Soprano Nina Stemme sung her 126th and final performance of Isolde in Wagner's “Tristan und Isolde” with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Marian Anderson Hall.

Provoking boos 25 years ago for radical stagings saturated with sex and violence, Calixto Bieito at age 61 has transformed from a European regietheater enfant terrible to a patriarch.

Huang Ruo’s “The Monkey King,” based on an episode from the 16th century Chinese novel “Journey to the West” in which a primate born from stone acquires supernatural powers and seeks immortality, will be given its world premiere by the San Francisco Opera on Nov. 14.