Decanonized

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 Four Saints in Three Acts, including what it’s like to sing a work when you get the vibes but not the text, the star-studded (and slightly problematic) history of this work’s premiere, and pigeons on the grass. Additional topics include: Jesuit theater education, Pete Davidson, Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, and ecstatic visions. Follow Steph on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack.

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 controversial?) Mozart and Da Ponte collaboration, in which an incredibly cynical libretto is matched by some of the most gorgeous music in the whole of the operatic canon. It's like if Nathan Fielder orchestrated the Enlightenment. Additional topics include: The Body Keeps the Score, John Cage, married life with the Mozarts, and the Marquis de Sade. Follow Aksel on Instagram and Bluesky. Read friend of the pod Kevin Ng's essay on Così fan tutte in the age of consent for Vancouver Opera.

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 Garrett Schumann joins us to discuss Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz, which holds a storied place in history as the “first” German Romantic opera and a less-discussed place as the origin story for German nationalism. Additional topics include: Patton Oswalt and horror movies, Faust derangement syndrome, the Paris Commune, and an anthology series pitch for Rian Johnson. Full show notes, including a synopsis of Der Freischütz, recommended recordings, and further reading, at decanonized.com Follow Garrett on Bluesky. Follow Decanonized on Instagram at @decanonized Follow Decanonized on Patreon (where we'll soon be launching bonus episodes!) at https://www.patreon.com/cw/Decanonized

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 a poet who negs a debutante at a party, and her subsequent ability to take ride-or-die to new extremes during the French Revolution. We also discuss the real hero or Andrea Chénier, who is (as in so many operas) actually the baritone. Additional topics include: sopranos melting down on Instagram, John McWhorter melting down over John Cage, and Charlotte Corday melting down over Jean-Paul Marat. Follow Carmen on Bluesky, Instagram, and Substack. Full episode page for Andrea Chénier on Decanonized.com. Follow Decanonized on Instagram at @decanonized and on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/Decanonized

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 doesn’t believe in lesbians, so the soprano marries the tenor at the end. Music and culture writer Kevin Ng joins us to dive head-first into Puccini’s final — and famously unfinishable — opera, Turandot, which had its posthumous premiere 100 years ago in 1926. Additional topics include: Lorena Bobbitt, castration, Freud, fascism, and T-shirt cannons. Follow Kevin on Instagram at @_kevinwng and on Bluesky at @kevinng.bsky.social. Read Kevin’s NYT piece on the latest attempt at constructing ending for Turandot: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/arts/music/turandot-opera-revised-ending.html Full episode page with recommended reading, recordings, and more at http://decanonized.com/episodes/puccini-turandot

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, lecturer, and writer Jerrell Jackson joins us to discuss Verdi’s penultimate opera, in which a storm wrecks Cyprus for five minutes and male insecurity wrecks everything else for the next three hours. Additional topics include: Classical Music Twitter, the visual spectrum of Plácido Domingo’s blackface Otellos, the New York Times comments section, and the ’90s teen Shakespeare renaissance. Follow Jerrell on Instagram at @datbassjawn and on Twitter at @datbassjawn. Full episode notes, including a synopsis of Otello, recommended recordings, and a reading list, at Decanonized.com. Follow Decanonized on Instagram at @decanonized.

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 Benjamin Poore joins us to talk about Wagner’s Swan King opera and ask the important questions: Is Lohengrin really the hero? Is Ortrud the only sane person? And what if Elsa did kill her brother? Additional topics include: Nazis, doomscrolling, Richard Wagner’s Livejournal, and who could take Norman Lebrecht in a fight. Don’t ask for Ben’s social media handles, but you can read his writing for VAN. Full show page, including a synopsis of Lohengrin, recommended recordings, and further reading. Follow Decanonized on Instagram at @decanonized

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 Grimes. And since Peter Grimes is the only Britten opera on this list, it’s a jam-packed episode as we navigate the seas of judgment in Suffolk, the work’s 1945 premiere, and the lasting influence of Britten on opera. Follow Imani on Instagram at @idm and on BlueSky at @imanimosley.bsky.social. Listen to her talk about how much Percy Grainger sucked (and heal your inner band kid who had to play “Country Gardens” at every grade-school spring concert) over at This Guy Sucked. Full show page, including a synopsis of Peter Grimes, recommended recordings, and further reading at decanonized.com.

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 Strauss’s fin-de-siècle shocker. Additional topics include: Greta Thunberg and the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Oscar Wilde’s moodboard, and why John Pierpont Morgan sucked. Follow Perri via Thrilled to Announce (also on Substack and Instagram as @thilledtoannounceee), and on Instagram at @pricklyper. Full show notes, including related reading and recommended recordings at: http://decanonized.com/episodes/strauss-salome

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 delve into this question and more, including why this is your favorite philosopher's opera, whether Donna Anna is a Horse Girl, Leporello in the Manosphere, and recent productions of Don Giovanni at the Met and Berlin's Komische Oper. Additional topics include: tenors who @ Elon Musk, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, Kierkegaard, and the Bardo. Full show page including a synopsis of Don Giovanni, playlist, and recommended reading. More show info at decanonized.com. Follow Sylvia on Twitter at @cowboyverismo. Follow their alter ego, People Mad at Opera, at @operacomments. Read Sylvia's opera reviews for Parterre Box.

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 everyone is happy at the end. Musicologist and critic Aksel Tollåli joins us to discuss a lovely opera about a lovely soprano and her lovely mental breakdown. Topics include Risorgimento chauvinism, opera's girlhood era, Lee Pace as Vincenzo Bellini, and operas whose entire plots would be resolved if the characters had just one (1) conversation. Follow Aksel on Instagram and Bluesky. Full playlist, reading list, and synopsis of I Puritani.

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’s four-and-a-half hour work of where both nothing happens and everything happens. Topics include: whether Rosenkavalier is a comedy or tragedy, the Viennese aristocracy, opera queens and mezzosexuals, the “German she-devil” who sued the Met (and won), and one of opera’s most problematic characters. Show page (including a playlist, recommended reading, opera synopsis and more): https://www.decanonized.com/episodes/strauss-der-rosenkavalier More info: https://www.decanonized.com Follow Decanonized on Instagram at @decanonized Follow Ben at: https://benwritesthings.com, on Instagram at @benwritesthings and on Bluesky at benwritesthings.bsky.social

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 fate, othering, hating cops, whether Carmen really has to die, why Don José would make the worst camping partner, and the dream blunt rotation of Alexander Chee, Tank Girl, and Susan McClary. For this episode, we saw Carmen live in Berlin via an organ trafficking-coded production by Ole Anders Tandberg at the Deutsche Oper, so bonus digressions on kidney harvesting and bull testicles! Show page (including a playlist, recommended reading, opera synopsis and more): https://www.decanonized.com/episodes/bizet-carmen More info: https://www.decanonized.com Follow Decanonized on Instagram at @decanonized Follow Nikola at: https://www.nikolaprintz.com and on Instagram at @itisnika