Planning a trip to Italy but don’t know what is playing on opera stages? Fred Plotkin sorts it out for you, with this one-stop guide to opera calendars around the country.

Nico Muhly's Two Boys has an intentionally creepy sexual frankness that goes beyond anything previously seen on the Met stage, writes David Patrick Stearns.

In the wake of New York City Opera's demise, Fred Plotkin notes, "Italy is besieged in ways we cannot imagine. And yet they understand that culture is worth talking about and trying to save."

Little did Nico Muhly know when he composed Two Boys that the type of Internet deception he based the opera on would keep repeating over and over.

The Filarmonica della Scala began as the pit orchestra for Italy's La Scala opera house. As Fred Plotkin reports from Milan, the ensemble has a lively agenda apart from accompanying opera singers.

You can tell a lot about a city’s opera culture by who shows up for opening nights – or doesn't.

The Met's high-style production with a smartly-selected cast represents a near-ideal opportunity to come to terms with what the piece is and is not, writes David Patrick Stearns.

The absolute, unforgettable highlight of the Verdi anniversary week was being in the presence, and then the company, of conductor Richard Bonynge, writes Fred Plotkin.

An enduring canard in opera histories is that Verdi did not have “much noticeable influence on younger generations of composers.” Four of today's leading young composers suggest otherwise.

"It might distress Giuseppe Verdi, the great Italian patriot and nationalist, that Egypt's history of European occupation is in partly the fault of his wonderful opera, Aida," writes Nimet Habachy.

Verdi has inspired plenty of flash mob performances – in markets, public squares and department stores. In honor of Verdi's 200th birthday, here's one with particular charm.

Fred Plotkin considers some of Verdi's most compelling religious works and how a non-religious man could produce music that speaks so powerfully to very devout people.

In an interview with WQXR's Jeff Spurgeon, Domingo called Otello his favorite Verdi role of all time. Listen and find out why.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, we thought we’d give him a toast—or five.

Giuseppe Verdi is the most-performed composer in opera houses worldwide, and his themes have taken root in popular culture from movies to hip-hop. Take our quiz and see how much you know your Verdi.

One of the most remarkable, but least remarked upon, events leading up to this Verdi year has been the release of a series of DVDs called Tutto Verdi that contains every one of his operas.

Why was it necessary for a company that had once presented some 130 performances a season to endure in diminished form? Marion Lignana Rosenberg considers why City Opera still mattered.

A loss of leadership, mission, a home and visibility all contributed to City Opera's downfall, writes Fred Plotkin. But is it too late for a generous donor to step forward?

New York City Opera is expected to file for bankruptcy Wednesday, after failing to raise $7 million. We look back at what New Yorkers are losing as the 70-year-company closes its curtains.