On this day in 1996 mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli made her Metropolitan Opera stage debut as Despina. She remains unseen at the Met since 1998.
On this day in 1895 Tchaikovsky and Petipa‘s ballet Swan Lake premiered in St. Petersburg
Birthday anniversaries of bass-baritone Ferdinand Frantz (1906),
soprano Ilona Steingruber (1912),
and tenor Giacinto Prandelli (1914)
Dan Soda (Windy City Operaman) is a Chicago native whose first visit to opera was at age 17 and Massenet’s Werther with Troyanos and Kraus. Nothing was ever the same. Opera and concert performances, recordings and video are an obsession. He prepares Parterre Box’s daily birthday and anniversary tributes. He also enjoys concerts, live theater and movies.
Get our free weekly newsletter delivered to your email.
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.
