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  • Orpheus Descending

    Flawed but Worthy Play with Strong Treatment

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 11th, 2026

    Oakland Theater Project takes on Tennessee Williams' Southern Gothic tale and adds another dimension by making Val, the Orpheus figure, black. Drifting into a Southern town and becoming intimate with a white woman in the early 1950s is not likely to have a positive outcome.

  • American Apollo

    Another Hit for West Edge Opera

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 09th, 2026

    In truth, a young black man, Thomas McKeller, modeled for famed portrait artist John Singer Sargent for several years. In truth, did they have an affair? An entertaining contemporary opera explores the fantasy.

  • Carmen in Salzburg

    Asmik Grigorian Shines in Her Role Debut

    By: Susan Hall - Aug 09th, 2026

    Carmen arrived in a new production at Salzburg this summer, featuring Asmik Grigorian in her role debut as the title character. Everything we have come to expect from this glorious singer. is alive on stage at the Grosses Festspielhaus.. Her acting fully matches her vocal prowess. S

  • Rinaldo

    Holy Crusader as Modern Comic Superhero

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 04th, 2026

    West Edge Opera has adapted the storyline of Handel's Baroque opera into a tale of a superhero who joins forces with the police to fight organized crime. It works.

  • The Turn of the Screw

    Britten's Sinister Opera Based on Henry James's Novella

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 03rd, 2026

    Without the presence of parents, an untried governess is hired to care for two children on an English country estate. She becomes ensnared by the ghosts of the deceased and the deceptions of the children in her charge.

  • Ariadne auf Naxos

    Merola Opera's Spectacular Portrait

    By: Victor Cordell - Jul 31st, 2026

    When opera and burlesque companies must perform simultaneously for a wealthy patron, consternation commences and a delightful mashup follows.

  • The Wooten Brothers Come to Berlin

    Zig Zag's Jazz Fesitval Presents the Curtis Mayfield Headliners

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 26th, 2026

    The Wooten Brothers performed at Zig Zag’s Jazz Festival in Berlin. They have quite a history.

  • Chesterwood Arts Alive

    Music From the Spanish Baroque

    By: Chesterwood - Jul 24th, 2026

    Chesterwood will present a concert of Spanish music performed by Boston Baroque’s The X-tet with GRAMMY® winning tenor Karim Sulayman on Saturday, August 1 at 5:30 PM. The performance is part of Chesterwood's music, dance, and literary arts series ArtsAlive!.

  • Tanglewood Celebrates Serge Koussevitsky

    Digital Release in November of Complete BSO Recordings

    By: BSO - Jul 24th, 2026

    As the annual Tanglewood Music Festival marks its founder Serge Koussevitzky’s 152nd birth anniversary this weekend, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Sony Classical announce the digital release this November of Serge Koussevitzky: The Complete Boston Symphony Recordings (1928–1950).

  • La Rondine

    Pocket Opera's Fine Take on Puccini's Less Produced Masterpiece

    By: Victor Cordell - Jul 21st, 2026

    Magda is a courtesan supported by a wealthy banker, but she falls in love with a younger man. Can a tiger change its stripes? Must a swallow always fly home?

  • Zig Zag Jazz Festival in Berlin

    Ella Radio co-sponsors

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 21st, 2026

    The Zig Zag Jazz Festival runs from July 20 to August 1 in Berlin. Zig Zag is often voted the best jazz club in Europe. The event is co-sponsored by Ella Radio (available both as an app and on the web). The festival takes place at Gasometer in the Schöneberg section of Berlin

  • Hairspray The Broadway Musical

    The Joint is Jumpin' at SF Playhouse

    By: Victor Cordell - Jul 19th, 2026

    This John Waters creation has legs. The hit Broadway musical has lost none of its pizzazz or its underlying social commentary. It's 1962, and the overweight Tracy tries out for the Corny Collins Show. Not a big enough hill to climb, she tries to integrate it too.

  • Jazz at Deutsche Oper in Berlin

    Syncopated Scheherazade

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 14th, 2026

    Deutsche Oper presents a small series of narrated jazz concerts in their Tischlerei theater space in Berlin. Converted from former workshops, this intimate venue is the hub for the Junge Deutsche Oper and features world premieres, bold installations, participatory community projects, and chamber or jazz concerts.

  • La Tragédie de Carmen

    Merola Triumphs with Peter Brook's Minimalistic Adaptation

    By: Victor Cordell - Jul 10th, 2026

    Minimalist theater director Peter Brook strips this war horse to 80 minutes of essentials. As an intimate psychological intimacy, the plot line is jolting, often lacking the motivations behind characters' actions. But the music is Carmen, and the cast is talented, so forgiveness for numerous transgressions is in order.

  • Handel at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin

    Elena Tsallagova Rocks as Cleopatra

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 09th, 2026

    The Deutsche Oper’s mounting of the David McVicar production of Giulio Cesare in Egitto has stood the test of time. First presented over twenty years ago, it still seems grand and full of life.

  • Copland and Twain on Broadway

    Chelsea Music Festival

    By: Susan HAll - Jun 28th, 2026

    Copland and Twain was a highlight of the Chelsea Music Festival 2026. For the first time, the adventurous group that produces this festival mounted a work in a Broadway venue. To make a 250th anniversary statement for our country, they chose to mix the music of Aaron Copland, often called the Dean of American Music, with the words of Mark Twain, our liveliest chronicler.

  • Chelsea Music Festival in New York

    Every Story Counts

    By: Susan Hall - Jun 21st, 2026

    Chelsea Music Festival Artistic Directors Melinda Lee Masur and Ken-David Masur present the 2026 Chelsea Music Fetival titled "Every Story Counts." It takes place in New York City, from June 20–27.

  • Alcina

    Baroque Handel Opera Set to Fantasy Libretto

    By: Victor Cordell - Jun 21st, 2026

    Identity and gender confusion rule the day, both in characters and the composer's casting specifications. Festival Opera recognized what a delightful fit for Pride Month this fine Handel work is.

  • Ain't Too Proud

    Musical and Personal History of the Temptations

    By: Victor Cordell - Jun 14th, 2026

    Emerging from the Motown stable, the Temptations became the most successful R&B singing group of their era, perhaps of all time. But with success came the pain of many personal failures. Ain't Too Proud evidences the joy of their music against the backdrop of the challenges of dealing with professional demands and fragile psyches.

  • Hubbard Hall Theater Company

    Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George

    By: Chris Buchanan - Jun 11th, 2026

    Hubbard Hall Theater Company presents Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece Sunday in the Park with George

  • San Francisco Opera's Elektra

    Strauss's Horrifying Opera

    By: Victor Cordell - Jun 09th, 2026

    Taken from the Sophocles tragedy, Elektra vows revenge on her mother Klytemnestra and her mother's lover Aegisth for having murdered her father Agammemnon.

  • Jagged Little Pill

    Alanis Morissette's Take on Family Conflict and Teen Angst

    By: Victor Cordell - Jun 08th, 2026

    How often do we learn of what seemed to be an idyllic family concealing secrets that belie their apparent success and happiness? The musical based on the wildly popular album of the same name powerfully explores family dynamics and teen rebellion.

  • Lise Davidsen Ignites Carnegie Hall

    James Ballieu Collaborates

    By: Susan Hall - Jun 07th, 2026

    Lise Davidsen ignited Carnegie Hall in a performance of Schubert Lieder. She often speaks about Schubert having a divine spark, which sets afire the full range of human emotion. His music is perfectly suited to the human voice, and the accompaniment for his art songs often has a life of its own, captured expertly by Ms. Davidsen’s longtime collaborator at the piano, James Baillieu.

  • Doubt

    Opera Parallele's Engaging Opera Set to Engrossing Drama

    By: Victor Cordell - Jun 02nd, 2026

    School Principal Aloysius suspects Father Flynn of having intoxicated and abused a student. Despite the absence of meaningful evidence, she pursues her quarry relentlessly.

  • The Barber of Seville at San Francisco Opera

    Rossini's Cherished Comic Opera

    By: Victor Cordell - May 31st, 2026

    Rosina's guardian, Doctor Bartolo, intends to marry her forthwith, but Count Almaviva also longs to wed her. With the assistance of jack-of-all-trades Figaro, Almaviva uses disguises and subterfuge to undermine Bartolo. Comedy and memorable music prevail throughout.

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