News & Reviews

By M.D. Ridge Correspondent Virginia Opera’s new production of Gioachino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” which opened Friday at the Harrison Opera House, has it all: truly gorgeous singing, John Baril’s crisp conducting, Michael Shell’s inventive direction and, not...

When the verismo style hit stages in Italy, people took notice. BY RICH GRISETStyle Weekly For the first time, opera left the realm of fairy tales and historical figures, focusing instead on the problems of normal people. And one of the most well-known verismo...

A cabaret singer with an operatic voice — or is it an opera singer who does cabaret? — is using both talents to help Virginia Opera get its season off to a doubly good start. By KATHERINE CALOSRichmond Times-Dispatch The season opener is a double bill of two short...

For over a hundred years, Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” has been an opera in search of a mate. Too short to stand alone(though some companies have economically tried to do just that), it is frequently paired with another Italian work, “Cavalleria Rusticana.” For...

Last May, a visually stylish, strongly cast production of Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette" filled the stage of the Lyric Opera House. If only seats in the theater had been filled, too. October 1, 2016 The paltry attendance for that Lyric Opera Baltimore presentation made...

Virginia Opera is committed to bringing new works to Hampton Roads, as well as satisfying fans who love the classics. This season’s opening production shows how that works. Kurt Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins” fulfills the mission of Virginia Opera’s “First of Firsts”...

Virginia Opera opens its 25th season at the Center for the Arts with a fascinating double bill not previously seen in Northern Virginia. By David Siegel The double-bill includes Kurt Weill’s satire about unfettered capitalism “The Seven Deadly Sins.” It is a work...

Opera fans have something to celebrate, as Virginia Opera will open its 2016-17 season the weekend of Oct. 8-9, by presenting a landmark double-bill at GMU’s Center for the Arts, with the satirical ballet, “The Seven Deadly Sins” and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s masterpiece,...

With its formal dress, foreign languages and shouts of bravo, attending the opera can seem a bit daunting to the outsider. But it doesn’t have to be. If your closest brush with the art form is Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in “What’s Opera, Doc?” here’s a quick, dirty and...

If you've been hesitant to give Lyric Opera Baltimore any attention (and from the empty seats Friday night, I'd say that means a whole lot of you), the company's season-ending presentation of Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette" ought to win you over. It's a very respectable...