After A Special Christmas Present c. 1956, by Bob Mizer/Bob Mizer Foundation/SuperStock

You, cher public, are the reason we exist. Your expertise, your commentary, your strong sense of community (and even your support) keep Parterre Box free and independent. And this year we needed each other more than ever.

Oh, is 2025 a big blur for you, too? Well let’s take a moment and revisit the ten posts that generated the most visits and comments this year.

We won’t insult you by assuming you actually read the articles, but at least you are, in your way, still making opera a vital artistic force in America and abroad. Thank you!

Parterre’s Top Ten Most-“Read” Stories of 2025

10. Kevin Ng on the Met’s Turandot with reunited AVA alums Angela Meade and Michael Fabiano.

9. Dawn Fatale questions Peter Gelb‘s decision to partner with the Saudi government for funding.

8. After act I, Christina Colanduoni was… sick and tired of a La bohème at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

7. “By boycotting us, you are killing art.” Brendan Latimer sits down with Francesca Zambello and members of the cast of Washington National Opera’s production of Aïda.

6. Elza van den Heever and Peter Mattei (and the stage elevator) elevate an assertive, if not definitive, new Salome at the Met reviewed by Sylvia Korman.

5. Eli Jacobson wonders whether today’s stars are enough to sustain Andrea Chénier.

4. Emma Hoffman on the relevance of Fidelio, last season with Lise Davidsen at the Met.

3. Richard Lynn bravely asks what we’re hoping to get out of the continued Peter Gelb-bashing — and whether our expectations of him have ever been fair.

2. The Met’s new production of La sonnambula—with Nadine Sierra and directed by Rolando Villazon—was musically charming if dramatically confounding.

1. At the Met’s NYE Aïda, Emma Hoffman had hoped that 2024 would end, if not on a high note, then one that was at least in tune.

Comments