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.

"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.

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."

Beyond religion, beyond duty, beyond fashion lies J.S. Bach’s music for keyboard. Read David Patrick Stearns's take on the composer's epic keyboard works and get a free download.

For the next 10 days, WQXR will be presenting the complete works of J.S. Bach – some 1100 in all. Get a free download, read our introductory essay and check out programming highlights.

"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.

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

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

"As much as the opening scene's intentionally vulgar casino-style neon lights were greeted with stunned silence, the final curtain response suggested that it's a hit," writes David Patrick Stearns.

The Met's first-ever staging of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda opened on New Year's Eve, with Joyce DiDonato as the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots. "Against many odds, the opera actually meant something," writes David Patrick Stearns.

Abstraction wrested music from the polarity of major and minor keys and Romantic-era emotions. Blogger David Patrick Stearns deconstructs the watershed years of 1910-1925.

From the first scene, the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Un Ballo in Maschera was to be a grand night for booing, writes Operavore critic David Patrick Stearns.

"Nobody should be surprised that composer Hans Werner Henze was at the premiere of a new work days before he died on Oct. 27 in Dresden," writes blogger David Patrick Stearns. "He was unstoppable."

Thomas Adès’ operatic adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest arrived at the Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday. David Patrick Stearns writes that it has "only fitful musical brilliance and many theatrical deficits."

The Metropolitan Opera opened its season Monday with the comedy 'L'Elisir d'Amore' in a new production by Bartlett Sher. The opera was "played straight and literal," writes David Patrick Stearns.

Like an eccentrically orbiting comet, Einstein on the Beach is again the object of fascination in New York. David Patrick Stearns reviews Sunday's performance.