opera

10:05 AM, Jan 16, 2013 • By WILLIAM KRISTOL

I predicted on Fox News Sunday on December 30 that the Metropolitan Opera's production of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda would be the entertainment event of the year. We had the good fortune to be invited by friends to see it at the Met last night, and it was spectacular. Bel canto doesn't get any better than this opera, and I doubt if it can be sung any more beautifully than it was last night by Joyce DiDonato in the title role, Elza van den Heever as Queen Elizabeth I, and Matthew Polenzani as Leicester. The good news is that Saturday's performance will be shown in HD at theaters around the country. So watch Donizetti Saturday, the football playoffs Sunday—and on Monday celebrate the fact that the Obama presidency is half over!

10:24 AM, Dec 31, 2012 • By WILLIAM KRISTOL

I'm as thrilled as every other red-blooded Washington-area resident by the Redskins' victory yesterday. Yes, I did "predict" a Cowboys victory on Fox News Sunday. But that was, as I said on the show, a prediction contrary to my hopes, and of course was really made in order to avert the evil eye (or, as I put it on the panel in a way more suitable for public consumption, because I err on the side of pessimism). So, Go 'Skins! And no more predictions.

Sandy was not the only storm to arrive in Manhattan.

Nov 12, 2012, Vol. 18, No. 09 • By KELLY JANE TORRANCE

New York

A premiere at the country’s foremost opera company always meets with a certain level of excitement. But the man in the orchestra section two seats past me became positively giddy as he scanned the program notes before the curtain rose on The Tempest late last month at the Metropolitan Opera.

Sandy was not the only storm to arrive in Manhattan.

Nov 12, 2012, Vol. 18, No. 09 • By KELLY JANE TORRANCE

New York

A premiere at the country’s foremost opera company always meets with a certain level of excitement. But the man in the orchestra section two seats past me became positively giddy as he scanned the program notes before the curtain rose on The Tempest late last month at the Metropolitan Opera.

Anna Netrebko, Mariusz Kwiecien in The Met’s Live in HD presentation of ‘L’Elis

A new attraction for the movie palaces of old.

Oct 29, 2012, Vol. 18, No. 07 • By ELI LEHRER

From the ashes of communism, a voice for the new century.

Jan 24, 2011, Vol. 16, No. 18 • By CATHY YOUNG

One of the most sought-after classical singers in Europe, Magdalena Kozena has very little of the diva about her. The 37-year-old Czech-born, Berlin-based mezzo-soprano is warm and unpretentious, whether in interviews or in conversation with backstage visitors. A mother of two sons, ages five and two, she speaks of family as her first priority and readily turns down engagements that would interfere with it.