Christopher Corwin
Christopher Corwin began writing for parterre box in 2011 under the pen name “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has also appeared in , The New York Times, Musical America, The Observer, 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.
Bergamo hosts an annual Donizetti festival, Salzburg presents a Mozart-woche every January, and of course there is Bayreuth for Wagner. But Handel gets two festivals every spring, and this year I was finally able to attend one of them.
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
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.
Chris’s Cache offers two live recordings of Sondheim’s first two solo (as both composer and lyricist) Broadway shows: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Anyone Can Whistle
Chris’s Cache offers four iterations of Bartók’s one-act masterpiece with Evelyn Lear & Thomas Stewart; Tatiana Troyanos & Siegmund Nimsgern; Agnes Baltsa& Samuel Ramey; and Nina Stemme & Gerald Finley
“What a day, what a day for an Auto-da-fe!” and it’s also always a good day for Candide, so Chris’s Cache presents a pirate recording of a 1971 staging starring Mary Costa, Frank Porretta, and William Lewis.
Chris’s Cache offers three striking interpretations of another Gluck masterpiece Alceste from Janet Baker, Anna Caterina Antonacci, and Véronique Gens
Chris’s Cache features a pair of performances of Iolanta with Tamara Milashkina and Asmik Grigorian
In advance of her Metropolitan Opera debut, Chris’s Cache showcases Asmik Grigorian’s versatility with broadcasts of Halévy, Giordano, and Korngold
I confess to being a “bad” dance fan: over the decades I’ve learned that if I don’t love (or at least like) the music, I won’t love the dance.
Chris’s Cache offers three more street-singers: a live Renata Tebaldi performance–without Franco Corelli; Tebaldi cover Milka Stojanovic with Corelli; and Ghena Dimitrova’s second local appearance in which she was menaced by Piero Cappuccilli
Having relished last week’s American Symphony Orchestra “once-in-a-liftetime” Gurrelieder (my third, in fact), I wanted to keep enjoying Schönberg’s lush early epic.
Next week Puccini’s La Rondine returns to the Met for the first time in eleven years, so Chris’s Cache offers three quite diverse sopranos as Magda: Ljuba Welitsch, Virginia Zeani, and Cristina Gallardo-Domâs.
Chris’s Cache offers a Leoncavallo double-bill: Aprile Millo in Zazà and Jon Vickers and Carol Vaness in Pagliacci
Those of us in New York City who relish 17th century Italian vocal music were offered an enticing banquet over the past few weeks.
Chris’s Cache previews the Met’s imminent revival of Roméo et Juliette with three pairs of doomed lovers
Chris’s Cache celebrates Ewa Podles‘s long connection with Handel by featuring her in three complete, decidedly un-HIP operas spanning over twenty years
Three live recordings of Verdi’s fateful opera: one featuring a cast I heard in the distant past, another from Paris just over a year ago with a cast completely different from the Met’s, as well as the complete St. Petersburg version
The new Opera News section of OPERA magazine already seems to be getting smaller, but the March issue features a long interview with Carol Vaness about Donna Anna.
A trio of live Bellini recordings featuring Mirella Freni, June Anderson, and Angela Meade in the title role
Chris’s Cache previews Lise Davidsen‘s concert with six sopranos singing the five Wesendonck Lieder , plus a tenor interloper (Jonas Kaufmann, of course), and a mezzo (Hanna Schwarz )
A convocation of mezzos–and a pride of tenors–produce hundreds of sixteenth notes in a bewitching Rossini showpiece
Before some important Madama Butterfly sopranos dominate the American scene in early 2024, Chris’s Cache offers live recordings of four vintage Cio-Cio-Sans, plus a brand new one: Renata Scotto; Galina Vishnevskaya, Anna Moffo, Gilda Cruz-Romo–and Sonya Yoncheva.
Florian Leopold Gassmann’s delicious romp L’Opera Seria seems the perfect New Year’s Eve choice at Chris’s Cache
Today’s Three Kings aren’t the ones who arrive in Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera usually performed this time of year
