Opera Box Score

It's a bonus episode in our series introducing you to opera in Germany!

George's guest is Kirsten Harms, the former Intendantin of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She’s now a freelance stage director in Germany. You’ll get her take on Berlin’s opera scene and an inside look at her tenure at the Deutsche Oper, as well as her opinion on opera in America...

Later, George is joined by Roy Rallo, an American director based in San Francisco, who also is connected to the opera scene in Berlin. His candid opinions about the business of opera will surprise you...

Then, George tells you why six weeks isn’t enough time to rehearse an opera, while in his field report from Chicago, Oliver tells you why you better have your poop together if you're going to sing in Marilyn Horne's masterclass, plus Monday Evening Quarterback reviews productions of 'Parsifal' and 'Salome'...

It’s the third and final installment of our three-part series introducing you to the opera world of Germany. Last week, George took you around Germany’s smaller houses. Today he started in Heidelberg and ended up in Munich...

George's first guest is Lydia Steier, an American director based in Germany. She's currently directing Wagner's 'Der Fliegende Holländer'. You’ll hear her take on why she came to Germany to work, and whether or not she wants to go home to the US...

Later on, George is joined by Amy Stebbins, an American director currently working on a new project at the Bavarian State Opera. She’s got a great take on the future of opera in Germany...

We’ve also got this week’s opera headlines, our Monday Evening Quarterback segment, and Oliver checks in from Chicago with a field report...

George kicks off the second of a three-part series introducing you to the opera world in Germany. He goes to Meiningen, Weimar, Frankfurt and Darmstadt...

His guest is Stefan Umhey, a multi-talented artist based at the Meiningen Theater. Stefan has lots to say about the challenges facing opera in Germany today. And he’s got a story about the intersection between opera and the recent arrival of Syrian refugees in Meiningen that you simply can't want to miss...

Plus George shares with you the Top Five list of things you must have onstage if you’re directing an opera in Germany. We’ve also got this week’s opera headlines, our Monday Evening Quarterback segment, and Oliver checks in from Chicago with a field report...

George launches his three-part series introducing you to the opera world of Germany. He'll take you around Berlin, he’ll take you to the provinces, and he’ll give you insights into the wild and wacky world – mostly – that is opera here in Das Vaterland...

George's guest this week is Will Robertson, a resident assistant director at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. Will is one of a handful of American directors who's really found success working overseas in Germany. This interview gives you an all-access pass to the Deutsche Oper...

But first, George lets you know why he came to Germany in the first place. And why he had to come back...

Plus we’ve got this week’s opera headlines, our Monday Evening Quarterback segment and a special field report from Oliver back in Chicago.

This week, Oliver talks to Catherine O’Shaughnessy, founder of Windy City Opera, to give you an inside look at Chicago's storefront opera scene...

But first, we investigate a story hot off the presses. The Floating Opera Company, a small outfit in Chicago, recently posted an audition notice for its upcoming production of Sondheim’s ‘Sweeney Todd’, and invited musical theater singers to audition. Many of them took umbrage at the $15 audition fee, and then took to social media to voice their displeasure. It got ugly, and fast...

Plus we’ve got this week’s opera headlines and our TKO segment which pits Nathan Gunn and Simon Keenlyside head-to-head in Britten's 'Billy Budd'...

On tonight’s show, George, Oliver and Giovanna talk you the through ten contemporary composers who have just been added to the “most-performed” list in The Opera Guide, the world’s definitive list of who’s who in opera. But will we agree on who should be on the list and how they should be ranked...?

Plus we have all your opera headlines, Oliver’s performance review potpourri and Giovanna's all-new lighting-round format for our opera Pop Quiz...

This week, George and Oliver talk with conductor Anthony Barrese. He’s also the artistic director of Opera Southwest. We get his take on what pieces opera companies should be programming in order to survive. Anthony’s a smart guy and the opera references come fast and furious in this interview, so keep your wits about you and enjoy this bonus-length interview...

Co-host Giovanna is back on the show, and she helps us break down what to look forward to -- and what to avoid -- in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 season...

Plus we’ve got this week’s opera headlines and our TKO segment which pits two singers head-to-head in the finale of Rossini’s opera 'Zelmira'. Don't miss who we’ve chosen to fight to the death to become the star of Naples...

On tonight’s show, George takes you through the crisis brewing at English National Opera (ENO), London’s major opera house dedicated to performing opera in English. The Artistic Director has quit, the budget has been cut and the chorus is protesting. Is this the end of the road for ENO?

Also, Oliver rants about performance etiquette: audiences are clapping less, singers are bowing more. What's up with that?

And we've got all your opera headlines, and plus our Monday Evening Quarterback tackles the current production of Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier” at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

This week, it's a special hour-plus show!

We talk with soprano Emily Birsan, who is currently in Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" at Chicago Opera Theater. Our team reviews the show, as well as its prelude in the double-bill: Poulenc's "La Voix Humaine", featuring Patricia Racette.

Oliver sets up a new battle royale in our TKO segment, and George gives you the week's opera headlines. Wow!

Opera and musical theater librettist Matt Boresi is our guest co-host this week. We get his hot takes on how to write libretti, on the best new American librettists and on whether producing musical theater is helping or hurting opera companies.

Plus, the Two Minute Drill, giving you all your need-to-know opera headlines!