Michael M. Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, sits down with Fred Plotkin to talk about the challenges facing the performing arts world -- and how to turn around faltering arts organizations.

This Saturday on the Operavore show, the veteran impresario and artist manager Matthew Epstein sits down with host Marilyn Horne for a wide-ranging interview.

Fred Plotkin offers young singers suggestions about things to think about as they develop their careers and personal lives.

Gotham Chamber Opera is to give the New York premiere of Cavalli's 1668 opera about the decadent life of the notorious Roman emperor. It was among the first in a long line of racy topics.

"Social media has enabled singers to feel connected and loved in ways that would have been inconceivable only a few years ago," writes Fred Plotkin. Still, life on the road can be a lonely pursuit at times.

This Saxon city, so beautiful and so marked by centuries of tragedy and glory, was Richard Wagner’s second home. Fred Plotkin tells us why it matters today.

Wagner’s Parsifal is not my favorite opera and I doubt it ever will be," writes Fred Plotkin. "And yet, it has taken rather firm hold of my imagination.

Three recent recordings – by Jonas Kaufmann, Karina Gauvin and Max Emanuel Cencic – serve up wide-raging modes of delight and bravura.

Operavore blogger Fred Plotkin considers the Met's next season, which has some conspicuously absent singers but also the return of conductor James Levine.

The Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday announced its 2013-14 season, which will feature six new productions – including two Met premieres – as well as 14 revivals.

"For all its musical clarity Sunday at BAM, Britten's opera failed to take possession (at least of me) in a way that it truly can," writes Operavore's David Patrick Stearns.

Operavore blogger Fred Plotkin takes on marketing strategies and dynamic pricing in today's opera companies in his follow up article about the future of performing arts institutions and audience loyalty.

Operavore blogger Fred Plotkin ponders the role of subscriptions in the health of performance arts institutions.

"The production isn’t for everybody, but so handsomely filled this five-hour-plus opera," writes David Patrick Stearns.

Among the many historical tidbits that Steven Spielberg includes in his Oscar-nominated film "Lincoln," the president’s love of opera may be the most surprising.

This visually busy Jay Scheib production addressed many of the problems in this woozy, dreamy portrayal of the Duchess of Argyll.

Puppets and dolls have, since antiquity, served as surrogates for humans in religious and secular celebrations. Fred Plotkin considers the work of Hendrik Bonneur, who uses puppets in opera.

The Lunar New Year began on Sunday, and the moon plans an important role in Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot, one of the most popular Western operas with an Asian setting.

A particular characteristic of life in Amsterdam is the nearly untranslatable and unpronounceable word gezellig. It applies to many aspects of life and music in the Dutch city, writes Fred Plotkin.