Opera & Ballet

Collected opera and ballet reviews

An outstanding Benjamin Bernheim dominates the Met’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann revival

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United StatesUnited States Offenbach, Les Contes d’Hoffmann: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera / Marco Armiliato (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 24.9.2024. (ES-S)

Vasilisa Berzhanskaya (background, Nicklausse), Erin Morley (Olympia), and Benjamin Bernheim (Hoffmann) © Karen Almond/Met Opera

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Emily D’Angelo soars in Tesori’s gripping and powerful Grounded on the Met’s 2024/25 opening night

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United StatesUnited States Jeanine Tesori, Grounded: Soloists, Men of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 23.9.2024. (RP)

Emily D’Angelo (Jess) and Kyle Miller (Sensor) © Ken Howard/Met Opera

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Adele Thomas’s powerful and passionate Rigoletto for the beleaguered WNO

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Verdi, Rigoletto: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Welsh National Opera / Pietro Rizzo (conductor). Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, 21.9.2024. (GPu)

Sparafucile (Nathanaël Tavernier), Rigoletto (Daniel Luis de Vicente) and Maddalena (Alyona Abramova) © Richard Hubert Smith

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Imaginative and intelligent revision of Der Freischütz in Oldenburg

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GermanyGermany Weber, Der Freischütz (Additional music by Elena Kats-Chernin. Libretto by Friedrich Kind, in a new version by Susanne Felicitas Wolf): Soloists, Chorus and Extras of Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, Oldenburgisches Staatsorchester / Hendrik Vestmann (conductor). Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, 18.9.2024. (DMD)

Stephanie Hershaw (Ännchen ), Johannes Leander Maas (Max), Adréana Kraschewski (Agathe) © Stephan Walzl

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