Decanonized

Faust with Benjamin Poore

The devil categorically should have all the good music. Friend of the pod and Mythical Fuckboy Correspondent Benjamin Poore joins us to wrap up spooky season with Gounod’

Il trovatore with Patrick Summers

Emotional regulation wasn’t widely available in 15th-century Spain. Conductor and author Patrick Summers joins us to talk about Verdi’s Il trovatore, in which the outside

Four Saints in Three Acts with Stephanie DePrez

Opera is an opera is an opera is an opera: This week, soprano and comedian Stephanie DePrez joins us to discuss Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein’s  modernist 1934 gem Fo

Così fan tutte with Aksel Tollåli

RIP Lorenzo Da Ponte, you would have loved ethical non-monogamy. Our Catastrophic Horniness Correspondent Aksel Tollåli returns to discuss the final (and somehow most con

Der Freischütz with Garrett Schumann

In which a guy gets performance anxiety about a shooting contest and takes bulletmaxxing advice from the sketchiest dude alive. Composer, scholar, performer, and writer G

Andrea Chénier with Carmen Paddock

It’s all fun and games until the guillotine gets weird. In honor of Bastille Day, critic Carmen Paddock joins us to talk about Umberto Giordano’s verismo (?) opera about

Turandot with Kevin Ng

Happy Pride and World Cup month, here’s an unlikely football (soccer) anthem and the sapphic story behind it. Unfortunately, the composer who got ahold of this story does

Otello with Jerrell Jackson

Is Iago one of opera’s greatest villains? Or just someone who listened to Steely Dan’s “Dirty Work” one too many times and decided to make it everyone’s problem. Bassist,

Lohengrin with Benjamin Poore

The Bridal March from Lohengrin is a bold wedding choice once you know the rest of the opera. But considering the divorce rate, maybe it’s the most honest one. Critic Ben

Peter Grimes with Imani Mosley

Is Peter Grimes the villain, or just his town’s biggest HR violation? Musicologist and Britten scholar Dr. Imani Mosley joins us to discuss the original problematic Grime

Salome with Perri DiChristina

Is Salome a victim of circumstance, or the destroyer of empire? Mezzo-soprano and one opera’s philosophical fug girls Perri DiChristina joins us to dive head-first into S

Don Giovanni with Sylvia Korman

Does Don Giovanni ever actually end? Or are we just living in a constant state of deferral with a final boss that will never be defeated? Critic Sylvia Korman joins us to

I Puritani with Aksel Tollåli

Sometimes, we can have nice things. Like a bel canto opera where, despite the mad scene stretching across all three acts, the stakes are low, the Fs are high, and everyon

Der Rosenkavalier with Ben Miller

Time, nostalgia, and very fancy lesbians? It must be Der Rosenkavalier. Writer, historian, and co-host of Bad Gays Ben Miller joins us for a discussion of Richard Strauss

Carmen with Nikola Printz

On Episode 1 of Decanonized, mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz joins us to discuss what many consider to be the greatest opera: Georges Bizet's Carmen (1875). Topics include fa