By James Jorden 
It’s a very sad day at parterre box because we have just heard that critic Martin Bernheimer has died, on the day after his 83rd birthday.
Martin was the earliest mainstream critic to take notice of the then-zine version of parterre box and over the years he was both encouraging and ruthless in his evaluations of our work—just as he was with three generations of opera and other classical music performances.
James Jorden (who wrote under the names "La Cieca" and "Our Own JJ") was the founder and first editor of parterre box. During his 20 year career as an opera critic he wrote for the New York Times, Opera, Gay City News, Opera Now, Musical America and the New York Post. He also raised his voice in punditry on National Public Radio. From time to time he directed opera, including three unsuccessful productions of Don Giovanni,.. He was the co-creator, writer and occasional wig stylist for "The Dozen Divas," the long-running cabaret show starring the ineffable Dorothy Bishop. He also served as opera critic for the New York Observer.
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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.
