Scheduled for only six performances (September 28-October 17, 2021), the Met chose, as a cost-cutting measure, to present Mussorgsky’s original seven-scene 1869 version of the opera. European houses and scholarly purists favor this original score, which is currently found in repertoires in London, Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg.

Already before Boric takes office in March next year, there are troubling signs that he may lead his country far and fast down the same road that Venezuela took under Hugo Chavez.

On December 24th a migrant boat capsized in the Aegean Sea. It was the third accident involving migrants in Greek waters in less than a month, bringing the death toll of the three sinkings to 27. Three suspected smugglers were also arrested. 

The Queen chose to pay tribute to childhood and its carefree nature, able to seek and find joy in all things. In a sober and discreet allusion, she recalled the original meaning of Christmas—namely the arrival of the baby Jesus in the manger: “[Children] teach us all a lesson—just as the Christmas story does—that in the birth of a child, there is a new dawn with endless potential.”

Mounting tensions between East and West have been a fixture in news reporting for the past few weeks, with the U.S. and Ukraine claiming Russia may be preparing an invasion of its neighbor. Russia has emphatically denied planning such a course of action and says it is Ukraine’s dalliance with NATO that is to be blamed for the escalation.

The challenge before us is to decide whether we believe in a universe created by a loving God who called us into being and who has destined us for eternal Communion with Himself, or whether we think we can only be ‘free’ by making ourselves like God and imposing our will on our body and the world?