Parterre Box
Who are the rats? Why are their tails getting longer? Is Lohengrin a rat trying to free himself from a maze?
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.
At every turn, the preconceived notion of Trovatore was denied, right down to the boxing during the ballet.
With Cesare’s old-school rules of war set spinning by Cleopatra’s Bollywood-inspired manipulations, a Da Capo aria has never felt more dangerous
Grand Tier Grab Bag marks the Metropolitan Opera return of Daniele Rustioni with a zippy performance of the Royal Hunt and Storm from Les Troyens recorded in 2022 in Munich.
Barrie Kosky’s incredible production widened and universalized the ending.
The opening of John Dexter‘s production of The Dialogues of the Carmelites (originally produced in English) is one of the most arresting and memorable images I have ever seen.
In a lifetime of opera going I suppose I have seen many transformative productions, but this recent one seems, in the light of the increasing disaster enfolding this country, uncannily pertinent.
I saw this production in HD, and it really shocked me because I was used to the cackling mezzo witch, guardian angels, and gingerbread figures.
Rachel Willis-Sørensen and Stephen Costello make their returns to the Met later this month and Grand Tier Grab Bag anticipates their performances by sharing them in the Act II duet from Don Carlo recorded in Munich this spring as well as a taste of Willis-Sørensen’s Liebestod
My first reaction in 1974 wasn’t good. The production was full of stairs, and I was afraid Montserrat Caballé would fall at any moment.
My experiences with live performances of Handel’s operas/oratorios has been hit or miss, mostly miss.
I came to The Rake’s Progress with a huge “Show Me” chip on my shoulder.
Lotte De Beer‘s astonishing reading of Aïda at the Paris Opera was a victim both of Covid and the culture wars.
Death is the prima donna in this opera, and Herheim doesn’t let you forget it.
For me, one of the greatest recordings is the Von Karajan Il trovatore. You have four incredible singers in their top form.
I take such comfort in the assumption that someone or something will save us from injustice and the lust for power.
Grand Tier Grab Bag offers a face off of two Polish divas from Aleksandra Kurzak‘s debut performances as Aïda in Verona this summer.
It’s such a joyous score, full of Italian warmth and humanity. Verdi’s late-stage, evergreen score is a constant source of joy.
I have been utterly fascinated by the wildly intriguing choices of “comfort operas” these past few days. For me, Così fan tutte is my absolute first choice.
This is not exactly a comfort “opera” as it is from Handel’s late oratorio Theodora which is sometimes staged as an opera.
Die ägyptische Helena isn’t even an opera I love so much as a whole.
I was first exposed to Hänsel und Gretel as a child, likely via The Metropolitan Opera’s 1982 PBS telecast.
Grand Tier Grab Bag highlights two “Final Trios” from Der Rosenkavalier recorded just two days apart from one another.
My comfort opera after all these years remains Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, even with its sociologically problematical presentation of Japanese culture.
