In Good Hands

The magnificent sound of the Metropolitan Opera chorus is the work of Donald Palumbo.

HANDEL: Semele

Mass Appeal

Staging Handel’s opera in a church has its upside.

Matthias Goerne: Schubert Revisited

“It’s something like spending eighty minutes in a room where all the walls and the ceiling have been covered in the same elegant brocade wallpaper.”

Mark Padmore: Schubert: Schwanengesang

“Padmore and pianist Mitsuko Uchida choose a distant and distended approach.”

The Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

"Does an opera orchestra play a tone poem with more narrative thrust than a symphony orchestra? It seemed so with the Met Orchestra's performance of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. Yannick Nézet-Séguin achieved a naturalness in transitions here that was lacking in the performance of Bernstein’s suite of dances from West Side Story, while the premiere of Matthew Aucoin's Heath (King Lear sketches) showed canny spatial manipulation of the orchestral texture."

Full Range

Self-described baritenor Michael Spyres has created a singular career.

Der Fliegende Holländer at the Metropolitan Opera

"The Met's spring run of Der Fliegende Holländer was originally meant to be a revival. But when François Girard’s production was new in March 2020 it achieved only three performances before the company, and most of the world, had to shut down. An entirely new cast and conductor were on hand for the May 30 season premiere, and while Girard’s production turned out to be thin and uninterested in the relationships of the characters, there was plenty of drama coming from the orchestra pit."

CHERUBINI: Les Abencérages

“This is a truly rewarding opera, and this recording makes the best possible case for it.”

Lohengrin at The Metropolitan Opera

"The Met’s new production of Lohengrin offered top-notch principals and the full glory of the chorus and orchestra."