THE HANGOVER REPORT – Brett Dean’s faithful, visceral operatic adaptation of HAMLET sonically unleashes the existential depths of the Bard’s text

Last week, I was able to catch up with the New York premiere of composer Brett Dean and librettist Matthew Jocelyn’s visceral operatic adaptation of Hamlet at the Metropolitan Opera. … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Simon Stone’s busy, audaciously updated Donizetti’s LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR puts an emphasis on filmic presentation

Earlier this week, I had the chance to catch up with Simon Stone’s new production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor for the Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Stone was fast building a … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – NYGASP’s buoyant revival of Gilbert and Sullivan’s THE PIRATES PENZANCE is the ideal show to usher in springtime

This past weekend at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, I caught one of only a handful of performances of New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players’ production of the beloved … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Nina Stemme and Lise Davidsen overwhelm in the Met’s searing revival of Richard Strauss’s ELEKTRA

Last night, I was back at the Metropolitan Opera to catch the revival of Patrice Chéreau’s 2016 staging of Richard Strauss’s Elektra (the production was previously seen in 2013 at … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Heather Christian’s bizarre, profound, and altogether singular ORATORIO FOR LIVING THINGS asks big questions from a cosmic perspective

Last night, Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things opened Off-Broadway at the Greenwich House Theater. The immersive production, which comes courtesy of the folks at Ars Nova, was one of … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Exploring our humanity through speculative science: Michel van den Aa’s UPLOAD & Sam Chanse’s WHAT YOU ARE NOW

We live in rapidly changing times in which technological and scientific advances are threatening to outpace our ability to fully assess how they fundamentally alter the human experience. Recently, I … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Classical music roundup: Gustavo Dudamel connects to SCHUMANN with the NY Philharmonic & Handel’s RODELINDA returns to the Met

This past week, I paid a visit to the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, who gave a pair of satisfying – if not necessarily transcendent – performances. As … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Huang Ruo’s BOOK OF MOUNTAIN & SEAS quietly mesmerizes, thanks largely to master puppeteer Basil Twist’s distilled artistry

This past week, composer and librettist Huang Ruo’s new opera Book of Mountains & Seas played to pack houses at St. Ann’s Warehouse (the production played its final performance yesterday). … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Memorable nights at the opera: A dark, prescient new DON CARLOS and a succinct but moving CONCERT FOR UKRAINE

Since returning to in-person performances this March (after a monthlong hiatus in February), the Metropolitan Opera’s programming has been on point. In addition to a heavenly revival of Richard Strauss’s … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – MasterVoices hits the bullseye with its joyful, starry concert rendition of Sondheim and Laurents’s ANYONE CAN WHISTLE

Last Thursday, MasterVoices hits the bullseye with its one-night-only concert rendition of Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents’s 1964 musical Anyone Can Whistle at Carnegie Hall (the venue’s iconic Stern Auditorium … Continue Reading →