Handel's Agrippina: Nice Romans Finish Last
In order to be a Roman Emperor, you had to be entirely cold-blooded. It was a violent world of infighting, ruthless slander, and take-no-prisoners politics -- a world where rulers would kill a million...
View ArticlePuccini's Tosca: Death is But a Dream
It’s not easy to talk about death. We associate dying with so much suffering and loss. But for many people, the end of life is full of peaceful remembrance of the moments and relationships that have...
View ArticleStrauss's Elektra: Waltzing With a Vengeance
Note: This episode includes descriptions of childhood sexual assault.The drive for revenge can be all-consuming, especially when you or someone you love has been wronged. Outcast and distraught, the...
View ArticleGuys and Dolls: Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann
What makes us human? As artificial intelligence becomes more advanced, technology is becoming even more integrated into the fabric of daily life, and better able to simulate real human interactions....
View ArticleOnly the Good Die Young: Verdi's La Traviata
One of opera’s great heroines is based on one of history’s extraordinary women. The 19th century French courtesan Marie Duplessis was elegant, successful, famous, and gone before her time, dying of...
View ArticleCrisis in the Kremlin: Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov
Perhaps no opera better reflects the questions and contradictions at the heart of Russian history than Modest Mussorgsky’s historical epic Boris Godunov. Based on the play by Alexander Pushkin...
View ArticleBreaking Mad: Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
People who go to see Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor spend the entire evening waiting for the famous Mad Scene, to hear the soprano’s incredible acrobatics, and to feel her intense emotional...
View ArticleOnce More Into the Breeches: Joyce DiDonato Sings Strauss
The young Composer in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos is one of opera’s great trouser roles -- a female singer playing the part of a young man. He is set to premiere his new opera at the home of the...
View ArticleOctober 8: Free Virtual Event with Terence Blanchard
LIVESTREAM EVENT: Friday, October 8 at 12 noon ETThis fall, Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones will become the first opera by a Black composer staged at the Metropolitan Opera. In this very...
View ArticleVerdi's Nabucco: By the Rivers of Babylon
Psalm 137 depicts the ancient Hebrews, enslaved and weeping “by the rivers of Babylon,” as they remember their homeland, Jerusalem. Those words have inspired songwriters of reggae, Broadway, disco,...
View ArticleBlanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones: A Boy of Peculiar Grace
This week we’re decoding with the man who wrote the code - Terence Blanchard, composer of Fire Shut Up in My Bones. Not only is it the work that reopened the Met after its 18-month pandemic shutdown,...
View ArticlePotion, Emotion, Devotion: Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
When we talk about “falling in love,” we talk about it like it is something that just happens. Suddenly the ground opens up and we are falling for somebody, as if there is no choice in the matter. This...
View ArticleTo Be Or Not To Be: Dean's Hamlet
“To be or not to be, that is the question.” It’s hard to think of a more famous line from a more famous play. In this iconic speech from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the troubled Danish prince asks whether...
View ArticleP.S. I Love You: Renée Fleming Sings Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
Saying “I love you” for the first time takes courage, especially when you don’t know the response you'll get. But being open with your emotions and putting yourself out there can change you in...
View Article
