Ravishing Orphic Moments with Gluck, Aucoin & Costanzo

Review

The work has finally reached a larger New York audience with two performances in an elegantly expanded version at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater. It features the 130-member MasterVoices and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Smartly directed by Zack Winokur, the production has a sleek and courtly feel, enhance by Stacey Berman's stylish costumes.

5 Frankenstein-themed shorts leave you wanting more

Review

In spite of the fact that it's hard to tell a story in twenty minutes, I walked away from this exciting evening hungry for more short bonbons of opera. I was grateful for the theme of the evening, which the creative teams either ran with or ran away from.

Thaïs: dazzling score, dazzling set, dazzling cast

Review

I have liked every production in the Minnesota Opera this year, but after this one, I felt that the creative team had been holding out on us. Thaïs blew the rest of the season out of the water. The lighting (Marcus Dilliard), sets and costumes (Lorenzo Cutuli) were perfect. The creative team came out and took a bow, and they certainly deserved it.

Talking with singers: Hailey Clark

Interview

"The sooner you can define who you are and what you do best, the easier it is for people to identify and understand your "brand." This is an artistic field, of course, but it's also a business, and in order for companies to sell tickets and keep the art form alive, it's important for them to know the three-dimensional artist that they’re hiring and trusting to tell their story."

Profound, moving Bernstein double-bill

Review

As it turns out: with some very intelligent staging and committed performances from the cast, the tale of Sam and Dinah's dysfunctional marriage became the perfect backdrop for Arias. Thus, it became the kind of thought-provoking evening that I think Bernstein always strived for but never seemed to get through his music.

Don't miss: The Love Potion

Editorial

"As social beings, we depend on love and being loved," says Mitisek, explaining our fascination with love stories - even those that end in death. An opera like The Love Potion tells us about the possibilities and the limits of love, and we can experience its extremes through catharsis.

Fallis wraps 27 years with the Toronto Consort

Editorial

Readers, we're giving away two pairs of tickets to the matinee performance on May 27 (3:30pm). To be eligible for the draw, share or retweet this post (give us a tag @Schmopera, too!) and tell us why you're keen to see David Fallis' final collaboration with one of Toronto's cornerstones of Early Music.

Real Prisoners' Voices Make Heartbeat Opera's "Fidelio" Resonate

Review

Video projections reinforce the inmates' commitment to music and text, their chins raised, brows gently furrowed, and lips outstretched to form German vowels. The singing is emotionally wrenching in its delicate roughness.

And Here We Are: voice versus volume

Review

The opera is billed as a shadow puppetry opera. That sounds interesting but it is a concept that, while lending a certain artistic edge, falls short of fulfilling the promise of collaborative storytelling. The impression it leaves is more that of a crutch, which Welch's fine composition does not need.

4 singers you might not know - but should

I browsed through some boxes and found records by Caruso, Bjoerling, Pavarotti, Tozzi, and on and on. I didn't even own a record player, but I purchased about $45 worth of vinyl at about $5 per record, and so began my latest obsession.