One way of viewing Mozart’s operatic masterpiece The Marriage of Figaro is as a landmark embodying the final glories of 18th-century classicism—a gleaming summation of “ancient regime” European aristocracy. Set on the

 Always enterprising in its efforts to offer new and varied productions, the Florentine Opera, having won Grammy awards for its world premiere recording of Rio de Sangre and its brilliant CD of Elmer Gantry, offers another departure from standard operatic fare with Benjamin Britten’s

 “Carmen is a woman meant only for love and death.” These were the ominous words that Prosper Merimee used to describe the coarse Gypsy character he authored in his grungy 1845 novella. Yet Carmen’s name would soon...

Regarded as Mozart's first great opera, Idomeneo was a remarkable breakthrough for the 24-year...

Terrible things befall innocent people in melodrama. By the end, evil is usually punished and the good guys rewarded or at least consoled. American composer Carlisle Floyd's 1955 opera Susannah tells the melodramatic story of a young woman falsely...

For many years, the Florentine Opera, one of Milwaukee's longest-running cultural institutions...