Once again, your alte Jungfer is pleased to offer a performance by a polarizing diva: it seems that parterriani either love her or loathe her. But the real attraction to this performance is that of the 28-year-old José Carreras, freshly landed in the Big Apple and ensconced at New York City Opera. This particular performance is a favorite of mine, as I was there, and got an autographed photo of the hot new tenor whilst loitering around the stage door (a habit in which I still occasionally indulge).
Meanwhile, if you haven’t “favorited” my Mixcloud site, you likely missed the post of Friday night’s Wiener Staatsoper performance of Werther starring Jean-Francois Borras (the guy who replaced Jonas K. at the Met last season) and Angela Gheorghiu. I posted it within half an hour after the performance ended, but Parterre Box was having technical difficulties for a few hours and the announcement may have gotten lost in the general fracas once the site came back up. So if Donizetti’s not your thing you may enjoy a little Massenet.
Gaetano Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
New York City Opera
Luigi Martelli, conductor
28 August 1974
In-house recording
Lucia – Beverly Sills
Edgardo – José Carreras
Enrico – Pablo Elvira
Raimondo – Maurizio Mazzieri
Arturo – David Griffith
Alisa – Diane Curry
Normanno – Joaquin Romaguera
P.S. I went back and edited some of the uploads that may not have played in the USA due to copyright restrictions at Mixcloud, so if there was something you wanted to hear but couldn’t access it, please try again. If you still can’t access the upload, please leave me a message on this thread or e-mail me.
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
