Questo e Quello
parterre saturday afternoon presents Leyla Gencer in an opera she really should have done far more often, Verdi’s Macbeth.
Happy 73rd birthday soprano Jessye Norman!
Yet once more again Peter Gelb has done the impossible: starting in the 2019-2020 season the Met will offer regular Sunday matinees. And the season will extend into early June!
On this day, George White’s Scandals of 1931 opened on Broadway.
“Trove Thursday” offers a broadcast from last year’s London world premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie.
Born on this day in 1874 composer Arnold Schoenberg.
Prima donnas Reneé Fleming and Julianne Moore demonstrate the philosophizing skills for which sopranos are famous.
Born on this day in 1938 mezzo-soprano Tatiana Troyanos.
Born on this day in 1825 critic Eduard Hanslick.
Lightning struck again here when, after a wait of 39 years, San Francisco Opera unveiled a new production of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux.
San Francisco Opera opened their 2018-19 Season Friday with a double bill of Italian verismo operas, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, which made a welcome return to War Memorial Opera House after 15 years.
On this day in 1838 Berlioz’ Benvenuto Cellini premiered in Paris.
America’s diva Renée Fleming belts out “Plus blanche que la blanche hermine.”
The Stars of Lyric Opera weren’t under the stars last night, prevented by a persistent cloud bank, but they nonetheless provided a stirring evening of music in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
Born on this day in 1828 writer Lev Nikolayevich “Leo” Tolstoy.
A rare if not downright practically nonexistent live recording of Shirley Verrett‘s Amneris is but one of the highlights of today’s parterre saturday afternoon, starting at 2:00 PM.
On this day in 1966, That Girl starring Marlo Thomas premiered on ABC.
You naysayers out there who are guffawing at Renée Fleming’s long-anticipated descent into utter camp: hey, be nice!
Happy 53rd birthday soprano Angela Gheorghiu.
Separated at angst.
“Trove Thursday” gives a preview of Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila with a broadcast featuring an unexpected temptress—Dolora Zajick—who will celebrate the 30th anniversary of her Met debut next month.
Happy 81st birthday to one of La Cieca’s very first divas, comedienne and actress Joanne Worley.
Happy 58th birthday soprano Karita Mattila.
Orfeo’s latest edition is a 1978 performance of Lucia di Lammermoor with a very estimable cast that on its surface may seem a tad mundane but the extensive liner notes (with performance photos) tell the story of why it held such magic.
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.
