Questo e Quello
La Cieca is delighted to announce that the most popular posts for the month of February dealt primarily with the Met season yet to come.
Sondra Radvanovsky returned for her 29th Met Aïda Thursday night (but only her second Aïda.)
La Cieca and the gang down at parterre box extend our sincerest thanks to our angels whose largesse keeps our blog blogging: sponsors Carnegie Hall, Mirror Visions Ensemble and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
On this day in 1913, the Met revived Manon with Geraldine Farrar and Enrico Caruso, Arturo Toscanini conducting.
If Glenda Jackson, who is 82 years old, can whip through King Lear in two hours and 45 minutes, then how is it that La Traviata at the Met slogs on for over three hours?
Although Gustav Mahler never wrote an opera, his colossal Eighth Symphony “The Symphony of a Thousand” may give us some glimpses of what a Mahler opera might have sounded like
On this day in 1862 Gounod’s La Reine de Saba premiered in Paris.
It’s an 8:00 PM curtain tonight for the Met’s Falstaff.
West Bay Opera’s sterling production of Verdi’s I due Foscari played over the last two weekends.
Tenor Matthew Polenzani and pianist Julius Drake’s performance left this listener in a a state of euphoria.
Ardent Angel Blue will jump into performances vacated by the collapsible Sonya Yoncheva at La Scala.
Happy 84th birthday soprano Mirella Freni.
What happens in Karlsruhe stays in Karlsruhe!
Born on this day in 1802 author and playwright Victor Hugo.
Since 1985, from the Chicago Symphony at Carnegie Hall to the Welsh National Opera visiting BAM and from Chicago Lyric to New York City Opera to the Met, I’ve never encountered a bad Falstaff—or one that didn’t astound and delight me.
I thought it would be a great exercise for commenters to organize something of a Parterre Fachbuch.
The full title of the opera pretty much describes the plot: Il mondo alla roversa osia Le donne che comandano.
On this day in 1948 tenor Giuseppe di Stefano made his Metropolitan Opera debut at the Duke of Mantua.
A joyous 85th birthday to the tutelary goddess of parterre box, Renata Scotto.
We humans tend to dislike uncertainty, therefore there is something comforting going to opera revivals; you know exactly what you are going to get.
A real novelty from the Bayerische Staatsoper this afternoon: Krenek’s Karl V.
Born on this day in 1927 soprano Régine Crespin.
Robert Lepage promises a more “urban” take on the work.
Those of us who were hoping for “a star is born” performance were, alas, disappointed.
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.
