Nabucco is hard to find in the latest LA Opera production

Review

Yes, there was a Verdi opera somewhere in those three and a half hours - and we got to see brilliant flashes at times of what the show should and could have been - but mostly we had to wade through a lot of concept and conceit to get there. It wasn't until Act IV (the final act) that our wishes came true: singing, acting and staging that actually touched the audience, and touched us deeply.

A grand night out at Vancouver Opera's Turandot

Review

Given the size of the Chinese community in Vancouver, tackling Turandot is not only an ambitious project, but a potentially controversial one. However VO dealt with the controversies head-on, talking extensively in the program about the accusations of "Orientalism" in the score, and how they wanted to address those for a modern audience, and how these kinds of dialogues will continue to inform productions for years to come.

A "fiercely queer opera" for Halloween

Interview

"Lycanthropy is such a great metaphor for sexual fluidity," says co-librettist Teri Kowiak. "Our werewolf is not human when in human form, nor is he a wolf when he is in wolf form. He is always a werewolf, no matter how he appears at a specific time."

"A problematic creaky old masterpiece": Les vêpres siciliennes

Review

I don't understand why we haven't critically and fundamentally re-read all of these classic operas. I am a huge fan of modernising the way we produce opera, but I think has to include radical re-readings of characters and scenarios, not just new costuming and concepts.

He said/she said: a sweet Elixir at the COC

Review

Haji's Nemorino didn't whine or pine; instead, he took the refreshing route of unashamed honesty, piquing Adina's curiosity by being one of the few (only?) men in her life who presents himself as just that - himself. It brought to mind that line from The Office, when Kelly Kapoor muses, "I mean, who says exactly what they're thinking? What kind of game is that?"

Opera's sexual assault secret

Op-ed

There are the rumors of programs stockpiled with shockingly handsome young singers, the conductor who trolls dating apps for singers in his production, the director who always has to show singers how to stage a love scene by taking the soprano's place and kissing the male lead.

A very happy 20th birthday for Classical Opera

Review

As a birthday celebration Classical Opera couldn't have chosen a better program, one which extolled the magic and mystery of music. How else can you explain its ability to inspire and move us, to represent human emotion through pure sound? Ian Page and Classical Opera have shown us that music is a gift to the world. Or as Schiller put it when writing about joy, "beauteous sparks of the gods".

Talking with conductors: Oliver Zeffman

Interview

"I set up the Melos Sinfonia at 16 - no-one is going to invite a wannabe conductor with zero experience in front of their orchestra, so you've got to start something yourself. Ask your friends from school, from youth orchestra, their friends and relatives. You'll probably be terrible to start out with (I was at least!) but over time you get better, they get better, you build a wider network of players and at some point you'll be making good music!"

Embarrassments of riches: Opera Season at the BBC

News

The eight hours of live streaming includes interviews, exclusive performance, archive footage and behind-the-scenes content; the day culminates on BBC Radio 3, where listeners can vote for one of four Royal Opera productions (The Magic Flute, Faust, Tosca and The Flying Dutchman) to be broadcast that evening.

Review: Arabella, or "Poor Little Rich Girl"

Review

Unlike the song-dialogue-song-dialogue-duet-quintet-dialogue-finale formula of operetta - which uses dance forms like polka, czardas, and waltzes - in Arabella, we find characteristic soaring beauty and dramatic pulse in a through-composed score which is what we love about Herr Strauss's music. The appealing play between consonant and dissonant harmonies, lush strings, and emphatic brass were handled masterfully well from the pit under the baton of maestro Patrick Lange.