The Metropolitan Opera’s stage door, a plain entrance hidden in the tunnels of Lincoln Center, routinely welcomes star singers, orchestra musicians, stagehands, costumers and ushers. But a different bunch of visitors arrived there on a recent afternoon, carrying stuffed toy rabbits and “Frozen” backpacks. They were children, ages 7 to …
When “Moby Dick” opens at the Metropolitan Opera this week, audiences will experience a deeply American story of unchecked ambition, fomented grievances and a self-destructive desire for revenge. Based on Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, the opera delivers an economical and resolute retelling of the fateful tale of the Pequod, a …
“Vanessa” had the kind of pedigree you rarely see in a world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera. Samuel Barber, who was already famous for his Adagio for Strings, composed the score. Gian Carlo Menotti, his partner and an experienced hand at opera, wrote the libretto and directed. Cecil Beaton, mere …
Paul Plishka, an American singer acclaimed for his sonorous, liquid bass tones and near-perfect diction during a career at the Metropolitan Opera that spanned a half-century, died on Monday in Wilmington, N.C. He was 83. His death was confirmed by his wife, Sharon Thomas, who did not cite a cause …
Otto Schenk, the prolific Austrian director whose lavishly traditional productions for the Metropolitan Opera and the Vienna State Opera thrilled generations of music lovers, died on Thursday at his home on Lake Irrsee in Austria. He was 94. His death was announced by his son, the conductor Konstantin Schenk. In …
Jim Poniewozik Everybody Back to Work at Lumon Industries The dystopian thriller “Severance” premiered in 2022, telling the story of an alternative reality in which workers can have their brains surgically “severed” into two consciousnesses, one for work hours, one for off-work hours. Nothing has matched it since — including …