Oussama Zahr

6 days ago | nytimes.com | Joshua Barone |Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim |Zachary Woolfe |Oussama Zahr

Watch and listen to five recent highlights, including Metropolitan Opera performances, the posthorn solo in Mahler's Third and music by Tomeka Reid. The New York Times's classical music and opera critics see and hear much more than they review. Here is what has hooked them recently. Leave your own favorites in the comments. Performed by Alexander Vinogradov at the Metropolitan Opera. For an opera lover seeking a bit of escapist fun, Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" seems like a safe bet.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Joshua Barone |Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim |Zachary Woolfe |Oussama Zahr

The New York Times's classical music and opera critics see and hear much more than they review. Here is what has hooked them recently. Leave your own favorites in the comments. A clip from the Boston Symphony Orchestra's performance in April 2023. There was a time in recent memory when a performance of Julia Wolfe's "Her Story," for women's chamber choir and orchestra, would have passed without incident.

Dec 3, 2024 | nytimes.com | Joshua Barone |Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim |Zachary Woolfe |Oussama Zahr

The New York Times's classical music and opera critics see and hear much more than they review. Here is what hooked them during the past month. Leave your own favorites in the comments. Image An installation view of "Living Room, Orlean, Virginia," part of "Making Home - Smithsonian Design Triennial" at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Credit...

Aug 5, 2024 | nytimes.com | Oussama Zahr

With a new name and a new music director, Lincoln Center's summer orchestra is getting a fresh start this season. On the evidence of three concerts over the past week and a half, though, the newly minted Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center is turning its focus to an element that has always been there: the players themselves. Last year was the final summer of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, which for 21 years had been led by the beloved Louis Langrée.

May 6, 2024 | nytimes.com | Oussama Zahr

Kevin Puts's " The Hours," which had its stage premiere at the Metropolitan Opera last season and returned for its first revival on Sunday, is even prettier than I remember. In the often exquisite score, the strings throb and the woodwinds flutter. When Puts reaches for percussion instruments, he chooses the sweeter ones - glockenspiel, crotales, chimes, vibraphone - and combines them luxuriously. Woodwinds at the top of Act II are practically Wagnerian in their extravagant stateliness.