- Ariadne auf Naxos Richard Strauss I really enjoyed the contrast of the bawdy, border-line slapstick comedy elements with moments of transcendent arias and deep pathos. It’s a mixture I haven’t found in many operas. It did leave the opera feeling disjointed at parts.
- Götterdämmerung Richard Wagner It was a longer journey working through the nearly 16 hours of the ring cycle. I have a few non-unique insights about Wagner’s magnum opus. First, it is long, not simply in the sense of the length of the actual opera, but time does move more slowly as well when you are watching. Second, it is beautiful, even transcendent in places. The performers in this version were fantastic and music ethereal at points and bellicose at others. Now that I have finished, I will watch differently the second time for sure. I think you need to experience it in its entirety to see the 20,000 foot perspective first, before you then can appreciate the beauty of it.
- Aida Giuseppe Verdi There is a lot to talk about in the music with this classic of Italian opera, but honestly the staging nearly upstaged everything else. The architecture, costumes, and props transports you and then the beautiful arias sweep from the pyramids into the sky.
Jordan Mattox 
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