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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…