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.
On this day in 1782 Mozart‘s Die Entführung aus dem Serail premiered in Vienna
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.
Happy 44th birthday to Broadway’s Laura Benanti
Born on this day in 1918 director and screenwriter Ingmar Bergman
Born on this day in 1924 tenor Carlo Bergonzi
Born on this day in 1895 soprano Kirsten Flagstad
Born on this day in 1925 soprano Mattiwilda Dobbs…
Happy 55th birthday tenor Jonas Kaufmann
Happy 87th birthday painter and designer David Hockney
Born on this day in 1912 soprano Christel Goltz
Born on this day in 1860 composer Gustav Mahler
Born on this day in 1907 (1910?) soprano Dorothy Kirsten
Born on this day in 1889 writer, filmmaker and designer Jean Cocteau
Happy Independence Day to 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‘s Arabella premiered in Dresden
Happy 66th birthday conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen
Born on this day in 1914 conductor and composer Rafael Kubelík
Born on this day in 1902 composer Richard Rodgers
Born on this day in 1932 soprano Anna Moffo
Born on this day in 1916 baritone Giuseppe Taddei
On this day in 1870 Wagner‘s Die Walküre premiered in Munich
On this day in 1967 the Metropolitan Opera’s first Met in the Parks performance in Crocheron Park, Bayside, Queens
Born on this day in 1927 dancer and choreographer Bob Fosse
