Christopher Corwin

The Metropolitan Opera’s most recent revival of its legendary 1977 Otto Schenk Tannhäuser made headlines worldwide: shouting climate protesters twice halted the season premiere while unfurling banners from the balcony reading ‘No Opera on a Dead Planet!’ The performance eventually continued without further incident from where it was stopped in the midst of the Wartburg Song Contest.

Les Talens Lyriques and Key’mon Murrah perform in the Frick Collection’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium Photo: Cris Sunwoo © The Frick Collection For those of us in New York City who relish vocal music from the baroque and classical eras, May provided three rewarding events: a pair of solo concerts featuring two of America’s finest singers of this repertoire—Lauren Snouffer and Key’mon Murrah– along with a rare opportunity to hear Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, or The Power of Musick.

Rosa Feola as Violetta and Liparit Avetisyan as Alfredo in Verdi’s “La Traviata.” Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera La traviata has never been on my most-loved Verdi list; I used to feel similarly about Rigoletto, but it’s lately risen in my estimation. Perhaps there’s also hope for Traviata, thanks in part to the Met’s current system of offering scads of performances of standard works with unusually interesting casts.