Parterre Box
Janet Baker sings Elgar‘s Sea Pictures with such honesty and clarity and fervor.
It’s not where you start but where you Finnish
Wolfgang Holzmair‘s performance was amazing in its personal and intimate approach.
A first-time operagoer is lured to Thaïs at Opera Idaho by the promise of a new experience… and Neil, the Burmese python
William Parker‘s career launch coincided with the closet door fully opening for American male classical vocalists; the cruel irony is that Will was also an early AIDS casualty, gone in 1993 at 49.
This song has always been one of my favorites.
The song recitals I remember most vividly were, unsurprisingly, the most vivid ones.
Parterre Box acknowledges Riccardo Muti‘s 600th performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by highlighting two of his favorite singers — under a different conductor.
The staggeringly great Ukraine-born Jewish bass Mark Reizen sings “The Ebullient Kura Swirls” a/k/a “The Persian Love Song” by Moldova-born Jewish composer Anton Rubinstein.
Pure class. Kurt Moll really knew his own voice inside out.
The greatest bass performance I ever experienced was actually four – four performances in four roles.
This performance was introduced to me by Norman Treigle’s granddaughter —very fine mezzo-soprano Emily Treigle; while I was preparing the role of Olin Blitch, and it completely changed my understanding of the character.
With Gustavo Dudamel in the spotlight at Parterre Box this week, Grand Tier Grab Bag foreshadows one of the New York Philharmonic’s upcoming operatic engagements.
Tancredi Pasero is so noble in mien and rich-voiced here, a perfect complement to Caniglia’s earthy Leonora who honestly charts the movement from despair to fervent, transcendent faith in this duet.
I don’t know if I’ll ever hear as great a performance as René Pape‘s Gurnemanz.
Cesare Siepi and Giulio Neri give a reference rendition of the Grand Inquisitor scene.
Parterre Box answers the question, “how can a singer do both Tristan and Nemorino within a few month of each other?” with a clip of a recent role debut from Michael Spyres.
Boris Christoff’s Procida (along with Cerquetti’s Elena) lifts Mario Rossi’s RAI Torino Vespri to distinction.
Three more months of The Talk of the Town means that we need your most sizzling takes!
Parterre Box features a performance from two belcantisti who would rather you not think about their political affiliations.
No one in my experience both live and on records could swagger, spin out roulades, and ripple through Rossini and Handel like Samuel Ramey.
Before hearing Samuel Ramey as Zaccaria in Nabucco, I had always been more interested in higher voices.
This performance features Samuel Ramey in what I consider one of the most powerful deliveries of this aria on record.
“Even Peter Gelb’s critics concede that he has had a long run of finding pots of gold,” says The New York Times of the Metropolitan Opera‘s dire money troubles. “But is he running out of rainbows?”
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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