The Metropolitan Opera

Latest Articles

Louise Marianetti at Bert Gallery; plus, Brian Knep at RISD

The starched woman in Louise Marianetti's 1942 painting holds a copy of the libretto to Verdi's Aida . Her blonde ringlets are decorated with flowers, a pair of blue birds, and a veil. But what sticks with you how she stares with her eerie blue eyes.
Into the mystic
By GREG COOK | February 04, 2011

Live! — sort of

The success of the Metropolitan Opera's "Live in HD" experiment augurs well for dance on the big screen. Simulcast at select theaters, with tickets priced higher than for a movie but much cheaper than for a live opera, these events generate a sense of a
Fela! on screen
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL | January 14, 2011

Review: James Levine with the Met and the BSO

Sighs of relief at Symphony Hall, from patrons and management alike: James Levine, music director of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera, had completed a doubleheader.
Plus Mark Morris and Boston Baroque
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 22, 2010

Levine on disc

40 years at the Met, Mozart at the BSO
40 years at the Met, Mozart at the BSO
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 08, 2010

James Levine: He's back!

Boston and New York have at least one thing in common. Both have missed James Levine, music director of two of the world's most renowned classical-music institutions.
The conductor returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra (and the Met)
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 08, 2010

Ye gods!

Much beautiful music turns up in the 18th-century operatic form that’s probably most alien to a modern audience.
BLO’s Idomeneo, BU’s Susannah, Garfein’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Zander’s Stravinsky, and Pollini’s Chopin
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 30, 2010

Stuff at night

This week’s health headlines also included the announcement from the Boston Symphony Orchestra that music director James Levine has been sidelined again, from the “excruciating pain” he’s been suffering since his surgery for a herniated disc.
The BSO without Levine, Yo-Yo Ma, the Cantata Singers, American Classics, the Zarounian Ensemble
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 02, 2010

Bouquets all around

While it is difficult to be very jolly during February, P+J are in a generous mood and are willing to salute a few people, rather than dissect them. Yes, we are just wonderful.
P+J spread the love; haigiography; hate-mongers in the Biggest Little
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | February 26, 2010

Stopping time

BSO music director James Levine has returned to Symphony Hall for the first time since October, when back surgery put him out of commission.
The BSO, Peter Maxwell Davies, BCMS, BMOP, Mark Morris, and Christian Tetzlaff
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 05, 2010

John Harbison plus 10

Classical music in Boston is so rich, having to pick 10 special events for this winter preview is more like one-tenth of the performances I'm actually looking forward to.
Picking from a packed concert schedule
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | January 01, 2010

2009: The year in Classical

This was a queasy year for classical music.
Beating the quease
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 25, 2009

Joyful noise

From the clamorous arrival of some ghetto hot wheels to a scorching gospel finale, Best of Both Worlds warms up The Winter's Tale . The third entry in American Repertory Theater's Shakespeare Exploded! Festival, this sizzling and soulful gloss on th
Best of Both Worlds rocks The Winter's Tale
By CAROLYN CLAY | December 11, 2009

The roar of the crowd

I wasn’t there, but the opening-night dissatisfaction with the Met’s new Tosca was widely reported.
‘Opening Night at Symphony,’ Russell Sherman, the Discovery Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, and the Bostonians
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 02, 2009

German birthday cake

Tuesday's gift from Portland's Choral Art Society to German composer Felix Mendelssohn, on the occasion of what would be his 200th birthday, will be one of his greatest works (Elijah), and one of their biggest undertakings.
The Choral Art Society perform Mendelssohn's Elijah
By EMILY PARKHURST | March 25, 2009

Contertizing

Boston Lyric Opera follows up Dvorák’s moonstruck Rusalka, with Christopher Schaldebrand in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the BSO and much more.
From Don Giovanni’s hell to Haydn’s Creation
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | March 17, 2009

Beloved of God

One of my most profound musical experiences took place when I was still a graduate student.
Levine's Mozart with the BSO, plus Gabriela Montero and Benjamin Zander with the Boston Philharmonic
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 26, 2009

The show goes on

Soprano Renée Fleming visits the PSO
Soprano Renée Fleming visits the PSO
By EMILY PARKHURST | February 11, 2009

Noble melody

For the first time since James Levine became music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, this acclaimed Verdi specialist conducted the BSO in a Verdi opera.
James Levine brings us Verdi's Simon Boccanegra ; plus Christian Tetzlaff and Leif Ove Andsnes
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 03, 2009

Anniversaries and other occasions

Anniversaries, however fabricated, can still be useful. This year commemorates the 200th birthday of Felix Mendelssohn, the 150th birthday of Victor Herbert (both recently celebrated with intensive "orgies" on WHRB), the 200th anniversary of Haydn's dea
Masur's Mendelssohn, Orfeos from Norrington and Levine, the Discovery Ensemble, and the Inauguration 'performance'
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | January 27, 2009

Adam and Eve

A day at New York City Ballet that starts with a matinee of Coppélia and ends with a Balanchine evening might seem to offer merely the contrast between classic and modern, old and new.
It's boy-meets-girl at New York City Ballet
By JEFFREY GANTZ | January 13, 2009

Lift every voice!

Opera is the big word for 2009.
Classical goodies for 2009
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 30, 2008

Chuck speaks

Recently we received a letter from City Councilor Chuck Turner in response to both an article penned by Adam Reilly and a blog post by Chris Faraone.
Letters to the Boston editor, December 26, 2008
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | December 23, 2008

Phenomenal!

Living for a century is still a milestone; for a great and still-productive artist to do so is virtually unheard of.
Elliott Carter turns 100
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 10, 2008

Prodigies old and new

Tharp’s dances almost invariably have a euphoric effect on their first audiences, even when they miss their mark and don’t hold up over the long run.
Tharp’s Rabbit and Rogue at ABT, Ratmansky and Robbins at NYCB
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL | June 10, 2008

Epic undertaking

The act four sequence of quintet, septet, and love duet is non-stop musical orgasm.
Berlioz’s Les Troyens at the BSO; Opera Boston attempts Verdi’s Ernani
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | May 07, 2008

Oppositions

The end of a three-week, thousands-of-miles-from-home season is never the right time to assess a dance company.
The Kirov's Balanchine at City Center
By JEFFREY GANTZ | May 06, 2008

Orpheus in the afterworld

Tomsic’s last Boston recital was four years ago. We can’t afford to be without her this long.

Harbison and Mahler at the BSO, and the return of Dubravka Tomsic

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 22, 2008

Scenes from the city

I missed more things in two and a half days last week than I managed to take in, so whatever I might infer about dance in the New York vortex could have come out a different way if I’d reversed my priorities.
The Kirov at City Center, plus Jerome Robbins, Stephen Petronio, and Cloud Gate
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL | April 08, 2008

Chris and friends

The hype was huge, but Wheeldon seems to have a modest agenda.
Wheeldon’s Morphoses at City Center
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL | October 29, 2007

Opening nightmare

It wasn’t as bad as what happened at Opening Night at the Pops last May, but it was still awful.
Good playing, bad karma at the BSO gala
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 10, 2007

Friends' Activity

Popular