Night After Night

Writing, a blog, and a newsletter. By Steve Smith.

Metropolitan Opera

  • Break on through: The Met to play Mazzoli at BAM.

    Missy Mazzoli (Photograph: Marylene Mey) A little more than a decade ago, when I was at the Metropolitan Opera to see Leoš Janáček's From the House of the Dead, I spotted the composer Missy Mazzoli passing by in the outer lobby. We'd known each other for a few years by then, and waved to one

    Read more →

  • Always in motion is the future.

    From November 2009: I've spotted Missy Mazzoli at the Met for House of the Dead. One day I'll be here to hear her. Bank on it. — Steve Smith (@nightafternight) November 25, 2009 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js From December 2009: From today's issue of The New York Times: You can read the happy news here, and the original leap

    Read more →

  • Francesca da Rimini at the Metropolitan Opera House, March 4, 2013

    Marcello Giordani, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Mark Delavan, by Ruby Washington/The New York Times Francesca da Rimini at the Metropolitan Opera House, March 4, 2013The New York Times, March 7, 2013 I don't often get much direct response to my Times reviews in the form of email; usually that's reserved for social-media channels and the occasional

    Read more →

  • The Barber of Seville at the Metropolitan Opera, December 18, 2012

    Isabel Leonard and Rodion Pogossov, by Andrea Mohin/The New York Times The Barber of Seville at the Metropolitan Opera, December 18, 2012The New York Times, Dec. 24, 2012 That's right: not exactly Rossini's flawless Il barbiere di Siviglia, but the Met's new family-friendly shortened Barber in English. I'm grateful for a spot-on headline – Just

    Read more →

  • La clemenza di Tito at the Metropolitan Opera House, November 16, 2012

    Lucy Crowe and Kate Lindsey, by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times La clemenza di Tito at the Metropolitan Opera House, November 16, 2012The New York Times, Nov. 20, 2012 After a jam-packed run-up to an unusually relaxed and personally productive four-day weekend, time for a bit of catching up before the deluge commences anew. You've

    Read more →

  • Anthony Roth Costanzo at the Players, September 28, 2012

    Jared Angle and Anthony Roth Costanzo, by Hiroyuki Ito/The New York Times Anthony Roth Costanzo at the Players, September 28, 2012The New York Times, Oct. 1, 2012 (web exclusive) This one left me wishing that I had a wider dance vocabulary, as such situations tend to do. Still, obviously it's a very short review, and

    Read more →

  • Great leap forward.

    The Juilliard Orchestra with John Adams at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, February 21, 2011 The night after this concert, I finally got to see the Metropolitan Opera's new production of John Adams's opera Nixon in China, presented in the original 1987 staging by Peter Sellars–more or less. Many reviews appeared after the premiere earlier

    Read more →

  • Wedding party.

    The Bartered Bride at the Peter Jay Sharp TheaterThe New York Times, February 17, 2011 The first full-scale collaboration between the Metropolitan Opera and the Juilliard School, this was both an accomplished production and a plain-old delight. The performance drew a house packed with luminaries, including Mark Morris, Brian Dickie and, naturally, Peter Gelb. There

    Read more →

  • Ad libitum.

    Toy-piano advocate Phyllis Chen opens the new season of Barbès Classical—a casual series produced by the Concert Artists Guild's New Music/New Places initiative—on Sunday, September 12 at Barbès in Park Slope, Brooklyn, also celebrating the release of her new CD, Mesmers. (PhyllisChen.net) The partisans of queer opera blog Parterre Box are running up a tally

    Read more →

  • In the paint.

    Look & Listen Festival at the Chelsea Art Museum and Lulu at the Metropolitan OperaThe New York Times, May 10, 2010

    Read more →