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...

Carlisle Floyd's compelling American opera Susannah, to be performed by the Florentine Opera March 16 & 18 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, may come as a welcome surprise to those unfamiliar with the work. Composed in 1955...

Few composers of “contemporary classical music,” much less opera, have found as large and welcome an audience as Philip Glass. The prolific composer and recording artist is honored for his 75th birthday with a triple-CD “best of” collection covering the late...

With Turandot, Puccini stepped boldly into the sexual psychology of the 20th century...

Years ago, California’s Reduced Shakespeare Company realized that there’s a comic appeal in going through some very, very serious material very, very quickly. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) was soon joined by All The Great Books (Abridged), The Complete History of the World (Abridged) and so on. Only a few years ago, New York-based Donovan Ensemble started doing somethi...

On of the most popular of Giacomo Puccini’s operas, La Boheme tells the funny, tragic tale of Parisians in the 1830s looking for love and artistic success. The Skylight Opera Theatre hasn’t attempted this beloved production for more than 40 years, so it seemed a logical choice to open its latest season. La Boheme continues its...

Vincenzo Bellini’s opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues) is the kind of repertory rarity that lifetime opera fans might never encounter. And for good reason. It is not one of the best Bellini scores, nor is it a shining example of Italian opera of its era. So why did Florentine Opera, which only produces three operas each season, feel the need to produce it? The Florentine production, which played for three performances last weekend, was titled Romeo and Juliet. However, the opera is not particularly based on Shakespeare, but rather on Italian novella sources.

The Florentine Opera Company concludes its three-day production of Vincenzo Bellini’s 1830 adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, I Capuleti e I Montecchi, this afternoon with a 2:30 p.m. production at the Marcus Center. Bellini’s version emphasizes the story’s poignancy and is focused squarely . . .