Opera
This image released by the Bavarian State Opera shows tenor Jonas Kaufmann as the mortally wounded Tristan during a rehearsal for his role debut in a new production of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde," premiering at Munich's Bavarian State Opera on June 29. (Wilfried Hösl/Bavarian State Opera via AP)
Tenor Jonas Kaufmann takes on Tristan, opera’s voice killer

By Mike Silverman Jun. 23, 2021 09:53 AM EDT

FILE - This March 12, 2020, file photo shows Josie Robertson Plaza in front of The Metropolitan Opera house, background center, at Lincoln Center in New York. On Tuesday, May 11, 2021, the Metropolitan Opera reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract with the American Guild of Musical Artists, one of three major labor deals needed for the New York company to resume performances in September. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
Met Opera says $31M on tax return is mostly pledges

By The Associated Press Jun. 10, 2021 04:38 PM EDT

A view of the Milan La Scala opera house during a press conference to present 2021/2022 season, in Milan, Italy, Monday, May 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
La Scala announces 2021-21 season, with hope of fewer limits

By Colleen Barry May. 31, 2021 10:24 AM EDT

Union member demonstrators rally outside the Metropolitan Opera house during a "We Are the Met Rally," Thursday, May 13, 2021, in New York. Locked out stagehands and unions with contracts expiring this summer demonstrated outside the Met to protest the Opera's unfair treatment of workers, lockout of stagehands and the outsourcing of work. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Locked out stagehands protest outside Metropolitan Opera

By Ronald Blum May. 13, 2021 05:41 PM EDT

FILE - This March 12, 2020, file photo shows Josie Robertson Plaza in front of The Metropolitan Opera house, background center, at Lincoln Center in New York. On Tuesday, May 11, 2021, the Metropolitan Opera reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract with the American Guild of Musical Artists, one of three major labor deals needed for the New York company to resume performances in September. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
Silenced by pandemic, Met Opera to make brief return

By The Associated Press May. 12, 2021 12:42 PM EDT

This image shows the three Rhinemaidens in a scene from Lyric Opera of Chicago's "Twilight: Gods," an adaptation of Wagner's "Götterdämmerung" staged in an underground parking garage in Chicago. (Kyle Flubacker/Lyric Opera of Chicago via AP)
Chicago stages drive-through Wagner in underground garage

By Mike Silverman Apr. 28, 2021 08:27 AM EDT

Members of the New York Philharmonic perform on the Lincoln Center campus as part of Restart Stages at Lincoln Center, Wednesday, April 7, 2021, in New York. Members of the New York Philharmonic gave an outdoor concert at Lincoln Center for heath care workers, 13 months after the novel coronavirus pandemic decimated their season. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
With outdoor concert, Lincoln Center starts path to return

By Ronald Blum Apr. 07, 2021 04:39 PM EDT

FILE - Boston Symphony Orchestra music director James Levine appears during a performance at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., on July 7, 2006. Levine, who ruled over the Metropolitan Opera for 4 1/2 decades before being eased out when his health declined and then fired for sexual improprieties, died March 9, 2021 in Palm Springs, Calif., of natural causes, his physician of 17 years, Dr. Len Horovitz, said Wednesday, March 17. He was 77. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
James Levine, who ruled over Met Opera, dead at age 77

By Ronald Blum Mar. 17, 2021 10:44 AM EDT

A cameraman prepares for the video recording of "Despo-Greek Dances" Opera and dance performance at the empty Greek National Opera in Athens, Saturday, March 6, 2021. Dozens of museum exhibitions, theater productions, discussion panels and historical re-enactments were planned in Greece for this year to commemorate the bicentennial of the 1821-1832 Greek War of Independence. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, mezzo-soprano Artemis Bogri and her fellow singers stepped onstage in an empty theater to perform the Greek National Opera’s new production of “Despo,” one of the events marking 200 years since the war that resulted in Greece’s independence from the Ottoman Empire and rebirth as a nation. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
AP PHOTOS: Greek bicentennial show goes on despite pandemic

By Derek Gatopoulos And Thanassis Stavrakis Mar. 14, 2021 03:38 AM EDT

FILE - In this June 21, 2002 file photo, a huge pyramid dominates the stage of the opening performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in the Verona Arena, northern Italy. Riccardo Muti will open the season on June 19 and 22, conducting a concert version of “Aida” to mark the 150th anniversary of the Verdi title whose pageantry has made it a festival mainstay. (AP Photo/Claudio Martinelli)
An 'optimistic' Verona Arena announces summer opera lineup

By Colleen Barry Mar. 11, 2021 02:42 PM EST

Peter G Davis, New York Magazine critic, dies at age 84

Feb. 16, 2021 01:02 PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) — Peter G. Davis, the longtime classical music critic of New York Magazine, has died at age 84. Davis died Saturday at Mount...

Opera and theater's Prototype Festival pushed mostly online

By Ronald Blum Jan. 08, 2021 03:06 PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) — One of the world’s top festivals of contemporary opera and theater has shifted format because of the coronavirus pandemic. ...

FILE - In this Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, file photo, ornaments hang on a Christmas tree on display in New York. Office holiday parties are tricky in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Dancing, drinking and fancy dinners are out. Many companies are foregoing parties altogether, deciding instead to send staff gift baskets, extra time off or donations to charities that employees choose. (AP Photo/Swayne B. Hall, File)
Snow days, virtual opera: The office holiday party goes on

By Kelvin Chan And Alexandra Olson Dec. 17, 2020 05:18 AM EST

FILE - This June 4, 2018 file photo shows DJ D-Nice, whose real name is Derrick Jones, at the 13th Annual Apollo Theater Spring Gala After Party in New York. The DJ is among the entertainers who took the initiative to make the best out of a challenging year. During the pandemic's early stage, he hosted Homeschool at Club Quarantine on his Instagram Live, where he spun popular tunes on the turntables at his home. (Photo by Donald Traill/Invision/AP, File)
Despite bleak 2020, celebrities make effort to brighten year

By Jonathan Landrum Jr. Dec. 11, 2020 11:53 AM EST

United States' soprano Lisette Oropesa poses in front of La Scala opera theater in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020. Soprano Lisette Oropesa was to be the first American to single a title role in the gala season opener of La Scala since Maria Callas in the 1950s. Then Italy’s virus cases surged, with an outbreak in both La Scala’s chorus and orchestra, forcing Italy’s premier opera house to cancel one of the top events on the European cultural calendar for the first time. Oropesa is one of 24 singers recording for a broadcast event marking the traditional Dec. 7 opening. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
US star soprano misses La Scala gala season-open debut

By Colleen Barry Dec. 06, 2020 02:52 AM EST

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020 file photo, a military vehicle drives past La Scala opera theater in Milan, northern Italy. Milan’s famed La Scala opera house announced Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2020 that it will broadcast a gala event featuring stars including Placido Domingo, Roberto Alagna and Jonas Kaufman on the night of its traditional Dec. 7 season-opener, instead of the planned staging of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor,” in keeping with restrictions imposed to stop the deadly spread of the virus. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
La Scala subs closed gala concert for traditional opener

By Colleen Barry Nov. 25, 2020 08:35 AM EST

A musician in a face mask plays the violin at a rehearsal at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain, Friday, Nov. 13, 2020. The theater is one of the few major opera houses that have reopened during the pandemic, although to smaller audiences. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
The show goes on at Madrid´s opera house despite pandemic

By Ciarán Giles Nov. 21, 2020 02:21 AM EST

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020 file photo, an empty street in front of La Scala opera house, left, is illuminated by a red traffic light in Milan, Italy. After a rash of COVID-19 infections among musicians and chorus members, the Dec. 7 season premiere at Milan’s La Scala opera house, a gala event that is one of Italy’s cultural highlights, is being canceled. The theater’s board of directors on Wednesday concluded that the pandemic’s situation and Italy’s anti-COVID-19 measures, which include closure of theaters until at least Nov. 24, won’t allow for “achieving a production open to the public and of the level and with the characteristics required” for the premiere. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File )
With performers infected, La Scala season premiere canceled

Nov. 04, 2020 02:00 PM EST

FILE - In this early Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020 file photo, A military vehicle drives past La Scala opera theater in Milan, northern Italy. The number of performers at Milan’s famed La Scala opera house positive with the coronavirus has risen to 21, even as the theater was forced to close due to new government restrictions aimed at curbing the virus’ resurgence. La Scala spokesman Paolo Besana confirmed Tuesday that 18 members of the world-class chorus and three woodwind players in the orchestra have the virus. That comes after two singers, including tenor Francesco Meli, tested positive, ahead of planned concert performances last week of “Aida.’’(AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
Virus cases spike at Milan's La Scala, Naples' San Carlo

By Colleen Barry Oct. 27, 2020 04:41 PM EDT

Toby Gregory's yard that is adorned with 1,006 white crosses to represent Oklahoma deaths due to COVID-19, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020, in Tulsa, Okla. Gregory was able to keep up with the state death toll until last week, and then it became too many. He says he doesn't have the room or supplies to keep up with the current death toll, but will do about 50 more crosses. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)
The Latest: Ireland sets new virus restrictions for 6 weeks

By The Associated Press Oct. 19, 2020 12:47 AM EDT