Underbelly

Another fragment on Munich opera--this one I share with almost every American opera goer who ventures to Germany and keep his eyes open. T...

Back again--this time from Munich, with a side trip to Bregenz in Austria, this last for a taste of the Bregenzer Festspiele , hitherto unk...

If the Lord is willing' and the Rhine don't flood, then in a couple of weeks we'll have a chance to see Edita Gruberová singing...

Okay, I get it-- high drama and a break into legend for Kristine    who died twice at the Metropolitan Opera in 24 hours.  If you follow op...

Most remarkable Amazon review I've read all day: Montaigne dans le métro It's surely very presumptuous of me to rate Montaigne, b...

Lovely Alex Ross piece on Joyce DiDonato  (gated) gives us yokels a glimpse into how much there is to opera beyond what we see on stage.  I...

There's a live/HD performance coming up Saturday of "The Nose" by Dmitri Shostakovich in the William Kentridge staging which...

Here's a new one on me.  In his remarkable introduction to Beowulf , R. W. Chambers discusses the case of Hrethric and Hrothulf, Scand...

The topic is Bluebeard's Castle by Bela Bartók. ‎ The castle is a sanctuary of operatic secrets. Its bolted doors, pressed by...

" [P]ayroll for 3,400 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees [at the Metropolitan opera] eats up 75 percent of the Met’s $330 ...

David writes: So there's this term Fach (plural Fachen ): system is a method of classifying singers, primarily opera singers, accord...

An opera generalization: if I'm going to spend five daylight hours in an opera theatre, I'd rather be in the company of Hector Berl...

In an Opera News interview with Susan Graham, interviewer William R. Braun flatly declares Mozart's "Ch'io mi scordi di te?...

Others are already sketching and plotting for the Petraeus movie, perhaps as crafted by Oliver Stone. But I'm thinkin' opera.  I...

Breakfast music: Handel's Ariodante with Alan Curtis' Il Complesso Barocco, and Joyce di Donato in the castrato role.   The plot, ...

Finishing up the Chez Buce presentation of Il Barbiere di Seviglia ( the "broken leg" version ) we got to chatting about the pec...

For our viewing pleasure last weekend, Mrs. Buce served up a DVD of Il Barbiere di Siviglia --the 2009 Covent Garden production.  It's...

Does anybody do Chinese opera any more?  I had a chance to see The Red Detachment of Women back a few years ago and to my lasting regret, I...

Following up on yesterday's Traviata , I've been dipping into Julian Budder's splendid The Operas of Verdi where, inter alia , ...

I love Natalie Dessay to pieces but I'll have to concede that she's not for all markets. I thought he Daughter of the Regiment wit...