The 2019/20 Met season could be jazzed up. I've tried to stick with the same composer or style, rather than, say, fifty French operas nobody's ever heard of. HANDEL: Agrippina GLUCK: Orfeo ed Euridice --> Iphigénie en Aulide MOZART Marriage of Figaro --> SALIERI: Tarare (libretto by Beaumarchais) / Axur re d'Ormus, Italian version, libretto … Continue reading What could the Met do instead? →

"For many opera lovers, opera has become a museum, where one revisits a few cherished works, chiefly with a view to hearing fine voices sing." - Vincent Giroud The Met announced its 2019/20 season this week. Handel's Agrippina and Glass's Akhnaten are the most interesting on offer, maybe Janáček's Kát'a Kabanová and Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, too. And Michael Spyres (probably the … Continue reading Met? Meh →

I've cut nearly 300 operas from my list - mostly obscure works by obscure composers. Should any of them be back on it?  If you think I'm slighting a masterpiece, make a case for it. A Viktoria und ihr Husar (Abrahám) Little Women (Adamo) Pepita Jiménez (Albéniz) Merlin (Albéniz) Tiefland (D’Albert) Die toten Augen (D’Albert) … Continue reading Downsizing →