Zachary Woolfe
Posts
Lincoln Center’s Audiences Deserve Music Worthy of Them
When listeners were given the power to program an orchestral concert, the results were surprising.
This Soprano Sings ‘the Sound of the Soul’
Ermonela Jaho’s combination of consummate technique and utter commitment has earned her ovations, critical praise and the adoration of her colleagues.
A Lost Masterpiece of Opera Returns, Kind of
The Aix Festival is presenting a new version of “Samson,” a never-performed work by Rameau and Voltaire, two of France’s most important cultural figures.
The Composer Who Changed Opera With ‘a Beautiful Simplicity’
In the mid-1700s, Christoph Willibald Gluck overthrew the musical excesses around him. A marathon double bill in France shows the vibrancy of his vision.
Four Takeaways From the Metropolitan Opera’s Risky Season
The company has bet that new operas will attract new, more diverse audiences and revitalize a stale repertory. Is the gamble paying off?
Review: ‘Inside Light’ Gives a Taste of Stockhausen’s Opera Epic
At the Park Avenue Armory, a five-hour selection of pieces from the 29-hour “Licht” cycle is best appreciated as a marathon performance.
Gone in a Six-Year Flash: Farewell to the New York Phil’s Maestro
The pandemic-derailed tenure of Jaap van Zweden, the orchestra’s music director, was too short to give us a full sense of him, as man or...
Amid Orchestral Waves, the Sound of Cultures Conversing
“Natural History,” performed in Cincinnati, is a collaboration between the composer Michael Gordon and the Native American ensemble Steiger Butte Drum.
Memo to Orchestras: Do More Opera
The Cleveland Orchestra’s staging of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” was a reminder that ensembles can help fill the gap as opera grows harder to find.
He Made the Met Opera’s Chorus the Best in the World
Donald Palumbo, a mild-mannered but relentless perfectionist, is stepping down after 17 years as the company’s chorus master.