David Patrick Stearns

Kaija Saariaho's "L'Amour de Loin" is one of the operatic wonders of our time, though the best efforts of the Met Opera didn't always reveal that to Thursday's opening night audience.

Kathleen Battle's hyped return to the Metropolitan Opera began 30 minutes late. But once she started, she showed no signs of stopping.

Karita Mattila's characterization of Jenůfa's tormented stepmother Kostelnicka is the talk of Metropolitan Opera circles, and could well become a signature role.

David Patrick Stearns reviews the new William Tell production at the Met Opera and says that there is much that Rossini's massive epic has to offer, especially at the end.

"This was not your typical glittering, socialite-oriented Met opening," writes David Patrick Stearns in his review of this much anticipated new production of "Tristan und Isolde."

David Patrick Stearns reviews the New York Opera's double bill of Rachmaninoff's "Aleko" and Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci."

David Patrick Stearns writes that at the Mostly Mozart Festival "Idomeneo" had "a clean, trim narrative and never left left you asking why the opera takes periodic left turns."

A performance of Mozart's 'Cosi fan tutte' at the Mostly Mozart Festival brought a "provocatively bracing, razor-sharp edge" to the opera, writes David Patrick Stearns.

Netia Jones's 'The Illuminated Heart,' a 90-minute program of semi-staged Mozart arias kicked off the 50th anniversary of the Mostly Mozart Festival with operatic star power. 

Bard SummerScape stages the first North American revival of Mascagni's symbolist opera, 'Iris,' in almost a century. Critic David Patrick Stearns weighs in on the production.

A striking production of Huang Ruo's "installation opera" was presented with the Chinese opera star, Qian Yi. Critic David Patrick Stearns weighs in. 

'Florencia en el Amazonas,' kicks off New York City Opera's Spanish-language series, with a butterfly-themed production. David Patrick Stearns reviews the performance.

Gerald Barry's 'The Importance of Being Earnest' received its U.S. stage premiere in a plate-smashing and somewhat confounding production by the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center.

A new production of Purcell's 'Dido and Aeneas' cast Broadway actors and debuted a new prologue to the 17th century work. David Patrick Stearns weighs in on the effort.

William Christie's Les Arts Florissants and director Robert Carson revive Campra's 18th century opera-ballet at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. David Patrick Stearns reviews it.

The Met stages Patrice Chereau's acclaimed production of 'Elektra,' starring Nina Stemme in the title role. David Patrick Stearns reviews the opera.

Sondra Radvanovsky portrays the third of Donizetti's three queens in a new production of Donizetti's 'Roberto Devereux' at the Met, which David Patrick Stearns reviews.

Matthew Aucoin's 'The Orphic Moment' premieres on a program with Gluck's 'Orfeo et Euridice,' as Anthony Roth Constanzo sings the title role in both. David Patrick Stearns weighs in.

Stephen King's novel, The Shining, has been adapted into an opera that will premiere this spring; David Patrick Stearns previews the production.  

Following a diagnosis of brain cancer, Dmitri Hvorostovsky remains a formidable presence, both vocally and physically, as he proved in his Carnegie Hall recital.