From time to time, people come along whose stories are so unique and vivid that their names actually become entries in the dictionary. One prime example is Faust, who made a disastrous deal with the ...

Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito (there are several completed operas for which he ...

For a charismatic fellow who's usually cast as ne'er-do-wells--if not downright villains--and is quite good at making you love to hate him, in person, rising star bass-baritone Christian Van Horn ...

SAN FRANCISCO — From the moment the devil climbs out of the pit — the orchestra pit — and onto the stage at War Memorial Opera House, one gets the sense that San Francisco Opera’s season-opening ...

NEW YORK — The best that can be said for some recent Metropolitan Opera productions — “Samson et Dalila” and “Tosca,” I’m looking at you — is that they don’t actively hinder the works being performed.

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online ...

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele has its faults, but you can’t accuse the composer of lacking artistic aspirations.