Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin
I grew up with the Anna Moffo recording of Luisa Miller, so it was fortuitous that the Met gave the premiere of a new production in 1968, around the time RCA released the album.
Nixon in China is one of several titles that when I tell people that it’s on my Top Ten Favorite list of operas, I get strange looks.
Here’s a lesser piece by a great composer, single-handedly “rescued” for our generation by Angela Gheorghiu.
t’s with great joy that I am able to give you Carmen, sung in Italian, from La Scala in 1931. I love this kind of stuff.
God, I love that photo of Lisa della Casa. She can sing, too!
As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my two favorite operas is Les Troyens,
Pierre Boulez continuously challenged me and totally changed the way I listen to music.
This week’s “Montag mit Marianne” highlights an extremely homoerotic Peter Grimes at Theater an der Wien (Christof Loy, Regisseur.)
A much-loved diva overdue for this site is Anna Moffo.
It may be bordering on cliché, but here’s the Bach Weihnachtsoratorium, complete with all six sections.
I give you a complete performance of Stephen Sondheim‘s Sunday in the Park with George from the Théâtre du Châtelet.
I think my love/hate relationship with Händel stems from the fact that during my early days as an operagoer there simply wasn’t any to hear.
A while back, there was a great outcry for some Meyerbeer…
Has anyone ever seen a truly great production of La forza del destino?
Two years before she brought the role to Wiener Staatsoper in a production somewhat dominated by Jonas Kaufmann, soprano Nina Stemme sang her first-ever Minnie in La fanciulla del West at Stockholm’s Royal Opera.
It’s time for the annual celebration of the birth of Leonie Rysanek (who, as you know, is your alte Jungfer’s Diva of Divas).
Chances are that if you know the title Esclarmonde, you pretty much already know the basics.
Whatever happened to Stefania Bonfadelli?
On Wednesday, the still-active, still radiant Virginia Zeani turns 90.
Among the goals for my Mixcloud page are more Mozart, and to pay tribute to more of our living legends.
I guess you have spoken: “Bring us insane divas in operas we already know!”
My attempt at garnering some attention for forgotten and ignored Czech operas hasn’t exactly been a success.
For those of you who can’t make it to the Met’s opening night, I am happy to provide you the opportunity to experience another Otello with a cast that was unmatchable for 1981.
While they seemed made for each other as stage partners, Montserrat Caballé and Luciano Pavarotti sang relatively few performances together.
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.
