At the Met’s Queen of Spades, Herman, consumed by gambling, betrays Lisa to learn the Countess’s secret, leading to Lisa’s suicide and his own. Tchaikovsky’s drama blends corrupted aristocracy, aching folk songs, and Herman’s tormented passions. Stunning contrasts of love, riveting choruses, and Sonya Yoncheva’s tragic Lisa made it unforgettable.

Claus Guth’s new Salome at the Met reimagines Strauss’ 1905 shocker with seven Salomes, tracing abuse, obsession, and fractured identity. Transparent orchestral colors heighten the perverse, ecstatic drama, while Elsa’s portrayal adds compassion over pure decadence. Childhood, violence, and desire fuse in a haunting 21st-century vision.

Opera penetrates your soul's darkness and consumes you, and then the orchestral sounds take it away. Six performances of Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten have just finished at the Metropolitan Opera. It's a 4-hour opera, including breaks. Concerts and operas have completely different appeals. Even if you usually experience great sound with headphones or audio, you become part of the work that 3,800 people can experience simultaneously. In a world where people often sacrifice the misfortune of others to achieve their own happiness, Strauss's opera "Saving Her Husband Instead of Self-Sacrifice and Helping Other Unhappy Couples to Become Happy" premiered in 1919, the year after the outbreak of World War I.

Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten opened at the Met. His fourth collaboration with Hofmannsthal, premiered in Vienna in 1919, the opera is filled with mystery and romance, depicting love and compassion through grand orchestration. Yannick Nézet-Séguin led the orchestra with brilliance, guiding the rapidly shifting expressions with clarity and playfulness. Flute, clarinet, and string solos colored the story, while the orchestra’s collective breath brought Strauss’s music to life. The singers were superb, and in Act II, the cello solo filled the hall with a warm, inviting resonance.