This year, 2024, is the one-hundredth anniversary of the death of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini in November of 1924. Known for his brilliant and spectacularly admired operas, he was virtually the Taylor Swift of his era. My husband and I

In a very interesting double bill, Greek National Opera (GNO) put together Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide and its followup, Iphigénie en Tauride, which is set 20 years after the first opera. The first opera, which received its premiere on 19

Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, was a most unfortunate character in stories of the Trojan War. Granted the power of prophecy by the god Apollo if she would sleep with him, he tainted the

Verdi’s Rigoletto has had countless outings at New York’s Metropolitan Opera since 1883. But to make it worthwhile, the house needs access to a baritone who can handle the tricky part vocally, fill the cavernous theatre, but also can imbue

There’s a good reason why Gioachino Rossini’s Bianca e Falliero is rarely performed. It is long, dramatically weak, and the music can be repetitive – some of the most interesting parts are actually borrowed from the composer’s La Donna del

Nicholas Smith went to China over 30 years ago, his Cambridge music degree fresh in his hand, initially as a VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) volunteer with a two-year contract in China to teach English. Teaching English led to learning Chinese

Greek National Opera ended its season with Tosca, given outdoors at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus amphitheatre, located under the Acropolis wall. The stage is unusual in that it’s wide but not very deep, there are no wings, and the

The history of Kurt Weill’s 1930 masterpiece, Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) at the Greek National Opera is an uneasy tale of power and achievement. The first production in 1977 was