Opera

Opera Album Review: A Short but Virtuosic Opera from 1786 Receives Its First Recording

February 17, 2024
Posted in , , ,

Even without international-caliber singers and players, Giovanni Piaisello’s “Amor vendicato” works much magic.

Read More

Opera Album and Video Review: The Baroque Does the Bible

January 28, 2024
Posted in , , ,

Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s 1686 “David and Jonathan” brings ancient characters to life in this 2022 Chateau de Versailles production, brilliantly staged, danced, sung, and played.

Read More

Opera Album Review: An Award-Winning Recording of a Spontini Opera Championed by Maria Callas

January 11, 2024
Posted in , , ,

Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka, under conductor Christophe Rousset, shows why Berlioz and others loved “La Vestale”.

Read More

Opera Album Review: An Award-Winning Recording of Handel’s Most Comical Opera

January 5, 2024
Posted in , , ,

Mary Bevan, silvery soprano beloved in Boston, enchants anew in one of Handel’s most frequently performed and recorded operas.

Read More

Best Albums of 2023: Notable Operatic Recordings and a Few Non-Operatic Ones

December 14, 2023
Posted in , , , ,

The subjects of our critic’s favorite albums of the past year include a dragon, a sex-obsessed priest, Mỹ Lai, and a grand pageant about Jewish history.

Read More

Opera Album Review: Finally, “L’Egisto” — Complete and Amazingly Reimagined

December 3, 2023
Posted in , , ,

Tenor Zachary Wilder — a Boston favorite — and others shine in a Cavalli opera from 380 years ago.

Read More

Opera Album Review: Hot News — Award-Winning First Recording of a Major Contemporary of the Young Verdi

November 25, 2023
Posted in , , ,

The whole recording reminds me that numerous forgotten but extremely accomplished nineteenth-century works can provide rich satisfactions when performed as well as this

Read More

Opera Album Review: A Fabulous World Premiere Recording of a Major Work of the French Baroque Era

November 20, 2023
Posted in , , ,

This splendid album offers ample proof that Henry Desmarest stands shoulder to shoulder with his major 17th century French contemporaries, Lully and Marin Marais.

Read More

Opera Album Commentary: Maria Callas — Believe Her

October 31, 2023
Posted in , , , ,

A massive, comprehensive new box set once again shows us the diva’s indomitable place in the history of opera.

Read More

Opera Album Review: The Young Meyerbeer, in a Biblical Opera, Reveals His Musico-Theatrical Imagination

October 13, 2023
Posted in , , , ,

A captivating world-premiere recording of a work by the 21-year-old who would later conquer the operatic world with “Les Huguenots” and “L’Africaine.”

Read More

Recent Posts