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Born on this day in 1880 singer and vaudevillian Nora Bayes.
Turandot finally arrives on Trove Thursday, but it’s the setting by Ferruccio Busoni which predates by a decade the one by that other Italian guy, and it’s paired today with Arlecchino, the composer’s other commedia dell’arte-influenced short opera.
On this day in 1965 mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Eboli.
Born on this day in 1906 actress Janet Gaynor.
Bass René Pape, the world’s reigning Boris, reprises his overwhelming portrayal of the tortured tsar caught between grasping ambition and crippling paranoia. The original 1869 version runs two-and-a-quarter hours with no intermission.
Hie thee hither to the Lyric Opera House!
Born on this day in 1907 novelty singer Mrs. Miller.
Assuming Facebook and Instagram will remain inaccessible through the evening, here’s something to amuse you meantimes: La Cenerentola from the Teatro Real in Madrid.
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Northern star
Northern star
Parterre Box previews an upcoming performance of Hercules with Ann Hallenberg in some very unique Baroque repertoire.
Parterre Box previews an upcoming performance of Hercules with Ann Hallenberg in some very unique Baroque repertoire.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Tra voi belle
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.
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.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
León in winter
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.
Ahead of his performance in Les pêcheurs de perles with Washington Concert Opera, Parterre Box features the unusually elegant Anthony León performing Mozart.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Assai più vale il soglio
che un genitor perduto
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.
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.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Women’s liberation
Women’s liberation
Parterre Box highlights two recent Verdi Requiems of interest with a pair of Libera mes from Asmik Grigorian and Anna Netrebko.
Parterre Box highlights two recent Verdi Requiems of interest with a pair of Libera mes from Asmik Grigorian and Anna Netrebko.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Ash and you shall receive
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.
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.
Happy 65th birthday actor Christoph Waltz.
Born on this day in 1858 actress Eleonora Duse.
I can’t imagine anyone watching this two-hour schlockfest at home and then dropping $150 for the privilege to see it again, masked and in an uncomfortable chair.
Happy 83rd birthday to critic and occasional performer Rex Reed.
The Met’s premiere of Terence Blanchard‘s Fire Shut Up in My Bones dominated the top ten list of most popular articles on parterre box in September.
Happy 86th birthday actress and songstress Julie Andrews!
Trove Thursday offers two very different live recordings of Halévy’s grand opera La Juive.
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Moe Rear
A favorite bass performance from Moe Rear
Fyodor Chaliapin, the very great Russian basso, to this day owns the role of Massenet’s Don Quichotte.
Fyodor Chaliapin, the very great Russian basso, to this day owns the role of Massenet’s Don Quichotte.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Ben Miller
A favorite bass performance from Ben Miller
The one, the only Fyodor Chaliapin, singing Massenet’s “Elegie” (with, I believe, a young Piatigorsky on the cello part).
The one, the only Fyodor Chaliapin, singing Massenet’s “Elegie” (with, I believe, a young Piatigorsky on the cello part).
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Leyla Gender-Bender
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.
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.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from CKurwenal
A favorite bass performance from CKurwenal
I wanted to make sure Paata Burchuladze gets celebrated in this series.
I wanted to make sure Paata Burchuladze gets celebrated in this series.
The Talk of the Town
The René Jacobs Giulio Cesare is so overrated
The René Jacobs Giulio Cesare is so overrated
George Frideric Handel (born 341 years ago on Monday) composed over 40 operas including many masterpieces, but his Giulio Cesare is the one that everyone knows best.
George Frideric Handel (born 341 years ago on Monday) composed over 40 operas including many masterpieces, but his Giulio Cesare is the one that everyone knows best.
The Talk of the Town
The 1946 La traviata is so overrated
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.
For all his undeniable precision and discipline, I still find Toscanini’s tempi rushed and unyielding and his lack of rubato a chilly turnoff.
On this day in 1996 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with a revival of Andrea Chénier.
The cabaret at Saint Ann’s Warehouse delivered frothy fun and a dollop of pathos with Anthony Roth Costanzo and Justin Vivian Bond in Only an Octave Apart.
A snarky commentator might dub last night at the Met “Boris of the divo hair flip” but that would do a disservice to a serious, often effective performance of the challenging original version of Mussorgsky’s masterpiece.
On this day in 2003 the Metropolitan Opera opened with a revival of La traviata featuring Renée Fleming as Violetta.
With composer Terence Blanchard and librettist Kasi Lemmons‘ incendiary Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the Met makes long overdue history and Will Liverman ascends to superstardom.
This is an exuberant, uplifting, and joyous Elisir, and, for once, it was actually laugh-out-loud funny.
Happy 87th birthday to actress, singer and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot.
The Metropolitan Opera’s opening night for 2021 features the the historic company premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones.