The American conductor, who has led the New York opera company for 45 years, will be Music Director Emeritus from 2017. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The young lyric tenor will join the Met opera’s prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Program. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
You know that New York’s Met has made it into the 21st century when it starts putting on operas with cyber-thriller plots. Manhattan-based Nico Muhly (The Reader, Kill Your Darlings) has all the audacity you’d expect from a composer in his thirties, and to call this recent production daring would be a glaring understatement. The opera, with libretto by Craig Lucas, is based on true events: a teenage boy is stabbed in the heart and lies comatose in a hospital bed. An older boy is the main suspect. Detective Anne Strawson must discover how an online friendship could wind up in attempted murder. The investigation leads to a mysterious and sordid world of online chat rooms. Muhly’s music has a modern edge and his orchestration glows like the virtual colour-world of cyberspace. The score is full of fascinating textures, including a disturbing polyphony of chat room addicts: mums and miscreants chanting in fragmented cyberspeak. It underscores the drama well and is highly engaging, though there’s the unmistakable suggestion of John Adams’ operatic style and language at play. The leads are strong. In particular, Paul Appleby’s sensitive turn as the confused and tormented older boy, Brian, as well as Alice Coote’s…
The Sydney-born heldentenor will make his stage debut in the role in 2016. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
A great Wagnerian singer and Brünnhilde in the 1998 Adelaide Ring found dead at 75. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Popular mezzo who was the first American Kundry at Bayreuth passes at 89. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Trouble inside and out of the Met as controversial John Adams opera reaches opening night. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
"Burn the sets," says one as hundreds gather in NY to prevent the staging of John Adams' opera.
Soprano embraced by Toscanini and Sondheim takes her final curtain call at 105. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Fat lady is given 72 hours grace before opera house’s threatened closure. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Orchestra and unions accuse Peter Gelb of long-planned cynical strategy. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Amidst a tough climate, the Met faces calls to implement a safer business model. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Arts organisations up in arms as Met refuse to reinstate global broadcast of controversial opera. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
