Northern star
Parterre Box previews an upcoming performance of Hercules with Ann Hallenberg in some very unique Baroque repertoire.
Parterre Box
A favorite bass performance from Leyla Gender-Bender
Fyodor Chaliapin is considered one of the greatest basses ever because he combined a dark, flexible, and instantly recognizable bass voice with extraordinary musical intelligence and nuance.
By Leyla Gender-Bender
76 comments
A favorite bass performance from CKurwenal
I wanted to make sure Paata Burchuladze gets celebrated in this series.
By CKurwenal
59 comments
She speaks!
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Tra voi belle
Following the announcement that she’ll make her Met debut next season, Grand Tier Grab Bag brings Italian soprano Erika Grimaldi to your attention with a duet from Manon Lescaut.
Tenue farfalla
“Soprano Aleksandra Kurzak will sing the role of Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, replacing Sonya Yoncheva, who has withdrawn from the run due to family reasons,” says the Met press office.
The 1946 La traviata is so overrated
For all his undeniable precision and discipline, I still find Toscanini’s tempi rushed and unyielding and his lack of rubato a chilly turnoff.
By Peter Russell
194 comments
The 1957 Anna Bolena is so overrated
While the three leads do sing the material well, there has been a glut of recordings since then which are more complete and at least as well sung.
By Leyla Gender-Bender
212 comments
León in winter
Ahead of his performance in Les pêcheurs de perles with Washington Concert Opera, Parterre Box features the unusually elegant Anthony León performing Mozart.
The Solti Ring Cycle is so overrated
It was many decades ago that I first listened to the Solti Ring Cycle.
By Mister Snow
281 comments
The 1973 La bohème is so overrated
The Solti recording of Bohème is completely miscast.
By Mr. Fabulous
222 comments
Assai più vale il soglio che un genitor perduto
Parterre Box highlights a busy few months of Verdi performances for Marina Rebeka and Ludovic Tézier with an exciting sample of their debuts in Nabucco.
The 2023 Turandot is so overrated
The recent highly hyped studio recording of Puccini’s Turandot left me greatly disappointed.
By Moe Rear
153 comments
The 1965 Les contes d’Hoffmann is so overrated
All in all, an ill-advised venture.
By La Grunowa
36 comments
Carnegie Hall 2026–27 season: the vocal highlights
Heavy-hitters: the first complete Ring in its history, Tosca with Marina Rebeka, Jonas Kaufmann, and Ludovic Tézier; plus recitals from Aigul Akhmetshina, Nadine Sierra, Jeanine De Bique, Michael Spyres, and more
Any recording of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny is so overrated
It’s always surprised me how so many performances of the major Brecht/Weill collaborations seem to have zero clue of how to handle either Weill’s music.
By Cornelia
6 comments
San Francisco Opera 2026–27
Music Director Eun Sun Kim is at the center of the repertory, and a long Wagner arc is now officially underway
Women’s liberation
Parterre Box highlights two recent Verdi Requiems of interest with a pair of Libera mes from Asmik Grigorian and Anna Netrebko.
The 2018 Macbeth is so overrated
I don’t know if it’s overrated because I don’t think anyone rates it, but for pure party disc joy not much beats this 2018 recording of the original 1847 version of Verdi‘s Macbeth.
By Ben Miller
4 comments
The best thing I saw in 2025 was La sonnambula
Easily the Met’s new Sonnambula, where cast and production team delivered a gorgeously sung and well thought out concept for a libretto often derided for its simplicity.
By Bel Raggio
Comment
STEMdiva status
Ahead of a special boozy, bawdy Valentine’s Day concert, artistic director of Opera Lafayette Patrick Quigley speaks with soprano Maya Kherani about her journey from MIT to rising American Baroque star.
By Opera Lafayette + Parterre Box
Ash and you shall receive
Bellini and Donizetti may be top of mind these days, so Parterre Box offers two budding belcantisti, Beth Taylor and Dave Monaco, in a duet from Rossini’s La cenerentola.
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Yuja Wang
Yuja Wang slayed in this performance of Prokofiev‘s 2nd piano concerto with the Boston Symphony.
By Peter Feliks
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The best thing I saw in 2025 was Vanessa
“Let me look around once more. Who knows when I shall see this house again?”
By Peter Russell
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