Parterre Box

Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.

Grand Tier Grab Bag hearkens back to the days when Sondra Radvanovsky — who is singing no Verdi at all next season — seemed like the Verdi soprano of reference.

Parterre Box features the Met’s current Eugene Onegin, Iurii Samoilov, in a performance of Rossini ahead of a return to Pesaro this summer.

Nostalgic for bass month, Parterre Box offers excerpts from two young basses to watch: Giorgi Manoshvili and Patrick Guetti.

Rosa Feola, still scheduled for a run of performances as Violetta in New York this spring, is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.

With Nixon, Klinghoffer, and Andris Nelsons on the mind, Parterre Box offers a recording of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s recent John Adams outing.

Much as I love the Abbado Deutsche Grammophon studio set, this 1980 San Francisco Opera live Simon Boccanegra under Lamberto Gardelli has an emotional punch.

Bring on the drama, mama!

Nadine Sierra‘s Gilda at the Metropolitan Opera had that rare quality of sounding both immaculate and spontaneous, as if Verdi’s lines were being discovered in the moment rather than executed.

Tito Gobbi‘s performance of Rigoletto’s “Cortigiani, vil razza dannata” offers the most musically and dramatically complete portrait of Verdi’s tortured court jester that I have ever heard.

I’ve looked to Sherrill Milnes many a time for insight and guidance whenever I’ve added a new Verdi role to my repertoire.

Stiffelio has always been the dark horse of early Verdi operas.