The English Consort's Giulio Ceasare in Egitto -- Handel is the total package

Review

Sung with campy abandon by countertenor, John Holiday, his Tolomeo is a scene-stealing divo, edgy and pompous, whose obsequious charm is laced with poison. Hearing Holiday and Dumaux have at it is a reminder that Handel was a master of vocal effect.

Review: LA Opera's tear-jerking, star-studded, world-class Rigoletto

Review

My favorite, 'Cortigiani, vil razza dannata', left me in tears, as it was meant to; Kelsey allowed his voice and his dramatic performance to move through all the ranges of Rigoletto's emotions, ending with a simple heartbreaking plea, on his knees, for the return of his daughter.

Nina Stemme onstage at Carnegie Hall

Review

Perhaps it was a collectively held breath at the sounds of the distant and desolate notes of the Liszt-transcribed Liebestod. Such is the magic of a soprano who can conjure Isolde's hallucinatory and surreal musing with emotional conviction. It is perhaps the most complicated and woeful moment in song. Yet Stemme and Pöntinen found clarity in the fog and guided us to its stunning conclusion.

Konstantin Krimmel: a commanding presence

Review

Then we discover that Krimmel has perfect diction. It's a gift to the high born German texts of the Schubert and Loewe songs. They come through with a clarity that at key moments virtually eliminate the need for translation.

COC's evocative La Reine-garçon an enticing piece of homegrown opera

Review

The queen then decides to abdicate the throne and consign herself to a virginal Catholic life -- thus dying a virgin queen. There are suitors, and surgeries, and soaring chants; it was a pretty cool night at the opera.

Barbara Hannigan and Bertrand Chamayou at the Armory: the only place to be

Review

Hannigan, as the musical world knows, divides her time between singing and conducting, a second and impressive discipline that it seems is never far away from her singing.

San Diego Opera's 60th Anniversary La bohème sees Mimì as a ghost

Review

I do not have enough superlatives to describe Moore's rich, clear, precise and beautifully rounded voice but suffice it to say she is for me one of the best sopranos singing currently.

Immersive and imaginative: Manitoba Underground Opera's Tales of Hoffmann

Review

There's something elemental about the raw power of the human voice that can move the soul. When a singer is right behind you or a few feet in front of you, there's something magical that happens that can be hard to put into words. I felt like I was part of the show, part of the story, even in the show.

Jonathan Tunick's symphony size orchestration for Sondheim's A Little Night Music

Review

Graham captures Desiree's humor and sass and broaches the melancholy in the ever sigh-worthy Send in the Clowns.

Opera 5 turns up the spooky in Turn of the Screw

Review

The orchestra, under Music Director and conductor Evan Mitchell handled the score and the unconventional space magically. The flow of the score ameliorated the pace of the show itself and vice-versa.