La Nilsson: celebrating Birgit Nilsson at 100

Op-Ed

The box seems to generate its own energy. Covered in sophisticated hues of copper and gray with a resplendent image of Birgit Nilsson as Brünnhilde, who had surely passed through hair and make-up before leaving Valhalla, it is of monolithic proportions.

Bucking trends: Hook Up

Review

It was at times Sondheim, at times Schwartz, at times Bernstein, but the overarching feeling (to me) was akin to Adam Guettel's masterpiece A Light in the Piazza.

Expressionist nuance: Elektra at the COC

Review

What can one possibly say about Christine Goerke in this role and still do justice to the kind of singing we experienced on Saturday night? Her vocal range is not of this dimension and her finesse to Strauss' bombastic score is something to be witnessed in person.

So true it hurts: Hook Up

Review

The party scene put a pit in my stomach, as did everything that came after. The confusion, the horrid feeling of not knowing - but kind of knowing - what happened during a blackout, the inadequate explanations to friends and boyfriends, it was all too true.

TSO's 2019/20 a season of (mostly) classics

Editorial

"There's nothing I like better than planning programmes," says Davis, of his enthusiastic stepping in as the TSO's Interim Artistic Director. But, eager to pass the torch officially to Gimeno, "the next season will be Gustavo's."

Talking with singers: Stephen Powell

Interview

I wanted to be Billy Joel when I was growing up because he was a classically trained pianist too. He wrote his own music, sang his own stuff, arranged his own music, his songs, and told a story.

A real woman shines through reductive Traviata in Palm Beach

Review

Like the jewels she wore (and there were many), soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan sparkled in the starring role, singing with agility, clarity, and show-stopping emotional depth. Her soft, liquid entrances in "Addio, del passato" melded impeccably with the plaintive oboe solo.

There was a lot of drama: the LPO's Die Walküre

Review

This semi-staged production at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra had none of that. Well, except for the drama. There was a lot of drama.

Slapstick overload: The Italian Straw Hat

Review

At times the stage was so overcrowded with schtick it was overwhelming. Banana jokes, chamber pot humor and smoke machines did not add to the talents of the cast or the beauty of the music.

The women rule in FGO's Figaro

Review

Florida Grand Opera's Le nozze di Figaro, which opened on January 26 at the Adrienne Arsht Centre in Miami, took an uncharacteristically introspective look at this iconic comedic favourite, in a production that asked all the right questions, but sacrificed some laughs along the way.