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He has conducted some of my favorite opera recordings.
Although Ernest Ansermet is most often associated with orchestral music, his 1964 recording of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande is still my favorite.
Ahead of his new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten, Barrie Kosky chats with Kevin Ng in Aix about pretty much everything — except the details of his new Frau.
The Bayerische Staatsoper’s Ring cycle scores another triumph with Tobias Kratzer’s take on Die Walküre.
Greek National Opera’s Medea in the ancient theater at Epidaurus is an intermittently rewarding exercise in nostalgia.
San Francisco Opera hosts an exuberant tribute to queerness past and present.
Historically, conductors were often viewed as rigid, authoritarian figures. Yannick Nézet-Séguin completely subverts this stereotype.
Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Lady in waiting
One Italian soprano continues to save the day in bel canto roles at La Scala; this week Parterre Box features Marta Torbidoni.
One Italian soprano continues to save the day in bel canto roles at La Scala; this week Parterre Box features Marta Torbidoni.
Box Braid
Ambur Braid‘s biggest dramatic soprano assignment yet — the Dyer’s Wife in Aix — is occasion for Parterre Box to feature her in some of her old repertoire.
Ambur Braid‘s biggest dramatic soprano assignment yet — the Dyer’s Wife in Aix — is occasion for Parterre Box to feature her in some of her old repertoire.
Goodnight, Irene
Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.
Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.
Poetic license
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Brett Dean‘s Of One Blood casts a well-trodden Tudor tale in a poignant, new light.
The artist who I feel should have made it to the Met is Patrizia Ciofi.
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never sang at the Met.
Brundibár at the Opéra Comique combines whimsy with historicity to sobering effect.
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
Talk of the Town
Dimitri Mitropoulos was a great opera conductor
Whether an opera by Puccini, Verdi, Wagner, Strauss, or Berg, Dimitri Mitropoulos brought to the podium a total understanding and love for each score he touched.
Whether an opera by Puccini, Verdi, Wagner, Strauss, or Berg, Dimitri Mitropoulos brought to the podium a total understanding and love for each score he touched.
Rudolf Kempe was a great opera conductor
I am once again going to laud the classic Rudolf Kempe commercial recording of Lohengrin (which I have lauded overall) for its conducting.
I am once again going to laud the classic Rudolf Kempe commercial recording of Lohengrin (which I have lauded overall) for its conducting.
Roger Norrington was a great opera conductor
Roger Norrington conducted Rossini’s Semiramide in Pesaro ’94 and made the Orchestra part of the drama in a way I still have never heard duplicated in a Bel Canto opera.
Roger Norrington conducted Rossini’s Semiramide in Pesaro ’94 and made the Orchestra part of the drama in a way I still have never heard duplicated in a Bel Canto opera.
Fabio Luisi is a great opera conductor
Many years ago, when the Met was deciding who the next principal conductor/music director was going to be, it seemed to be a tie between YN-S and Fabio Luisi.
Many years ago, when the Met was deciding who the next principal conductor/music director was going to be, it seemed to be a tie between YN-S and Fabio Luisi.
Pierre Monteux was a great opera conductor
Pierre Monteux‘s career defies time.
Pierre Monteux‘s career defies time.
Daniel Barenboim is a great opera conductor
Daniel Barenboim’s Tristan und Isolde is a performance I keep coming back to, again and again.
Daniel Barenboim’s Tristan und Isolde is a performance I keep coming back to, again and again.
The premiere recording of David T. Little’s What Belongs to You reveals a work of both tenderness and artistic tenacity.
John Danaher pays an operatic tribute to the writings of James McCourt, an author who captured the spirit of opera as queer and dangerous like no other.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, leading the Met Orchestra, and Joyce DiDonato continue their exploration of Mahler at Carnegie Hall.
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
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