Music bio (PDF version)

WRITING ON MUSIC

"Jumbotron at the Opera: Madama Butterfly at LA Opera," Opera Today (October 2024).

"Rigoletto at the Chicago Lyric," Opera Today (September 2024).

"An Unusual Bel Canto Revival in New York: Carolina Uccelli, Anna di Resburgo (1835),” Opera Today (3 August 2024).

"Getting Beneath the Surface: Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte in Princeton,” Opera Today (June 2024).

"Asmik Grigorian in Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera,” Opera Today (7 May 2024).

"Jonas Kaufmann in Aida at the Bayerische Staatsoper,” Opera Today (21 April 2024).

"Verdi, La traviata in Venice,” Opera Today (18 April 2024).

"Celebrating the Schoenberg Sesquicentennial at Carnegie Hall,” Opera Today (22 March 2024).

"A Shot of Coffee in New York,” Opera Today (26 February 2024).

"Chornobyldorf: An Archaeological Opera in Seven Novels,” Opera Today (19 January 2024).

"Médée at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden,” Opera Today (19 November 2023).

"Salome at the Staatsoper Hamburg,” Opera Today (15 November 2023).

"L'amore dei tre re at La Scala, Milan,” Opera Today (12 November 2023).

"Die Frau ohne Schatten at Neuköllner Oper,” Opera Today (20 September 2023).

"Eslon Hindundu's Chief Hijangua in Berlin,” Opera Today (17 September 2023).

"Diminuendo Lagrimoso: Tracing the Decline of Big Opera Voices,” Berlin Journal (1 September 2023).

"Das Rheingold at Ravello Festival,” Opera Today (27 August 2023).

"A Tale of Two Lucias,” Opera Today (20 August 2023).

"Rossini's 'Barber of Seville' at the Princeton Festival,” Opera Today (20 June 2023).

"Tannhäuser at Salzburg,” Opera Today (April 2023).

"Leoncavallo's Pagliacci at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma,” Opera Today (19 March 2023).

"Lohengrin at the Met,” Opera Today (10 March 2023).

"Tannhäuser at the Boston Symphony,” Opera Today (6 February 2023).

"Salome in Paris,” Opera (London), January 2023.

"Lohengrin at the Bayerische Staatsoper,” Opera Today (6 December 2022).

"Elektra at the Washington National Opera,” Opera Today (18 November 2022).

"Tristan und Isolde in Seattle,” Opera Today (24 October 2022).

"Operatic Shock Treatment: Salomé in Paris,” Opera Today (22 October 2022).

"Otello at Opera Philadelphia,” Opera Today (8 October 2022).

"Idomeneo at the Met,” Opera Today (6 October 2022).

"Hamlet at the Met,” Opera Today (26 May 2022).

"Ariadne auf Naxos at the Met,” Opera Today (17 March 2022).

"Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Metropolitan Opera, New York,” Opera Today (16 November 2021).

"Giovanna d'Arco at Opera di Roma,” Opera Today (22 October 2021).

"La Voix Humaine by Opera Philadelphia,” Opera Today (25 September 2021).

"Aida at the Macerata Opera Festival,” Opera Today (August 2021).
For PDF copy, click here.

"Bluebeard's Castle, Munich,” Opera Today (07 March 2020).

"What to Make of Tosca at La Scala,” Opera Today (19 December 2019).

"Miracle on Ninth Avenue [Amahl and the Night Visitors at On Site Opera],” Opera Today (9 December 2019).

"40th Anniversary Gala of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro,” Opera Today (28 August 2019).

"Rigoletto at the Macerata Opera Festival,” Opera Today (17 August 2019).

"The Sopranos at Tanglewood,” Opera Today (5 August 2019).

"The Princeton Festival Presents Nixon in China,” Opera Today (29 June 2019).

"Aribert Reimann's opera Lear at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino,” Opera Today (06 May 2019).

"Petrenko Directs Beethoven's Missa Solemnis,” Opera Today (20 Feb 2019).

"Where Have the Great Big Wagner Voices Gone?” in Isolde Schmid-Reiter, ed. Worttonmelodie der menschlichen Stimme. Die Herausforderung, Wagner zu singen (Regensburg: ConBrio Verlagsgesellschaft, 2019).

Unpublished version: "Is Dramatic Wagner Singing in Decline?" Lecture delivered at the conference of the Europäische Musiktheater-Academie, Wiener Staatsoper (April 2017).

"Madama Butterfly at the Princeton Festival,” Opera Today (5 July 2018).

"Fidelio at Princeton Festival,” Opera Today (15 June 2017).

"Elegie für junge Liebende at Theater an der Wien,” Opera Today (5 June 2017).

"Three Rossini Opera Serias,” Opera Today (6 May 2017).

"Britten's Peter Grimes in Princeton,” Opera Today (26 June 2016).

"Lohengrin at the Semperoper Dresden,” Opera Today (2 June 2016).

"The "Other" Marriage of Figaro in a West Village Townhouse,” Opera Today (June 2016).

"Where Have the Great Big Verdi Voices Gone?” in Isolde Schmid-Reiter, ed. ,,Poetischer Ausdruck der Seele": Die Kunst, Verdi zu singen Schriften der Europäischen Musiktheater-Akademie - Band 10 (Regensburg: ConBrio Verlagsgesellschaft, 2016).

An abridged version of this essay was presented as a lecture at the Wiener Staatsoper entitled "Is there a decline in Verdi spinto and dramatic singing?" (29 April 2016).

This summary and critique of the argument by one of Germany's leading opera experts appeared in the annual yearbook of the journal Opernwelt. Jürgen Kesting, "Kranke Klänge: Nicht nur der Fall Rolando Villazóns zeigt die Folgen chronischer Überlastung. Warum wagen sich immer häufiger leichte Stimmen an dramatische Partien, die für sie ungeeignet sind? Aspekte einer fatalen Entwicklung," Opernwelt: Jahrbuch 2017 (2017).

"Cold Mountain at Opera Philadelphia,” Opera Today (8 February 2016).

"Spontini's La Vestale in Brussels,” Opera Today (25 October 2015).

"Verdi's La traviata at Opera Philadelphia,” Opera Today (10 October 2015).

"George Benjamin's Written on Skin at the Lincoln Center Festival,” Opera Today (28 August 2015).

"Verdi's Aïda at the Aspen Festival,” Opera Today (28 August 2015).

"Charlie Parker's Yardbird at Opera Philadelphia,” Opera Today (15 June 2015).

"The Maid of Pskov (Pskovityanka) at the Stars of the White Nights Festival, St. Petersburg,” Opera Today (15 June 2015).

"Princeton Festival: Le Nozze di Figaro,” Opera Today (15 June 2015).

"Giovanni Paisiello: Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” Opera Today (15 June 2015).

"Twilight of the Gods," Opera (November 2013).

“Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue from Barcelona on DVD,” Opera Today (20 May 2013).

“Puccini’s Manon Lescaut in Philadelphia,” Opera Today (26 April 2012).

“Aida in Arizona,” Opera Today (19 March 2012).

“Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio in Philadelphia,” Opera Today (6 March 2012).

“Opera’s Search for Transcendence,” European Journal of Sociology 52 (2011).

“Carmen in Philadelphia,” Opera Today (7 October 2011).

"Phaedra in Philadelphia," Opera Today (6 June 2011).

“Roméo et Juliette in Philadelphia,” Opera Today (5 March 2011).

“On Tenors: A Professional Opinion,” Guest Blog on Extended Violin Diary (21 January 2011).

“Go East, Young Diva,” International Herald-Tribune (Special Year-End “Global Agenda 2011” Section), 2 December 2010.

Also on line at: New York Times, Opinion Pages, 2 December 2010. Click here.

“Between Worlds: The New Seattle “Tristan” Explores the Threshold Between Life and Death,” Wagner Journal 4:3 (Autumn 2010).

"Tristan in Seattle,” Opera Today (15 August 2010).

For a PDF copy of this review, click here.

"Händel’s Semele at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris,” Opera Today (11 July 2010).

For a PDF copy of this review, click here.

"Everyday Totalitarianism: Reflections on the Stuttgart Ring," The Opera Quarterly (Winter 2010).

"Wild Card: Seiji Ozawa Returns to the Met," Opera News (December 2008).

"International Wagner Competition, Seattle," Financial Times (19 August 2008).

"Idomeneo and Doktor Faust at München Opernfestspiele," Opera Today (20 July 2008).

"Verdi's Otello at the Shanghai Opera House," Opera (London, June 2008).

"Puccini's Turandot in Beijing," Opera News (April 2008).

For a story by National Public Radio's Louisa Lim featuring an interview based in part on this story, click here.

"Guo Wenjing's Poet Li Bai in Shanghai," Opera (London) (January 2008).

"Wagner's Tannhäuser in Tokyo," Opera (London) (January 2008).

"Tan Dun / Organic Concert in Shanghai," Financial Times (23 October 2007).

"A Conductor Worth Watching," Financial Times (22 September 2007).

(For a .pdf copy of the illustrated print edition, click here)

"Luciano Pavarotti, 1935-2007," Newsweek (17 September 2007, International editions).

(For an MS Word version, click here)

(For a .pdf copy of the illustrated print edition, click here)

"Everyday Totalitarianism: The Stuttgart Ring Cycle," Opera Quarterly (2007) Part of a symposium on contemporary staging of Wagnerian opera with Carolyn Abbate and Michael Ashman.

"Sopranos at the Cineplex," Newsweek (16 March 2007, International edition).

(For a .pdf copy of the illustrated print edition, click here)

"Seattle: Review of International Wagner Competition," Opera (London, December 2006).

"The Rise of American Arias," Newsweek (International edition, 3-10 July 2006).

"Singing in the States," Newsweek (International edition, 3-10 July 2006).

"Rethinking Mozart," Newsweek (30 January 2006, International edition) (.pdf version).

"Hidden Arias," Newsweek (1 June 2004, Atlantic edition).

"In Defense of Bayreuth," German Politics and Society (forthcoming).

"Moon over Mozart: Peter Sellars at Glyndebourne," Newsweek (11 August 2003, Atlantic edition).

"All Wagner, All the Time," Newsweek (26 August 2002, Atlantic Edition).

"Summer Reading: Three Essential Books on Opera," Commonweal (14 June 2002).

	The Enraged Musician (1741) by William Hogarth (1697-1764) For high-res .tif image, click here. For information on this print, click here.

Kapellmeister Kreisler tanzt im Wahnsinn (1822) (Conductor Kreisler dances in his Madness) Drawing by E.T.A. Hoffman (1776-1822) For high-res .jpg image, click here.

If you are unable to access an electronic version of any selection, please contact <amoravcs@princeton.edu> to obtain a hard copy. Please send any questions, suggestions, or complaints concerning the coding or maintenance of this website to Helene E. Wood at hwood@princeton.edu.