Christopher Corwin began writing for parterre box in 2011 under the pen name “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has also appeared in Musical America, San Francisco Classical Voice and BAMNotes. Like many, he came to opera via the Saturday Met Opera broadcasts which he began listening to at age 11. His particular enthusiasm is 17th and 18th century opera. Since 2015 he has curated the weekly podcast Trove Thursday on parterre box presenting live recordings.
Christopher Corwin
Single tickets for the Met’s 2019-20 season go on sale in 10 days and the hottest ticket will likely be the return of Porgy and Bess to the company after nearly 30 years, so “Trove Thursday” offers a preview of the Gershwins’s masterpiece with a vivid live complete broadcast from the 1952 US State Department tour to Berlin with William Warfield, Cab Calloway and the 25-year-old Leontyne Price. Read more »
When I finally felt able to end my enforced medical abstinence from live performances, I was initially elated that I would be hearing some baroque vocal music but then I wavered: it would be all-JS Bach. But an unusually provocative program by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s conducted by Bernard Labadie with soloists Lydia Teuscher and Benno Schachtner allayed my qualms and made my “return” Thursday evening an illuminating and rewarding experience at Zankel Hall. Read more »
Beyond the ubiquitous The Four Seasons, Antonio Vivaldi’s best-known work may be his Gloria but that choral favorite isn’t all that typical of the composer’s liturgical music so “Trove Thursday” explores instead a dozen solo sacred works by the Red Priest sung by Christophe Dumaux, Maria Espada, Rosa Feola, Ann Hallenberg, Roberta Invernizzi, Philippe Jaroussky, Simone Kermes, Gérard Lesne, Roberta Mameli, Sara Mingardo, Jakub Jósef Orlinski and Sandrine Piau. Read more »
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Leaping from last week’s Manon to an altogether different archetype of French womanhood, “Trove Thursday” offers—on her feast day—one of the many artworks inspired by the life of St. Joan of Arc: Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco in a rare NYC concert performance with Margaret Price, Carlo Bergonzi and Sherrill Milnes—and I was there! Read more »
To mark Beverly Sills’s 90th birthday (May 25, 1929) “Trove Thursday” offers the late diva’s acclaimed Massenet heroine opposite her ideal Des Grieux, Alain Vanzo.
Today the good guy finally gets his chance with San Giovanni Battista by Alessandro Stradella featuring Christophe Dumaux as John the Baptist.
Mezzo-sopranos often get stuck being the mother, the lady-in-waiting or the “other woman”… but not today!
“Trove Thursday” presents two live versions of Sunday in the Park with George.
Cher Public