Opera Critics in the Mid-Atlantic 2020: The New, the Absent, and the Extreme

Opera critics are professional journalists who cover opera performances, but who are also charged with being knowledgeable evaluators, telling us how well a performance worked and how well conductors, directors, and singers did their jobs.  With great respect for this profession, I have facetiously called them Knights of the Opera Table, Knights with a mission to champion the good opera productions and slay the poor ones.  I am having second thoughts about the second half of that charge as I will discuss further down.  We primarily read critics to learn more about an opera and compare our opinions with an expert.  As an opera fan, I always read the reviews of operas I’ve seen.  Mainly, I read critics working for major newspapers in the mid-Atlantic, the region of OperaGene’s coverage, but I often read ones in the less prominent media outlets as well; frequently, they provide the only reviews for regional and local opera performances.  Reviewers and reviews vary in quality and are subject to being influenced by personal preferences and prejudices, as is the case for any group of professionals. So, how did our Knights do in the year past?  This is my 2020 overview.

First, the year’s shocker:  Anne Midgette retired from the Washington Post in December to have more mommy time and to focus her professional efforts on writing books.  My favorite Knight gone. Sigh.  Even so, she had another stellar year as a journalist, classical music critic, and commentator on social issues in the music business – see her perspective on Russell Thomas and her review of the Jamie Barton/ Kathleen Kelly “Voices” program).  I especially enjoyed it when she paid attention to small companies; see her review of the “In Series”.  The silver lining to losing her almost daily reviews is that, according to Ms. Midgette, the Post has committed to filling in behind her with a new, full-time classical music critic, though one is yet to be announced.  Ms. Midgette still has a strong presence on social media; and, check out her new website at annemidgette.com

Two stalwarts of the Opera Table from DC, Charles Downey at Washington Classical Review and Susan Galbraith at the DC Theatre Scene, continued to serve their communities well.  Mr. Downey has now moved to the head chair as my favorite opera critic.  His scholarly reviews, always worth reading, are typically the first to appear online after a performance.  I also like the breadth of his coverage; see reviews this past year of performances by the Maryland Lyric Opera and the Candlelight Concert Society.  Mr. Downey did make a comment in a recent review of MDLO’s Thaïs that I’m still trying to come to terms with; he stated that the story of the opera “strikes most listeners today as absurd”.  Maybe my sensitivity here is heightened by being in the other group of listeners to the story, but still...  Moving on, I enjoy the way that Ms. Galbraith’s theater experience influences her reviews, such as her review of Venus and Adonis, and I valued her thoughtful criticisms of the three twenty-minute operas this season by the American Opera Initiative.

At the western edge of OperaGene’s territory is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where the still relatively new classical music critic is Jeremy Reynolds.  His handle on Twitter is Tyrannosaurus Critic, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I think.  He did write a piece defending honest criticism in reviews (“Here’s why the Post-Gazette still has a Classical Music critic”), but thus far, I’ve not seen a performance or performer too badly mauled by one of his reviews.  In fact, this past year he wrote thoughtful, insightful reviews, but my favorite articles by him are often the educational/informative ones such as his piece on where to sit in a music hall.  This past year, he has solidly entrenched himself as a worthy member of the Opera Table. 

David Patrick Stearns is a former Knight who left the territory for NYC, but perhaps needs reinstatement since he keeps coming back to do reviews for his old employer, the Philadelphia Inquirer.  I generally enjoy Mr. Stearns’ reviews and gain insight from them.  However, I’m going to throw the flag on Mr. Stearns for “Unnecessary Roughness” in his review of Keckler’s Let Me Die, an entry in Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O19.  His criticisms were fair until, in my opinion, he went too far by calling the production a waste of time and castigating Opera Philadelphia for allowing it to be part of the Festival.  I believe Mr. Stearn stated what he thought out of frustration, not malicious intent, but the possible impact of such an extreme view might have been more thoughtfully considered.  I fear the impact might be to deter Opera Philadelphia and other young performers from taking chances.  I hope not.  So, I guess I don’t really want to see poor performances slain by our knights, just called out whn they don’t work and/or for failing to meet the best standards; mortally wounded is okay, but treat with honor, not disdain.

Peter Dobrin, longtime classical music critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, reviewed relatively few operas this past year with Mr. Stearns handling the majority of opera reviews.  I did enjoy his coverage of The Love of Three Oranges in Festival O19.   Mr. Dobrin is an excellent reviewer and deserves his place on the Opera Table. 

I mentioned critics Cameron Kelsall and George Parous in last year’s report, and I feel it is time to give them seats at the table.  Mr. Kelsall, a theater critic for the Broad Street Review, frequently provides quality reviews of Opera Philadelphia productions.  Mr. Parous, a reviewer for Pittsburgh in the Round, consistently writes quality reviews of Pittsburgh Opera productions.  One critic who is frequently capturing my attention now with her reviews of opera productions in the DC area is Whitney Fishburn of the DC Metro Theater Arts; she has no trouble taking a stand and is worth watching for the future. 

I also wish to mention the Washington Post Arts and Architecture Critic Philip Kennicott.  The infrequency of his reviews and commentary on opera, that appear in the Post and other publications, caused me to place him on the Opera Table taxi squad last year.  All we got this past year was a review of the Pavarotti movie. However, it is worth noting that what first drew me to his work was his extraordinary prose and his sensitive insights into arts and culture.  He is simply a gifted writer who causes me to read far more about art and architecture than I ever would otherwise.  Thus, I’d like to mention a new book of his that just came out, titled “Counterpoint: a Memory of Bach and Mourning.” My pre-order should arrive from Amazon in a few days.

There is one opera critic I wish to mention outside the mid-Atlantic area, Anthony Tommasini.  Mr. Tommasini is the classical music critic for the NY Times and does most of the opera reviews for the Met Opera’s productions.  I have not been a huge fan of his since I became an opera fan.  I think his recent reviews too often have relatively light content and too often let the Met off easy.  However, I have begun reading Mr. Tommasini’s relatively recent book, “The Indispensable Composers”, and it is really good; the content is substantial, and his insights into how each of the composers he covers influenced music is illuminating for a reader not trained in music.  Over the last few years, I am developing a prejudice that I like his earlier articles much more than his recent ones.  His 2008 article on the history of surtitles in opera was remarkably comprehensive and engaging.  Much of the material in his book is taken from his earlier newspaper articles.  My observation, and developing hypothesis, is that when critics are new in their jobs, they put more effort into helping newbies understand opera, while later in their careers they tend to overlook this teaching aspect.  This all leads me to another theory.  Maybe Ms. Midgette’s departure from writing reviews will have another benefit beyond those she gave at the time - a period of refreshment for her professional life.  Just a theory, but do Knights do sabbaticals?  Maybe they should?

I am grateful to all of these writers for the fine and important work they do.

 The Fan Experience: As I read or just scan reviews, I add links to them in OperaGene’s running three-month performance listing on the blog page. I also archive them on the Seasonal Lists page for future reference.