By Paul E. Robinson

Last season, Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s debut at the Met conducting Bizet’s “Carmen” was a huge success. Critics praised the production, the acting and singing of Elina Garanca in the title role, as well as the exciting conducting.

This “Carmen” also became one of the hits of the season in [...]

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by Paul E. Robinson

It seems like yesterday that Esa-Pekka Salonen announced he was stepping down as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, to be succeeded by the young Venezuelan phenomenon Gustavo Dudamel. In fact, it was two years ago, in April, 2007.
This month, Dudamel conducted his inaugural concert as music director of the LA [...]

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Review by Paul E. Robinson

In 2006, while he was gearing up to take over as the Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb stated that one of his major goals was to “broaden the audience and make it younger at the same time.” He also made it clear that he believed the way to do this was [...]

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