As the familiar chestnut goes, music is the universal language. Perhaps this is why composers are drawn to Italo Calvino’s 1972 masterwork, Invisible Cities—a novel that centers on a conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. Since the explorer and emperor do not speak the same language and are forced to communicate through gestures and faith in one another’s interpretation.

As Sung Jin Hong's One World Symphony closes its tenth anniversary season with an abridged version of Tristan und Isolde, WQX-Aria blogger Olivia Giovetti ponders the successes of smaller opera companies against the financial and operational woes of larger organizations.

As James Taylor's Perspectives Series concludes at Carnegie Hall, WQX-Aria blogger Olivia Giovetti considers the ever-closing gap between classical and pop music.

In the midst of a celebratory year, added cancellations to James Levine's schedule end his BSO tenure with a wheeze. WQX-Aria blogger Olivia Giovetti reflects on the conductor's latest troubles.

In the wake of several losses to the musical world, Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, now running in a revival at the Metropolitan Opera, rings all the more poignant, writes blogger Olivia Giovetti at WQX-Aria.

With the Philadelphia Orchestra docking at Carnegie Hall this week to perform Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, WQX-Aria blogger Olivia Giovetti considers some discrepancies in Sophocles's tragedy—and the orchestra's financial situation.

The Royal Wedding may have gone off without a hitch, but thank goodness there's opera to satisfy our collective sweet tooth when it comes to drama. Here are our picks for operatic (in every sense) wedding disasters.

The Mahler centenary is big but Hampson's George Crumb concert in D.C. tonight and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center tomorrow may be his most important recital this year.

Honey-voiced soprano Angela Meade, 33, is the recipient of this year's Richard Tucker Music Award, which comes with a $30,000 bonus and a priceless amount of prestige.

Ultimately the power of the Ring is that the myriad immortal characters we encounter over the four operas are driven by very human emotions rather than deific rationality. This may be where Lepage fails hardest, which explains the outcry against this work. To content ourselves with saying that it’s at least not the worst work produced under the Gelb era does a disservice to the audience, the artists and the art. But it’s hard to judge a new Ring halfway through. And while this is surely not a hit, it at least has a considerable kick.

While many devoted members of the audience at Stephen Schwartz’s Séance on a Wet Afternoon seemed to laud the production last night, Olivia Giovetti found herself among the skeptics, deeming the drama "lifeless and dull." More on WQX-Aria.

With the recent award consolidations at the Grammys, and the NEA Opera Honors ceasing operations after this year, the Opera News Awards may be our last hope for awarding classical mettle. 

Sarah Connolly talks with Olivia Giovetti about tonight's appearance at the Met Opera, her rocky road to the top, and why she won't put on makeup to meet you at the stage door.

Among the 25 Mostly Mozart debuts this season, the one we’re most anticipating is that of the Budapest Festival Orchestra's fully-staged performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, directed by Fischer himself.