Author: NY TIMES

The Metropolitan Opera’s production of Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” is a garish explosion, its imagery drawn from cartoons and the Keystone Kops, its madcap energy never-ending. It’s fabulous, but the score can feel whooshed into a blender’s whirlwind.That was very much not the case on Tuesday at Carnegie Hall, when the Boston Symphony Orchestra played “Lady Macbeth” in concert. Even with some bits of staging, Boston’s performance under its music director, Andris Nelsons, was undistracted: firmly, soberly clear and controlled.Shostakovich has been a yearslong focus of this ensemble and conductor. They approach the composer with a poise that reveals…

The Israeli military said Tuesday that it had begun pumping water into the vast network of tunnels beneath Gaza, which Hamas has used to launch attacks, store weapons and imprison Israeli hostages.The military “has implemented new capabilities to neutralize underground terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip by channeling large volumes of water into the tunnels,” the Israeli military said in a statement.The statement was the military’s first public acknowledgment that its engineers were flooding tunnels, a contentious strategy that some military officials have said is ineffective and that the U.N. has warned could damage Gaza’s drinking water and sewage systems.Even…

Lawrence L. Langer, a literary scholar whose unblinking assessment of the Holocaust as an event so vast and evil that it defies moral framing helped deepen scholarly and popular understanding of the atrocity, died on Monday at his home in Wellesley, Mass. He was 94.His son, Andrew Langowitz, said the cause was rectal cancer.Across some 15 books and monographs, Dr. Langer insisted on a searing interpretation of the Holocaust as a moral black hole from which not even meaning can escape. He rejected words like “survivor,” “hero,” “martyr” and “tragedy” when applied to the Holocaust because, he said, they hinted…

Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick stood in front of a sold-out auditorium at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 11, smiling and excitedly reminiscing about their relationship with New England. The best memories of the New England Patriots’ historic 24 years in the league.The team owner and coach’s joint run-in has just ended, which is a good time to split. But if there’s any reservation, it’s Kraft’s mention of how difficult it is to see Belichick “wearing a raw-hem hoodie on the sidelines” with another team.deeperIf Bill Belichick doesn’t get a coaching job now, which teams might hire him in 2025?The idea…

My partner’s parents have been financially dependent on him and his brother for 10 years. They are unable to work. Still, they have provided free child care for my brother-in-law’s two children for the past five years. Meanwhile, my partner has been paying half of his parents’ living expenses. I’ve stayed out of these arrangements; my partner and I keep our finances separate. But now that we have a baby of our own — and his parents live too far away to provide child care — I am resentful that my partner has been effectively subsidizing his brother’s child care…

A run of strong economic data appears to have finally punctured consumers’ sour mood about the U.S. economy, blasting away recession fears and potentially aiding President Biden in his re-election campaign.Mr. Biden has struggled to sell voters on the positive signs in the economy under his watch, including rapid job gains, low unemployment and the fastest rebound in economic growth from the pandemic recession of any wealthy country.For much of Mr. Biden’s term, forecasters warned of imminent recession. Consumers remained glum, and voters told pollsters they were angry with the president for the other big economic development of his tenure:…

Last week, I was ushered by an Apple employee through a security gate, past a manicured lawn, down a flight of stairs and into a tastefully decorated faux living room inside the Steve Jobs Theater to get a preview of the company’s new Vision Pro headset.My demo, like the early tours of the Vision Pro given to other reporters, was far from exhaustive. I spent about 45 minutes wearing the device under the supervision of two watchful Apple employees, who guided me through a curated demo while I sat on a midcentury gray sofa next to them. I wasn’t allowed…

This week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on the 2024 Grammy Awards, which will take place on Sunday. The hosts discuss who is likely to win (and who deserves to win) in the major competitions — album of the year, record of the year, song of the year and best new artist — as well as awards in the country, rap, pop and Latin categories.Connect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to…

One of the Israeli soldiers wore medical scrubs, another a white coat and surgical mask. Their team swept into the West Bank hospital brandishing rifles, took up positions by the waiting-room chairs, then entered a patient’s room and killed a Hamas commander.Fifteen minutes later they were gone.The raid on Tuesday took place as the Israeli military battled Hamas on multiple fronts: with the dramatic operation in the West Bank, renewed clashes in northern Gaza, and beneath the territory’s surface. The Israeli military confirmed for the first time on Tuesday that its engineers had begun pumping seawater into the vast Hamas…

Suspicion of foreign espionage, cursive messages in ancient Chinese, a sensitive microchip — and a suspect that could not be stopped at the border.Ravindar Patil, the assistant Mumbai police sub-inspector assigned to the case, was scratching his head for answers. But first, he had to find a place to lock up the unusual captive.So he turned to a veterinary hospital in the Indian metropolis, asking it to retrieve a list of “very confidential and necessary” information about the suspect — a black pigeon caught lurking at a port where international vessels dock.“The police never came to check the pigeon,” said…