The Vargas Blog

I am not sure if The Metropolitan Opera needed a new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia , but the new Peter Gelb administration has bro...

Madama Butterfly is the one opera that never fails to please, even when the cast is not ideal, the production questionable, and the orchest...

The great American bass-baritone Thomas Stewart died this week. He passed away after making par on a golf course. He had turned 78 last m...

The Metropolitan Opera 's new season opened with a production of Giacomo Puccini 's Madama Butterfly . This is the first new produc...

The following appeared on the CNN website today. BERLIN, Germany (AP) -- A leading opera house called off a production of Mozart's ...

The Metropolitan Opera 's new text logo in both print and online media has changed with the new Peter Gelb administration. Now, the off...

As one examines the Metropolitan Opera 's schedule for the 2006-2007 season as the company gets ready to begin general sales for its ina...

The Christoph Schlingensief production of Parsifal came back to the Bayreuth Festival for its third consecutive year. Which means that f...

There have been a lot of changes since the last time that I heard this production of Tristan und Isolde, which premiered last year at the F...

The following is New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini 's review of the Bayreuth 2006 Ring BAYREUTH, Germany, Aug. 1 — During the cur...

Every day at the Bayreuth Festival this year there has been some kind of surprising event that makes the entire experience memorable and un...

Any new production of Wagner 's Siegfried ultimately has to be judged based on the merits of the heldentenor singing the young title ro...

Die Walküre is, and will continue to be, the audience favorite in any complete performance of Der Ring des Nibelungen . Audiences will sit...

Thus far there have been three performances at the Bayreuth Festival. The whole thing started on July 25 with a revival of the Freudian sta...

We are now just days away from the opening of the Bayreuth Festival 2006 . This year's edition of the festival opens on July 25 with a ...

I saw Grendel , Transcendence of the Great Big Bad last Saturday at the Lincoln Center Festival 2006 , and I must say that Elliot Goldentha...

The Lieutenant of Inishmore , Martin McDonagh 's play at the Lyceum Theater, is a delightful monstrosity. The work about the mindless vi...

The sea. Has there been a greater source of inspiration for composers than the enormous expanse of saline water that makes up the majority ...

In the Faust legend, the aged philosopher yearns to regain youth, discover love, and seek supreme knowledge. In his quest, he sells his sou...

Here is the second part of the José +10 Adidas commercial that has been running during the broadcasts of the World Cup Games. It's a re...