There are ways to attend an opera in Washington at a ticket price that will not make you cry. The easiest way is to go to a performance from one of the smaller or collegiate companies, where the reasonable ticket price will translate into hearing lesser singers or a piano or small instrumental ensemble instead of a full orchestra. If you want the true experience of opera, however — that "exotic and irrational entertainment" described......

Classical music has come back from summer vacation, and that means you actually have a choice of concerts this week. Most importantly, many of the city's leading groups are opening the season with glittering events. Look for reviews next week. >> Washington National Opera is opening its fall season with one of the most popular operas in the repertoire, Puccini's La Bohème (September 15 to 30). For all its audience-pleasing qualities, this opera is a......

On Saturday night, the Washington National Opera opened its best production of the season, with David Alden's modernized staging of Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa. Washington is the last of the three cities co-producing this version to see it on the stage, after a well-received 2004 premiere at Houston Grand Opera and an overwhelming critical success last fall at English National Opera, where it won the Laurence Olivier Award for best new opera production. Janáček adapted the......

This Saturday evening, the Washington National Opera opens its highly anticipated production of Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa. This is only the second Janáček opera in the history of the WNO, with one Cunning Little Vixen done in English translation in 1993. This new production directed by David Alden premiered at Houston Grand Opera in 2004: after it played to critical success last fall at English National Opera, it won the Laurence Olivier Award for best new......

There is little doubt that the main event this week is the opening of the final part of the Washington National Opera's season. The company's penultimate production, Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa in a staging by David Alden, won the Laurence Olivier Award this year for best new opera production. For reasons beyond understanding, not a single performance has sold out, although this is likely to be the high point of the WNO season. Some people may......

It's that time of the year again, when every choral group in the city has a Lenten concert, an Easter concert, or a Holy Week concert. We start this week with some of the best ones for the upcoming week. PREACHING FROM THE CHOIR: >> When the first concert on the list requires a trip to Baltimore, you know that it is going to be good. The Tallis Scholars, one of the best choral groups......

The 2006 season from Washington National Opera finally opened Saturday night with an opera that I was thrilled to see and hear live, Béla Bartók's A Kékszakállú herceg vára (Duke Bluebeard's Castle, premiered at the Budapest Opera in 1918). The Ambassador of Hungary, András Simonyi — fresh from a hilarious appearance on the Colbert Report — was so happy that he helped host the opening night WNO gala in honor of the 50th anniversary of......

One of those stereotypes about classical music that I would like to explode is that it is the musical equivalent of a dusty museum. Yes, classical musicians often play music from previous centuries, but the performances themselves are very much modern and of our time. What's more is that often classical musicians play new music, and that is an exciting thing to hear. RELATIVELY NEW: >> A favorite local group devoted to contemporary music, the......

You have a few more performances this month before the Washington National Opera season ends. We have reviewed both productions for you at DCist and I recommend them both. On Monday (May 22, 7 p.m.) and Saturday (May 27, 7 p.m.) are the final two performances of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, an opera that is not all that well known but that has some great music -- Mozart at the height of his compositional......

Last week, I recommended the final production of Washington National Opera's season to you. Monday night, DCist was in the audience for the second performance of Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri, and I can now say confidently that this production is a "smashing success" (as Tim Page described it for the Post). While not perfect as I heard it, the voices and musical performance are all of high quality and the wacky story is likely to......

Washington National Opera premieres its final production of the season for an already sold-out house tomorrow night (May 13, 7 p.m.), Rossini's charming, hilarious comic opera L'Italiana in Algeri. I have already recommended it, but I saw the dress rehearsal on Wednesday night and am especially confident that it's a great introduction to the delights of opera for a first-time opera goer. Also, the Generation O program has offered a limited number of reduced-price tickets......

Washington National Opera has two more operas scheduled for this season, and DCist went to the prima of the first of them Saturday night, Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito. Michael Hampe's handsome production, created for the Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile, places characters in 18th-century Napoleonic costumes (designed by Germán Droghetti) -- Tito's imperial robes in the final scene appear to be derived from Ingres's coronation portrait of Napoleon I -- in sets clearly......

Well, the classical music season is drawing to its end. Yes, there will be things to hear over the summer, but many of the major organizations will be shutting down at the end of May, or going into their reduced summer schedules. If you wanted to take in a production at Washington National Opera, for example, you had better do it soon. If you like the spectacle of musicals, opera should be right up your......

Although it may seem unnecessary to say so, sometimes opera can be fun. Italian comic opera can be musically formulaic, simplistic in plot, and even thin on entertainment. However, the best examples, when presented well, are irresistibly light-hearted. Washington National Opera's production of Gaetano Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore is just that. Yes, it's a silly story and the characters are flimsy, the staging is a reprise of Stephen Lawless's 1997 version -- altered in minor ways......

On Saturday night, Washington National Opera unveiled the first installment, Das Rheingold, of its new staging of Richard Wagner's operatic tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Kennedy Center Opera House. A co-production with San Francisco Opera, this "American Ring cycle" is the work of director Francesca Zambello and a team of American artistic collaborators. They have brought together images drawn from the history of the United States to transform Wagner's libretto, based on pre-Christian......

This DCist loves opera, but we understand that it is not for everyone and that the cost can be prohibitive. If your mood turns operatic, however, it's a good month for you. This is the final week for Gershwin's Porgy and Bess with Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, with sold-out performances on Tuesday (November 15, 7:30 p.m.), Friday (November 18, 7:30 p.m.), and Saturday (November 19, 7 p.m.). If you still want to......

Last Saturday, Washington National Opera opened its new production of George Gershwin's classic American opera Porgy and Bess (1935), and this DCist was happy to be in the Kennedy Center Opera House for the performance Wednesday night. We know that many DCists wonder why we bother to cover things like opera and classical music, which seem too stuffy and expensive for many people. However, this opera especially is part of our heritage as Americans, and......

Two weeks ago, we were telling you about the first opera in the Washington National Opera season. Last night, this DCist heard the second one, a gala production featuring the company's superstar music director, renowned tenor Plácido Domingo. The fact that he is singing in all three acts of this production, in alternation with working at the conductor's podium for the other production, I Vespri Siciliani, is remarkable for a musician of his age. As......

Washington National Opera is celebrating its 50th anniversary season this year, at the same time as the National Symphony Orchestra marks its 75th. Last night, WNO inaugurated its golden anniversary year by the premiere of a lesser-known opera, I Vespri Siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers), by a great and justly famous composer, Giuseppe Verdi. As an opera never mounted in the company's history, it was an odd choice, since it is neither an old-guard favorite......

Now that we are almost in October, the fall season of classical music is heating up, and we have put together a list of highlights through December for you over at Ionarts. But, this week, you should give some thought to hearing some of the good music out there (we have a more complete listing at Ionarts). We reiterate our recommendation from last week: the first opera in the 50th anniversary season of the Washington......

Friday, DCist went to the symphony, and we told you about the National Symphony's first concert and the schedule for the rest of their 75th anniversary season. September is also the time when our minds start to turn to thoughts of opera in Washington. Wouldn't it be great if there were some way to hear an opera and at the same time help suffering people? OPERA THIS WEEK: >> This Wednesday (September 14 at 7......

(Classical music agenda by DCist contributor Charles T. Downey of Ionarts) If you are like this DCist, you are probably thinking about how to spend that big tax refund check. We suggest that an evening (or afternoon) of classical music, paired with an excellent meal if possible, is a worthy way of taking back your money from Uncle Sam and spending it on something you and that special someone can appreciate. OPERA AND BALLET: >>......

(Classical music agenda contributed by Charles T. Downey of Ionarts) Want to hear something classical to impress your family and friends? At DCist, we have some quick picks for you, and can you say free concerts? That's right, Washington has more excellent classical music to be heard for free than probably anywhere else, and we're here to tell you about it. For more information, see our Concert Schedule at Ionarts. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: >> Free......