Sensitive, intelligent Madama Butterfly, Royal Opera

This Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera House, London, brings out
the depth and intelligence of the human story Puccini might be trying to tell
us, beneath the surface gloss.

Two Boys, ENO

You would have had to be deaf and blind — or perhaps just a very wise
monkey — not to have been aware that a young American composer called
Nico Muhly was about to open at the English National Opera in London last night
with a work called Two Boys.

Viva Vivaldi — Garsington Opera 2011

Garsington Opera — in its superb new home on the Wormsley estate in
rural Oxfordshire — has yet again confirmed the merit of its decision to
promote Vivaldi’s long-ignored operas.

The Cunning Little Vixen, New York

One of Richard Wagner’s most enduring contributions to music history is a concept known as gesamtkunstwerk.

Peter Grimes, Covent Garden

Willy Decker’s production of Peter Grimes, first seen at
Covent Garden in 2004, should perhaps be renamed The Borough.

Swiss Odyssey

A funny thing happened on the way to Anna Bolena

Geneva’s Juicy Oranges

Need something remedial for “what ails you?”

Boston Early Music Festival: Niobe, Regina di Tebe

The Boston Early Music Festival (hereinafter BEMF) has grown up.

Don Pasquale, Opera Holland Park

As it turned out, it was a mild and mainly dry evening.

Israel Opera cuts wide swath at festival

Israel Opera’s summer festival grew astonishingly in the year following its 2010 inaugural season.