One Italian soprano continues to save the day in bel canto roles at La Scala; this week Parterre Box features Marta Torbidoni.

Ambur Braid‘s biggest dramatic soprano assignment yet — the Dyer’s Wife in Aix — is occasion for Parterre Box to feature her in some of her old repertoire.

Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.

Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.

Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.

Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.

I am once again going to laud the classic Rudolf Kempe commercial recording of Lohengrin (which I have lauded overall) for its conducting.

Roger Norrington conducted Rossini’s Semiramide in Pesaro ’94 and made the Orchestra part of the drama in a way I still have never heard duplicated in a Bel Canto opera.

Many years ago, when the Met was deciding who the next principal conductor/music director was going to be, it seemed to be a tie between YN-S and Fabio Luisi.

Pierre Monteux‘s career defies time.

Daniel Barenboim’s Tristan und Isolde is a performance I keep coming back to, again and again.

I first experienced the magic of Seiji Ozawa in 1972 when I was 12 years old.