Harry Rose

Harry Rose, based in Providence, Rhode Island, is currently pursuing a PhD in Italian Studies at Brown University. Starting out blogging independently as Opera Teen in 2013, he holds the auspicious distinction of being the youngest writer to ever contribute to parterre box (at age 14) and has had the pleasure and challenge of writing for the rigorously discerning cher public since 2012. Increasingly niche hobbies and interests include opera, ballet, theatrical goings-on of the fin-de-siècle, and gatekeeping Camp.


The artist is present The artist is present

And is this ‘Orpheus’ in the room with us right now?

on March 14, 2024 at 10:00 AM
Opening doors Opening doors

Real estate is hot along the Acela corridor right now: as proof, Judith will have toured at least three castles in New York and Boston between this spring and last.

on February 12, 2024 at 10:00 AM
That with music loud and long That with music loud and long

The flashing eyes, the floating hair, and the inexplicable barefootnedness during the second half of Saturday night’s performance confirmed one thing: Kristine Opolais is back.

on January 29, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Let the children come to me Let the children come to me

It says something about Boston’s opera scene that one of the most consistently ambitious events of the opera season is a one-off performance played by the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras.

on January 24, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Singin’ through the sunshine Singin’ through the sunshine

Julia Bullock seems to fission herself multiple times over during the course of her newest, widely ranging recital program.

on January 19, 2024 at 9:00 AM
The music seemed to come from afar The music seemed to come from afar

New York shall never be in need of another Messiah to assist to during the holiday season, but a new tradition is beginning to crystallize at the cavernous St. John the Divine to rival it.

on December 22, 2023 at 10:46 AM
Ashes to ashes Ashes to ashes

Gioachino Rossini’s adorable adaptation of Cinderella famously dispenses with a slipper in favor of a bracelet to lead the Principe Ramiro back to his Cenerentola. If only this performance had benefitted from such a glittering guiding hand.

on November 13, 2023 at 9:00 AM
Float like a butterfly Float like a butterfly

Phil Chan described his point of departure for reimagining Orientalist works as the question, “what else could this be?”

on September 21, 2023 at 10:00 AM
It has to be more than that It has to be more than that

Before rehearsals for Madama Butterfly started, Phil Chan sat down with the box to chat about his production, opera’s cultural appropriation problem, and why the last thing he’s trying to do is cancel Puccini.

on August 18, 2023 at 12:27 PM
Prosperity gospel in tango shoes Prosperity gospel in tango shoes

If sex sells, then the 40 years of success for Evita show that the strawman construction and vicious takedown of an unsexy, supremely unlikable woman in just under two-and-a-half hours is just as viable a quantity.

on July 17, 2023 at 2:41 PM
Open concept Open concept

In Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, which closed on Sunday after a nearly sold-out run—there are no doors.

on March 29, 2023 at 10:38 AM
It might as well be Einspring It might as well be Einspring

I can’t imagine anything more anxiety-inducing than being put in at last-minute to sing a role in a high-profile production at the Met.

on March 13, 2023 at 3:04 PM
Wide-eyed mania Wide-eyed mania

There is a moment about 75% of the way through the Rome Narrative where you can almost literally hear Tannhäuser’s stomach turn.

on February 06, 2023 at 9:00 AM
Between two mirrors Between two mirrors

Shortly before Tuesday’s performance of Salome at La Scala, I did something I rarely do: I took a mirror selfie.

on January 20, 2023 at 1:29 PM
Poison of interest Poison of interest

Following new productions of Tosca in 2017, Adriana Lecouvreur in 2018, and the Anna Netrebko-led Puccini orgy of 2019, New Year’s Eve at the Met has come to signify that verismo, as this school tends to be known, is still kicking.

on January 02, 2023 at 9:00 AM
Everything old is new again Everything old is new again

All things were, indeed, made new again, when Boston’s venerable Handel & Haydn Society brought Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro to the stage, their first time doing so in its entirety, as their 2,576th concert on Thursday.

on November 21, 2022 at 11:02 AM
Dancing with the devil Dancing with the devil

In George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, the dancers are dancing even before the curtain goes up. 

on October 25, 2022 at 2:30 PM
If they could turn back time If they could turn back time

Yuval Sharon at Boston Lyric Opera has brilliantly found an interpretative middle ground for La bohème by presenting the acts in reverse order.

on October 04, 2022 at 1:59 PM
Rachmaninoff three ways Rachmaninoff three ways

A troika of operas by Rachmaninoff: Aleko , The Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini , courtesy of Odyssey Opera.

on September 28, 2022 at 12:00 PM
Vertigo more than tuberculosis Vertigo more than tuberculosis

This Traviata remained firmly Beltway-bound and by the time I had gotten home, the 45-minute traffic jam to leave the parking lot was eminently fresher in my mind than the evening’s performance.

on July 21, 2022 at 1:42 PM
Shoot your shot Shoot your shot

Director R.B. Schlather deftly walks a porous boundary, casting this primordial paroxysm of Germanness as a dialogue between its naïve and moralistic narrative with its outsized legacy.

on June 22, 2022 at 1:15 PM
Ring my bell Ring my bell

The monsoon outside was no match for the torrents of gorgeous, dramatic singing and playing that was unleashed inside George Washington University’s Lisner Hall Sunday afternoon when Washington Concert Opera, in a glorious deluge of Léo Delibes, presented Lakmé to round out its return season.

on May 24, 2022 at 10:00 AM
Room temperature Room temperature

It’s maybe not a surprise that Carmen is neither a good vocal nor temperamental fit for Isabel Leonard.

on May 18, 2022 at 12:41 PM
Incandescent like some adolescent Incandescent like some adolescent

She Loves Me can take a beating.

on April 15, 2022 at 4:09 PM
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