More people should listen to Licia Albanese
Not sure if she’s under-appreciated per se, but hers is my favorite Manon Lescaut with Jussi Björling.
By David Phillips
99 comments
Parterre Box
Giovanna d’Arco
A performance recorded earlier this year at the Teatro Regio di Parma.
Roundheads heard ’round the world
parterre box is titillated (in the most prudishly puritanical way possible) to share a clip from the Paris Opera’s recent production of I Puritani starring Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee
More people should listen to Ninon Vallin
The assumption is that singers, singing in their own language, will be more expressive and idiomatic. The reality is that it often seldom makes a difference.
By Harry Rose
97 comments
More people should listen to Diana Soviero
Diana Soviero, America’s standard-setter in Puccini and verismo — an artist whose vocalism was luminous, and whose inner conviction achieved the ultimate in shattering, profoundly moving emotional intensity.
By Roger Pines
171 comments
More people should listen to Patrizia Ciofi
I first heard Patrizia Ciofi in a production of La traviata from Venice. It was a very modern production set in present day, but still she shown through her performance was just incredible.
By George Vallo
61 comments
More people should listen to Hanne-Lore Kuhse
East Germany’s Hochdramatische icon, Berlin’s local Nachtigall.
By Ben Miller
55 comments
Sea glass
“Baritone Thomas Glass will sing the role of Starbuck in tonight’s performance of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, replacing Peter Mattei, who has withdrawn due to illness.”
More people should listen to Barbara Haveman
Unfortunately, Barbara Haveman does not perform very much anymore and she did not leave many recordings.
By Remko Jas
77 comments
More people should listen to Isabelle Poulenard
My parents- heroes that they were- used to drive me to Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus (RIP, to both the store and while we’re here, to my parents) after dinner on my birthday, to take advantage of the fact that it was open until midnight.
By Armerjacquino
89 comments
Carmen
A 2010 broadcast documenting Yannick Nézet-Séguin‘s Metropolitan Opera debut performances
Jenufa
Corinne Winters and Karita Mattila lead a performance recorded last month in London
More people should listen to Benita Valente
Many of us of a certain age had the good luck to see Benita Valente frequently at the Met. My memory is that she was treated rather like a house singer at first, and only later was appreciated for her extraordinary gifts.
By Le Petit Yniold
99 comments
Pick a little, talk a little
Following the successful launch of the new regular feature The Talk of the Town in January, the team at the box is inviting contributions for a new quarter of operatic potpourri.
It has become that time of evening
Ahead of Natalie Dessay‘s adieu to classical music and upcoming American turn, parterre box offers a sample of her in Gounod‘s “Jewel Song” recorded just last year.
The Met should revive Khovanshchina
Mussorgsky‘s Khovanshchina is one of the most gripping operatic political dramas ever written, with lots of gorgeous melodies and superb choral writing.
By Montagu James
91 comments
The Met should revive Oberon
Great score; let anyone but Jeremy Sams concoct a new libretto!
By Krunoslav
124 comments
The Met should revive La Gioconda
It used to be proverbial on the Met Opera Quiz, usually quoted by quiz master Edward Downes: “If you can’t remember where a certain plot event occurs … it happens in La Gioconda.”
By John Yohalem
159 comments
The Met should revive Maria di Rudenz
I know that there is no chance that Met will ever do this since they have decided to focus on contemporary opera at the expense of reviving older works. Still it has some of Donizetti’s most moving and striking moments. The plot is so over the top gothic that it could still be quite effective.
By Patrick Lenaghan
123 comments
Paranorma activity
Following the peek at Asmik Grigorian‘s attempt, parterre box humbly offers an in-house snippet of Federica Lombardi‘s “Casta Diva” from a few blocks over on the Ringstrasse
The Met should revive Armide
More action than in Gluck‘s other great works, and plenty of opportunities for scenic spectacle.
By southerndoc1
137 comments
Götterdämmerung
The conclusion of Romeo Castellucci‘s Pierre Audi‘s Ring cycle live from Brussels