Giuseppe Verdi's rapidly complicated, frequently histrionic, infrequently performed opera Ernani plays like a telenovela on fast-forward with the volume turned up. Opera Boston's production, which opened Friday night at the Majestic Theatre, is exactly what you think opera looks like: there's candelabra, and wigs, or hair carefully styled to look like wigs, and more red velvet than David Lynch could shake a stick at. The labyrinthine plot—a story of imperial intrigue overshadowed by a......

In Mozart's delightfully farcical opera Così fan tutte, everyone is culpable. The title—roughly, "They're all like that"—refers to the fickleness of Woman, the hypothetical Fiordiligi and Dorabella in particular (sung by Leah Sapko and Kristina Reagle in Thursday's performance) but their fiancés Ferrando and Guglielmo (David Vogel and Jonathan Nussman) likewise prove themselves to be utter cads in the course of their very complicated attempt to prove the sisters' fidelity. The Boston Conservatory production, set......

Juventas New Music Ensemble & OperaHub present Tramps, Emails & Hemlock Seully Hall, Boston Conservatory, 8 The Fenway March 18, 19, and 22 at 8 p.m., $6-$24 (20% discount if purchased through the Juventas web site) J. Jacob Krause was demanding something unusual of some singers leaning over some unusual props: more salivation directed at the laptops, please. Bostonist had slipped into Seully Hall in the midst of a dress rehearsal, where OperaHub and Juventas......

Upstairs was the teeming Cambridge Common; outside, the usual smokers' conversations. "Dude, you spit on my nachos." "No, I spit next to your nachos." And downstairs, Opera Boston Underground had returned to the Lizard Lounge for another well-attended performance. Proximity has a way of making up for bar-basement acoustics. Lacking any substantial musical education, this particular Bostonist has always enjoyed hearing such oversized sounds coming from human mouths, and this was the first time......

Gail Mazur, Robert Pinsky, Lloyd Schwartz, and Rosanna Warren will be reading at the ICA on the HarborWalk at 6:30 pm tomorrow, Thursday, May 3. Free first-come, first-serve tickets will be available an hour before the reading. The ICA and UMass Boston are celebrating Emily Dickinson - the ultimate Massachusetts literary institution - tomorrow night. The ICA is installing a visual display of Dickinson's 695 (As if the Sea should part), and four poets will......

If you look past the fact that the Sox are back at home for their first few games at Fenway this season you'll be able to hear a greater beat on the street. As is often the case there is more good live music going on in town this week than any one person could possibly listen to. Time to clone yourself so you can scoop up a standing room ticket to watch Dice-K......

This past September something innovative happened in Boston. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum launched a webcast. It wasn't just any webcast, it was a creative commons licensed release of concerts performed as part of the long standing museum concert series. It's allowed users world wide to take in a little classical music culture by downloading the file and playing it on their iPod, in the windows media center or whatever MP3 compatible device they choose.......

Every once in a while a webcast comes around that Bostonist just adores. Of course, we want to share this adoration and what better way to accomplish this than to drop a review on the intertubes for your consumption? This week we review a 'cast that is produced by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: The Concert. Let us get the geekery out of the way. The folks over at the Gardner have done something great......

Many a Sunday finds Bostonist somewhat hung-over, looking at a greasy plate of bacon, eggs, and some sort of potato product. By the time brunch has finished we've already missed a great classical music concert at the Isabella Stewart Garner Museum. We feel rewarded when we do end up making it to the ISGM for the Sunday afternoon show. The ISGM offers a whole lot of what those smart folks call "fine art." Today, in......

Bostonist attended a performance of Monsieur Chopin the other night at the A.R.T. in Harvard Square. It's a curious show - somewhere between a monologue, a piano recital, and a multimedia slide show. Unfortunately, we arrived expecting a play. Monsieur Chopin is a one-man show retelling the life and loves of Frédéric Chopin, but a ponderous (dare we say soporific?) chunk of the evening is spent on piano performances. Hershey Felder portrays Chopin with a......

Time to hit the gym. Time to work off the 19 hot dogs and 12 hamburgers ingested over the last four days. Well, maybe the gym isn't going to do it. Throw down a couple of bucks this week and dance, sweat, and otherwise work off that weight as you listen to some great tunes – played live – around Boston this week. Tuesday 5/30 Lifestyle with What Time is It Mr. Fox, and The......

Admittedly we’re a little low on the Saturday evening picks for this week. Mostly because we know we’ll still be swigging green beer by the pint – or at least too hung-over from Friday night to make it out to a show. Again this week we’ve put a little classical music for those of you that feel a little culture is good for the soul. Monday 3/13: Dilated Peoples and Little Brother Rakaa, Evidence......

It certainly is not everyday that Bostonist gets an email with “Hungarian Superstar” and “Big Mamma's House 2 and a bucket of greasy popcorn” discussing the same thing, so today must not be everyday. Tonight Hungarian superstar György Ligeti’s etudes will be performed as part of the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum’s Composer Portraits series. Christopher Taylor from the Miller Theatre in New York will play the African polyrhythmic and Balinese Gamelan inspired compositions. Bostonist knows......