Fred Plotkin

From Werther to Faust, the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe have impacted literature and opera for more than 200 years. Operavore blogger Fred Plotkin dives into Goethe's influe...

"The season is an engaging mix of standard repertory and unusual offerings to please regulars, newcomers and those with more experimental inclinations," writes Fred Plotkin.

This season, blogger Fred Plotkin went to three performances of the Met's production of Tosca, each with a different soprano in the lead role. It stimulated new insights on this controversial production.

On January 29, two days after a moving ceremony in memory of Claudio Abbado, Teatro alla Scala in Milan honors another artist, Franco Corelli. Fred Plotkin gives an appraisal of the late tenor.

If you are a younger reader whose operagoing has been based mostly on seeing physically attractive, even-tempered singers, check out the classic recordings of Christa Ludwig, writes Fred Plotkin.

Claudio Abbado was a person of strong political and social beliefs, and sought to democratize the audience experience at La Scala during his 18 years there, writes Fred Plotkin in thi...

After a glorious career of singing operas and songs in all styles and from four centuries, Marilyn Horne set up a foundation to keep song recitals alive. Fred Plotkin shares his admiration for Horne at 80.

The Wagner and Verdi bicentennials in 2013 reinforced certain negative attitudes about the two composers, writes Fred Plotkin. But the Britten centenary was filled with many revelations.

Fred Plotkin asks: "If there is a potential for audience development among naturists, should arts organizations throw caution (and not only) to the wind and make accommodations on special occasions?"

If 2013 was the year of Wagner, Verdi and Britten, the uncontested star of 2014 is Richard Strauss. Fred Plotkin presents a guide to performances around the 150th anniversary of his birth.

In advance of a new production of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s La descente d'Orphée aux enfers in New York, Fred Plotkin considers the good, the bad and the ugly in Orpheus-inspired ope...

In an interview with Fred Plotkin, Wayne S. Brown discusses the place of opera in the U.S. The artform, he says, "creates opportunities for creativity that is frequently embraced by other art forms.”

In 2013, Fred Plotkin attended 104 opera performances at 35 different companies. Here are the standout productions and recitals.

Despite heavy product placement and too much 3-D imagery, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular serves a purpose, writes Fred plotkin, of teaching young people to be good audience members.

What does it take to present all of Mozart's 20-plus operas? Operavore's Fred Plotkin talks to the founder of a London-based company that plans to do a two-decade cycle of the works.

Maria Callas is fading from memory as a performer and is now being built up as a myth and an icon. So how can she be best remembered? Should it be with an opera?

"Così fan tutte," Fred Plotkin can hear you shriek, “how is that an overlooked opera?” To which he would answer that “overlooked” is a word with shades of meaning.

In this year of composer anniversaries and in this month’s immersion in Mozart here at WQXR, there is another artistic event worth noting and taking pleasure in, writes Fred Plotkin.

Arnold Schoenberg was not only an influential composer but a visual artist of enough skill that his paintings rival masterpieces by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele, writes Fred Plotkin.

"Among active singers, I can think of no one who owns as many roles as Karita Mattila," writes Fred Plotkin of the Finnish soprano who famously bared all in Salome at the Met.