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Sound Play
Cover Story June 2023

Sound Play

American bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee, who this season sings the Dutchman in Santa Fe, has emerged as a Wagnerian to watch—and hear.

Mid-Century Modern
Vanessa at Glyndebourne
Feature June 2023

Mid-Century Modern

Will twentieth-century American operas endure in the repertory?

Sight Lines | Lise Davidsen
Sight Lines Poster Frame for Lise Davidsen
Sight Lines, Video

Sight Lines | Lise Davidsen

Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, who is currently singing the Marschallin in the Met's Rosenkavalier revival, shares how she's prepared herself psychologically for the repertory's biggest roles.

Breaking news

Gustavo Dudamel to Depart Paris Opéra After Two Seasons as Music Director

Gustavo Dudamel to Depart Paris Opéra After Two Seasons as Music Director

Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels's opera, Omar, Awarded 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music

Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels's opera, Omar, Awarded 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music

Grace Bumbry, 87, Superstar Singer of Searing Eloquence and Glamour, has Died

Grace Bumbry, 87, Superstar Singer of Searing Eloquence and Glamour, has Died


In Review

  • Otello at LA Opera
    LA Opera's Otello
    North America, Online Exclusive

    Otello at LA Opera

    "Everything was aligned for LA Opera's recent revival of Otello, which offered an evening of near-matchless singing by Russell Thomas and Rachel Willis-Sørensen, and an orchestra, under James Conlon's baton, whose rendition ranged from truly apocalyptic to the profoundest intimacy of tragic loss."

  • Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera
    North America, Online Exclusive

    Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera

    "If Simon McBurney hasn’t quite succeeded in making the Met's new staging of Die Zauberflöte cohesive, he and his design team have certainly delivered plenty of invention. The zauber of this opera, of course, lies in the music itself. But Nathalie Stutzmann’s ineffective leadership seldom inspired the clarity necessary for embodying Mozart’s luminous sound world."

  • Nixon in China at Opéra National de Paris
    International June 2023

    Nixon in China at Opéra National de Paris

    "Renée Fleming made a triumphant return to the Paris Opéra with a winning performance as a slipper-wearing, homespun Pat Nixon in the company premiere of John Adams's opera. The beauty of Fleming’s plangent, unchanging timbre was ideally suited to the character’s more reflective and naïve moments, and Gustavo Dudamel drew a fine performance from an orchestra not familiar with this repertoire."

Spotlights




Recordings


Watch & Listen

  • Sight Lines | Missy Mazzoli
    Sight Lines Poster Frame Missy Mazzoli
    Sight Lines, Video

    Sight Lines | Missy Mazzoli

    The composer speaks about how she learned to write for the voice, her efforts to foster greater inclusion among future composers and her chamber opera, Proving Up, which receives performances at Juilliard in February.

  • Sight Lines | Russell Thomas
    Sight Lines Russell Thomas Poster Frame
    Sight Lines, Video

    Sight Lines | Russell Thomas

    F. Paul Driscoll speaks with tenor Russell Thomas about his new appointment as LA Opera's artist-in-residence, how he finds inspiration in old recordings, and the repertoire that he hopes to take on during the next phase of his career.

  • Best of the Best: Eugene Onegin
    Spotify Poster Frame Eugene Onegin
    Audio, Spotify Playlist

    Best of the Best: Eugene Onegin

    Our favorite selections from Tchaikovsky's great romance, sung by an all-star cast, from Ivan Kozlovsky, Leonid Sobinov, Jussi Björling and Galina Vishnevskaya to Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Peter Mattei and Renée Fleming.