On Saturday night, Washington National Opera opened its fall season with an oh-so-edgy rendition of a tired old chestnut, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. It is the fifth mounting of this opera by WNO since 1984, which works out to a production every four or five years on average. Film director Mariusz Treliński created this new production for the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, which also gave Washington his Butterfly and Andrea Chénier. The aim, laudable…

Verdi’s Macbeth is the least worthy of the composer’s three settings of Shakespeare plays, but it is hardly fair to compare this homely little opera to the composer’s final masterpieces, Otello and Falstaff. Macbeth, the earliest of the three, has some beautiful melodies, some dramatic scenes, effective choral writing, and glimmers of what Verdi would eventually accomplish — the elimination of tired bel canto conventions or, short of that, the ingenious incorporation of those…

This is another one of those weeks, when devoted classical listeners could be in one hall or another every night of the week. Enjoy it while you can, as the summer is almost here and with it far fewer concerts to hear. ESSENTIAL: >> A concert by French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard is an event to be cherished, and this week he will play twice in Washington. The first occasion is a solo recital at the…