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Met Opera 2025-26 Review: Madama Butterfly
If there exist people who don’t cry at Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, I don’t wish to know them. The luminous Ailyn Pérez’s performance in the title role confirmed her status as the Queen of the Butterflies…
Met Opera 2025-26 Review: Don Giovanni
We hear early on in Mozart’s Don Giovanni that the title cad has seduced 1,800 women, but the people seduced by the opera since its premiere in 1787 is far too many to fit in Leporello’s little black book.
Met Opera 2024-25 Review: Le Nozze di Figaro
I have about seven favorite operas, but when pressed to choose one, Le Nozze di Figaro often lands on top. It’s an exquisite confection in every respect, and the Met’s delicious revival this season didn’t skimp on the frosting.
Met Opera 2024-25 Review: Moby-Dick
The vast sea breathes in gentle, rhythmic swells. Stars, twinkling aloud, wheel overhead, constellating until they form the mast, sails, and ropes of the whaling ship Pequod. This is the seascape that greets you in the overture of Jake Heggie’s monumental Moby-Dick.
Met Opera 2024-25 Review: Aida
New stagings always carry the weight of expectations, but Michael Mayer’s new Aida has the burden of replacing one of the Met’s most beloved productions. This staging had a fairly bumpy road; it was originally scheduled for 2020, but was axed due to corona. Now, it’s finally here, and quite remarkable. Hang on to your amulets!
Met Opera 2024-25 Review: Ainadamar
“That. Was. Glorious,” an anonymous voice behind me gushed when the curtain dropped. Indeed, Ainadamar’s genre-fusing combination of great voices, historical elegy, and explosive flamenco dancing is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
