By Gregory Moomjy It feels silly to say this, as we mark a year since COVID-19 came to the US, but the pandemic ruined my plans. You see, June 2020 was to be The Met’s company premiere of Breaking the Waves in a coproduction with BAM. The opera—with music by Missy Mazzoli and text by…Continue reading Miracles in Opera

RHYMES WITH OPERA’S CYBER SEASON FINALE BRINGS 23 OPERAS,  2 SOPRANOS AND A BARITONE DIRECTLY TO YOUR SCREENS On Saturday, September 12, New York City-based contemporary ensemble RHYMES WITH OPERA will present 1-MINUTE OPERAS, a rollercoaster evening of one-minute-long micro-opera premieres written by 23 different composers, all of whom Rhymes With Opera has worked with…Continue reading Rhymes With Opera Cyber Season

by Gregory Moomjy Just as every musicologist worth their salt should, I own a copy of Harold Schonberg’s tome The Lives of the Great Composers. He chose in a rather telling way to put two chapters back-to-back–“Colossus of Italy,” about Giuseppe Verdi and “Colossus of Germany,” about Richard Wagner. Much ink has been spilled on…Continue reading The Flying Dutchman Primer

The Metropolitan Opera, February 6 through March 7, 2020 Photo Marty Sohl / Met Opera by Gregory Moomjy If you heard of a woman who among other things, was the only female leader of the Roman empire, gave birth to Nero, was Caligula’s sister, and wrote her memoirs which have since been lost, you’d probably…Continue reading Aggripina’s Enduring Appeal

by Gregory Moomjy Death in opera is so ubiquitous, it’s cliché. But it wasn’t always like that. Prior to the French Revolution, the majority of Italian opera glorified a world in which the ruler was the center. And although they occasionally struggled for the good of the state, there was always a happy ending and…Continue reading Wozzek, A Masterpiece of Atonality