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An Interview With Elena Villalón
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An Interview With Elena Villalón

Fresh off her critically praised Met Opera debut in Orfeo ed Euridice last spring, Cuban-American soprano Elena Villalón now takes on Osvaldo Golijov’s exhilarating Ainadamar. She kindly took the time to answer some questions in between rehearsals.

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Met Opera 2024-25 Review: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
Review Violette Leonard Review Violette Leonard

Met Opera 2024-25 Review: Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Jacques Offenbach‘s Les Contes d’Hoffmann is opera’s equivalent of The Tortured Poets Department, only 14,592 times better. The music brims with kaleidoscopic vibrancy and the story of Hoffmann’s three loves is delightful, though dizzyingly strange at times. 

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Recital Review: Erin Morley at the Yale School of Music
Violette Leonard Violette Leonard

Recital Review: Erin Morley at the Yale School of Music

It feels natural that Erin Morley’s first solo album, Rose in Bloom, should be nature-themed. She commands great versatility with her crystal-crisp voice, which sometimes resembles a richly filigreed silver flute, other times the ethereal otherworldliness of a glass harmonica.

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Opera Onscreen: Crying and Renée Fleming in Margaret (2011)
Violette Leonard Violette Leonard

Opera Onscreen: Crying and Renée Fleming in Margaret (2011)

My favorite opera scene in film is perhaps the obscurest: Margaret (2011), when Anna Paquin and J. Smith-Cameron attend Les Contes d’Hoffmann starring Renée Fleming and Susan Graham. By the end of the Barcarolle, Paquin’s character has burst in tears and reconciled with her estranged mother.

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An Interview With Erin Morley
Interview Violette Leonard Interview Violette Leonard

An Interview With Erin Morley

Recently, internationally acclaimed coloratura soprano Erin Morley has been piling on triumph after triumph. Erin released her first solo album this April, the floral-themed Rose in Bloom. She kindly spoke to me about her album, feminizing roles, skydiving, and more.

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An Interview With Kathryn Lewek
Violette Leonard Violette Leonard

An Interview With Kathryn Lewek

Though Kathryn Lewek is undoubtedly best known as the definitive Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, she has far more roles and range up her sleeve than just Mozart’s imperious monarch.

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