The Vargas Blog

This was sent to me today, and I thought that it would be appropriate to post here. Here is some of the musical backstage drama that occurr...

The commentary that I hear most often by New York seasoned opera goers is that the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra is a well-oiled machine. ...

When Argentinian-born Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim leads a world-class orchestra, the performance immediately becomes a h...

The Metropolitan Opera has not staged La Damnation de Faust since the beginning of the twentieth century (1906); however, this season the ...

I was very happy to find out this week that the opera Nixon in China is finally coming to The Metropolitan Opera . John Adams 's first...

Doctor Atomic is the third major work for the operatic stage by composer John Adams . It was given its world premiere at the San Francisco...

In Darren Aronofsky 's sentimental new film The Wrestler , which closed this year's 46th annual New York Film Festival last night, ...

Changeling is Clint Eastwood 's 28th feature film. He is the director of such diverse fare as Play Misty for Me , Unforgiven , and Spa...

There was a time when Woody Allen mattered. When one of his new movie came out, you had to see it on the first day (for fear that everyone...

The Public Theater is ending its summer Shakespare in the Park season at the Delacorte Theater with an awesome production of one of their...

This year the Bayreuth Festival took the show on the road to city plazas and home computers near you. During the spring months leading up ...

As I listen to Robert Dean Smith and Iréne Theorin (singing beautifully with a cold!) ignite the Bayreuth Festival in Tristan und Isolde ...

As he proved in Brokeback Mountain , Heath Ledger could carry a picture. But in the last stages of his short-lived career, he also proved ...

Historic events have occurred at the Green Hill since the 2007 Bayreuth Festival ended. The old generation is giving way to the new as Wol...

Two amazing things happened at the Park Avenue Armory this evening. The first was that nobody around me walked out of the incredible stagi...

Last week, I attended, as a guest of AMC , the sneak preview of the first episode of the second season of Mad Men , the show that has been h...

You don't have to be Latino to enjoy In the Heights , but it definitely helps. The salsa driven, hip hop-infused musical by Broadway ne...

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull brings back to the summer screens one of the biggest franchises in the history of the mo...

If you follow this link , you will come to a page loaded with recommendations for complete Richard Wagner operas, as well as highlight discs...

Brian Carson , the announcer on my WagnerOperas Podcast was the videographer on this new video that was just put up on YouTube . Enjoy!