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
La Clemenza di Tito is lately enjoying unusual prominence with a new production in Los Angeles followed by the Met reviving its venerable Jean-Pierre Ponnelle staging later this month, so “Trove Thursday” offers Mozart’s late opera seria in a Paris “pirate” featuring the high-voltage diva-duo of Anna Caterina Antonacci and Elina Garanca, plus rare glimpses of Janet Baker as Sesto and Joan Sutherland as Vitellia. Read more »
“Trove Thursday” drafts a 1960s All-Star team for Verdi’s Il Trovatore broadcast from the Teatro Colón with Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto, Carlo Bergonzi, Piero Cappuccilli and, of course, Ivo Vinco. Read more »
Go beyond the magic and into the imagination of the iconic author Hans Christian Andersen, and discover how his complicated personal life inspired countless beloved tales such as The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling and more. Ensemble for the Romantic Century presents this world premiere production featuring live music by Benjamin Britten and Henry Purcell, classical puppetry, and the timeless classics that have transcended generations. Read more »
As we await Saturday’s Das Rheingold and the return of the Robert Lepage Ring to the Met with both dread and anticipation, “Trove Thursday” leaps to the end of the cycle with a slightly abridged Götterdämmerung (three hours or so) featuring Amy Shuard as Brünnhilde, a heroic but lesser-known Wagnerian of the 60s and early 70s. Read more »
The most disappointing performance in 30 otherwise glorious years of William Christie and Les Arts Florissants visiting New York City.
Sondra Radvanovsky returned for her 29th Met Aïda Thursday night (but only her second Aïda.)
Although Gustav Mahler never wrote an opera, his colossal Eighth Symphony “The Symphony of a Thousand” may give us some glimpses of what a Mahler opera might have sounded like
Since 1985, from the Chicago Symphony at Carnegie Hall to the Welsh National Opera visiting BAM and from Chicago Lyric to New York City Opera to the Met, I’ve never encountered a bad Falstaff—or one that didn’t astound and delight me.
“Trove Thursday” this week features the earliest of the fat-knight operas: Antonio Salieri’s 1799 Falstaff.
Cher Public