Parterre Box
Gabriela Beňačková is featured in a wonderful Christmas album called Carolling, released by Supraphon in the early 1990s.
“O Divine Redeemer” is, I suppose, more properly an Advent or Lenten piece. But when Renata Tebaldi asks us to hear her “croy”, who can resist?
Anna Moffo, in glorious voice and looking gorgeous as usual, sings “O Holy Night,” one of my favorite Christmas tunes.
I love Tabori—his staging of Bluebeard’s Castle and Erwartung are among my five favorite opera performances of all time.
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.
Ha ha ha, so gorgeous!
Grand Tier Grab Bag features a complete performance of Ernest Chausson‘s Poème de l’amour et de la mer ahead of a particular year for both its soloist and conductor.
The production is based on the Elisabeth Fritzl story, and it really made me reconsider this opera’s fairy tale storyline.
I never thought an opera production could be this well done.
Les Camilles both agree on this one. And WHY? You ask??!
Barbara Hannigan‘s Lulu is the greatest live performance I’ve seen.
Grand Tier Grab Bag looks forward to a big week for Umberto Giordano by sharing Sondra Radvanovsky and Gregory Kunde performing the final duet from Andrea Chénier.
Who are the rats? Why are their tails getting longer? Is Lohengrin a rat trying to free himself from a maze?
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.
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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