Florence's Maggio Musicale has suffered bombings, floods, managerial inattention and political maneuvering. But recent austerity measures in Italy are especially damaging, writes Fred Plotkin.

The ages-old plea, “Let my people go,” took on immediate meaning when Rossini’s Moses in Egypt had concluded its second act and the Israelites were still captive, writes David Patrick Stearns.

Isabel Leonard, a mezzo-soprano from New York City, has won this year’s Richard Tucker Award, given annually to a promising American opera singer.

There’s a new organization designed to serve New York City’s small, grassroots opera companies and their fans.

This Sunday, New York City Opera will perform at City Center on West 55th street for the first time since 1965. The homecoming happens as the company looks to forge a new identity.

Montserrat Caballé turns 80 on Friday. Fred Plotkin considers the famed soprano – a sublime bel canto singer, dignified Tosca, notorious canceler and duet partner to Jose Carreras.

Opera fans are lurking among the student body at Columbia University, writes Fred Plotkin. "Opera companies would be wise to cultivate Columbia students for future audiences."

When the soprano Natalie Dessay dropped out before Tuesday night’s performance of Giulio Cesare at the Metropolitan Opera, the company didn’t have to look far for a replacement.

Tired of grumbling about economic austerity? Maybe it's time to sing about it.

"Reaching the end of Giulio Cesare at its opening night wasn't just a matter of taking in four-plus hours of Handel’s greatest arias, but navigating stories within stories," writes David Patrick Stearns.

Fans often express their frustration with opera administrators, writes Fred Plotkin. But just as influential, in most cases, are the boards that govern opera companies and provide a large part of the money.

A documentary and ongoing concert project looks at the Terezín concentration camp, where inmates sang the Verdi Requiem for their own dignity and solace—and to challenge their Nazi captors.

If a performance is "numbingly slow" with "no pacing to speak of, no structure or architecture to the rendering of the score" should the conductor be blamed? Absolutely, argues Fred Plotkin.

John Adams's large-scale oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary got its New York premiere Wednesday night. David Patrick Stearns writes that its Adams's "biggest and most profusely scored work."

It's the ultimate opera cliche: the diva showered with bouquets of flowers as she takes her bow. But as Fred Plotkin writes, "Strong fragrances, even pleasing ones," can lead to thorny situations.

A tenor from New Orleans has won the prestigious Beverly Sills Award that signals a star in the works.

The spectacle around Pope Francis's installation prompted Fred Plotkin to think about representations of popes and cardinals and potent Catholic figures in opera. Read on and share your own favorites.

Mezzo-soprano opera star Risë Stevens, who sang with the Metropolitan Opera for more than 20 years spanning the 1940s and 1950s, has died. She was 99.

Tuesday’s announcement that Alex Beard, 49, has been appointed as the new chief executive at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden was remarkable for its speed, especially because Beard comes from outside the institution. Typically, such searches take a longer period because the supply of able and qualified individuals is always limited, even for such a prestigious post, as few people have the necessary qualifications.