Opera & Ballet

Collected opera and ballet reviews

The Met’s 2007 Il barbiere di Siviglia proves an escape from our current reality and a couple of hours of bliss

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United StatesUnited States Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / Maurizio Benini (conductor). Performance of 24.3.2007 and reviewed as a Nightly Met Opera Stream (MMB)

Peter Mattei (Figaro), Joyce DiDonato (Rosina), & Juan Diego Flórez (Count Almaviva)
(c) Ken Howard/Met Opera

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‘Mein lieber Schwan’: can a 1986 Met Lohengrin teach us anything 34 years later?

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United StatesUnited States Wagner, Lohengrin: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / James Levine (conductor). 10.1.1986 performance from the Metropolitan Opera House reviewed as a Nightly Met Opera Stream on 20.5.2020. (JPr)

Peter Hofmann (Lohengrin), John Macurdy (Henry) & Éva Marton (Elsa)

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Opera Philadelphia’s Digital Festival O Presents We Shall Not Be Moved

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United StatesUnited States Roumain, We Shall Not Be Moved: Soloists, Opera Philadelphia Orchestra / Viswa Subbaraman (conductor). Opera Philadelphia, Wilma Theater, Philadelphia. Performance of 20.9.2017 reviewed as part of Digital Festival O. (RP)

Lauren Whitehead (Un/Sung) in We Shall Not Be Moved (c) Dominic M. Mercier

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Looking back at Petra Lang’s vividly sung Brünnhilde in Vienna State Opera’s 2017 Götterdämmerung

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AustriaAustria Wagner, Götterdämmerung: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera / Peter Schneider (conductor). Performance of 5.6.2017 from the Vienna State Opera and reviewed as a Wiener Staatsoper Live stream on 19.5.2020. (JPr)

Petra Lang (Brünnhilde), Falk Struckmann (Hagen), and Markus Eiche (Gunther)

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The Met’s first live TV broadcast: memories of Pavarotti and Scotto in a 1977 La bohème

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United StatesUnited States Puccini, La bohème: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York / James Levine (conductor). 15.3.1977 performance reviewed as the Viewers’ Choice Nightly Met Opera Stream on 9.5.2020. (JPr)

Renata Scotto (Mimì) and Luciano Pavarotti (Rodolfo) (c) Met Opera Archives

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Nureyev’s remarkable vision: ENB at Home’s Romeo & Juliet proved an unmissable treat

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom ENB at Home’s Wednesday Watch Party – Prokofiev, Romeo & Juliet (Rudolf Nureyev Production): Dancers of English National Ballet, Students from English National Ballet School, English National Ballet Philharmonic / Gavin Sutherland (conductor). Bristol Hippodrome, 14.10.2015 and reviewed on 6.5.2020. (JPr)

Isaac Hernández (Romeo) & Alina Cojocaru (Juliet) (c) Bill Cooper

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An opera for this time and place – Raymond J. Lustig’s Semmelweis

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HungaryHungary R. J. Lustig, Semmelweis: Soloists, Dancers, Béla Bartók Chamber Choir of Szolnok, Chamber Orchestra of the Budapest Operetta Theater / Dániel Dinyés (conductor). Bartók Plusz Opera Festival, Miskolc National Theatre, Miskolc. World premiere performance of 9.6.2018 reviewed as a video (available click here). (RP)

Enikő Lévai (Susan) and Szilveszter Szabó (Semmelweis)
© Budapest Operetta Theater and Bartok Plusz Opera Festival

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That’s Entertainment!: a look back at Rudolf Nureyev’s memorable Paris Cinderella

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FranceFrance Prokofiev, Cinderella (Rudolf Nureyev’s production): Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet, Orchestre Pasdeloup / Vello Pähn (conductor). Opéra Bastille, Paris, 31.12.2018 performance (directed for the screen by Isabelle Julien) and reviewed as an Opéra national de Paris online stream broadcast on 1.5.2020. (JPr)

Alessio Carbone (Producer), Valentine Colasante (Cinderella) & Karl Paquette (Star)

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