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.
Je sens une force nouvelle
Chris’s Cache offers three striking interpretations of another Gluck masterpiece Alceste from Janet Baker, Anna Caterina Antonacci, and Véronique Gens
Look there, look there!
Chris’s Cache features a pair of performances of Iolanta with Tamara Milashkina and Asmik Grigorian
Grigorian chant
In advance of her Metropolitan Opera debut, Chris’s Cache showcases Asmik Grigorian’s versatility with broadcasts of Halévy, Giordano, and Korngold
Hear the dance
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.
Love triangle below canal
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
Sensory overload
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.
Spit or swallow
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.
The real and the ideal
Chris’s Cache offers a Leoncavallo double-bill: Aprile Millo in Zazà and Jon Vickers and Carol Vaness in Pagliacci
Garden varieties
Those of us in New York City who relish 17th century Italian vocal music were offered an enticing banquet over the past few weeks.
Lovers are very special people
Chris’s Cache previews the Met’s imminent revival of Roméo et Juliette with three pairs of doomed lovers
Decidedly un-HIP
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
Excessive use of forza
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
Donna Anna and the Dynamos
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.
Illegal ‘Tenda’
A trio of live Bellini recordings featuring Mirella Freni, June Anderson, and Angela Meade in the title role
Just call me ‘Engel’
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 )
Rondo and rondo and rondo we go
A convocation of mezzos–and a pride of tenors–produce hundreds of sixteenth notes in a bewitching Rossini showpiece
Siam giunte, F.B. Pinkerton
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.
Mama is gonna see to it
Florian Leopold Gassmann’s delicious romp L’Opera Seria seems the perfect New Year’s Eve choice at Chris’s Cache
Field and fountain, moor and Montemezzi
Today’s Three Kings aren’t the ones who arrive in Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera usually performed this time of year
Les mêmes chansons, les mêmes refrains
Today’s collection features souvenirs of three previous Met productions of Carmen
Myth and meaning
Two short theatrical works and one sacred piece from the beguiling oeuvre of the guy who didn’t write Louise
Christian science monitored
In any case, we probably got as good a Tannhäuser cast as could be assembled these days.
‘Don’ or dinner party
A revival of Peter Konwitschny’s rightly legendary Don Carlos and Dmitri Tcherniakov’s confounding new Salome: both turned out to be unforgettable!
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).