’s ‘Messiah’ Is Still the Gold Standard
The church’s urgent and eloquent version of Handel’s classic oratorio remains an inspired communal rite.
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Review: This ‘Magic Flute’ at the Met Lacks Some Luster
Mozart’s opera, tailored to families in this staging, is big on spectacle and let’s-put-on-a-show verve. What shines? Kathryn Lewek as Queen of the Night.
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24 Things That Stuck With Us in 2023
Films, TV shows, albums, books, art and A.I.-generated SpongeBob performances that reporters, editors and visual journalists in Culture couldn’t stop thinking about this year.
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Under Pressure, English National Opera Will Move to Manchester
Urged to develop a new model by Arts Council England, the opera company will move its base out of London, but it still plans to present opera there.
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Best Classical Music Performances of 2023
Feats, farewells and musical treasures in a year of post-pandemic financial pressures.
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At the Met Opera, ‘Tannhäuser’ Is Halted by Climate Protests
A revival of Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” was notable for the arrival of Christian Gerhaher. But with an abrupt protest, the performance took a turn.
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Putin Ally Valery Gergiev to Lead Bolshoi Theater
The Russian maestro, who heads the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, will also control the Bolshoi in Moscow, replacing Vladimir Urin, who spoke out against the Ukraine war.
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Climate Protesters Interrupt Met Performance of Wagner’s ‘Tannhäuser’
Met officials were forced to bring down the curtain halfway through the opera as protesters unfurled banners that read “No Opera On A Dead Planet.” The performance later resumed.
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When Henry Kissinger Became a Character in an Opera
In 1987, “Nixon in China” meditated on what was then recent history, depicting Kissinger as a smooth diplomat with a brutal side.
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Maria Callas Was Opera’s Defining Diva. She Still Is.
Callas would have turned 100 on Dec. 2. She and her flash of a career remain beacons of artistic integrity and profundity.