By Charles Michener 8/08/05 12:00am

Going Bonkers at the Opera: Glimmerglass Flirts With Chaos

Opera, it might be said, is a kind of madhouse: Musically, it pushes vocal capacities to the breaking point; dramatically, its protagonists are often in the grip of something so grievous that suicide may be the only way out. In Cooperstown, N.Y., where Glimmerglass Opera is celebrating its 30th season, operatic derangement is in full Read More

By Hilton Kramer 11/17/03 12:00am

The ‘Later’ Courbet, Master of Land, Sea, In Stunning Exhibit

Given his provincial origins, the untamed manners he sometimes affected, his appetite for political combat and the sheer impudence of his personality, the French painter Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was an improbable candidate for artistic stardom in a period in which official opinion still expected artists to observe certain standards of decorum. And yet, so compelling Read More