WindyCityOperaman
Dan Soda (Windy City Operaman) is a Chicago native whose first visit to opera was at age 17 and Massenet’s Werther with Troyanos and Kraus. Nothing was ever the same. Opera and concert performances, recordings and video are an obsession. He prepares Parterre Box’s daily birthday and anniversary tributes. He also enjoys concerts, live theater and movies.
Happy 81st birthday actress Barbara Harris.
Happy 48th birthday singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth.
Born on this day in 1913 actress Coral Browne.
Born on this day in 1908 etiquette maven Amy Vanderbilt.
On this day in 1969, ABC-TV telecast Duke Ellington and members of his band celebrating the first moon landing by performing his composition “Moon Maiden.”
Happy 78th birthday Dame Diana Rigg.
Born on this day in 1868 soprano Florence Foster Jenkins.
On this day in 452 Attila laid siege to the metropolis of Aquileia.
Born on this day in 1914 soprano Eleanor Steber.
Happy 60th birthday playwright Tony Kushner.
On this day in 1949 Miss Liberty opened at the Imperial Theater, to run 308 performances.
Happy Bastille Day!
On this day in 1668 Antonio Cesti‘s opera Il pomo d’oro premiered in Vienna.
On this day in 1804 Former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton died after being shot in a pistol duel by Vice President Aaron Burr.
Happy 92nd birthday tenor Nicolai Gedda.
Happy 47th birthday and get well soon tenor Jonas Kaufmann.
Born on this day in 1929 baritone Eberhard Waechter.
Born on this day in 1939 mezzo-soprano Elena Obraztsova.
>Happy 58th birthday actress, comedian and screenwriter Jennifer Saunders.
Born on this day in 1889 writer, filmmaker and designer Jean Cocteau.
Happy Independence Day All U.S. Parterrians!
Born on this day in 1878 composer and performer George M Cohan.
Born on this day in 1714 composer Christoph Willibald von Gluck.
On this day in 1933 Richard Strauss’ Arabella premiered in Dresden.
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.
