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.
Recent Stories
Mother is mothering
Marina Rebeka comes tantalizingly close to triumph in Cherubini’s Médée at Théâtre des Champs Elysées.
The Solti Ring Cycle is so overrated
It was many decades ago that I first listened to the Solti Ring Cycle.
By Mister Snow
281 comments
Rave reviews
Hoping for a “Tristan for the ages” in New York next month, John Danaher considers five versions of Tristan’s Act III “Muss ich dich so verstehn” for “Perspectives on an Aria.”
Baroque in the Bay Area
Under the baton of Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale proves they have a magic touch in a program of Rameau and Handel.
A shtetl aesthetic
Austin Opera’s moving production of Fiddler on the Roof grounds itself in lived tradition, to great effect.
The 1959 Aïda is so overrated
Karajan’s 1959 Aïda was once treated like gospel, a wall of plush Vienna Philharmonic sound and star power that critics dutifully genuflected before.
Broadcast
Idomeneo / Metropolitan Opera
A performance from 1986 featuring David Rendall, Frederica von Stade, and Hildegard Behrens curated by Joyce DiDonato
Streamed February 14, 2026 at 1:00 PM
178 comments
Broadcast
L’elisir d’amore / Gran Teatre del Liceu
Pretty Yende and Michael Spyres lead a performance recorded in Barcelona in December
Streamed February 14, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Comment
Americana, reconsidered
Davóne Tines leads a thought-provoking program in San Francisco reconsidering patriotism, dissent, and spirituality as the United States faces down its quarter millennium crisis.
Life of the Mardi
La Monnaie’s flamboyantly busy new production of Benvenuto Cellini reads more burlesque than Berlioz.
Gender? I hardly know her!
Christof Loy’s production of Pablo Luna’s gender-bending Orientalist farce Benamor proves to be irresistible.
Living the part
Diana Soviero chats with Roger Pines about six decades of performing, four decades of teaching, and how she’s handing the tradition off to the next generation.
Beam me up, Selim
Die Entführung aus dem Serail boldly goes where no opera has gone before at Pacific Opera Project.
Uncovered gems
Despite some complications, the Deutsche Oper exhumes buried treasure in Franz Schreker’s Der Schatzgräber.
The 1973 La bohème is so overrated
The Solti recording of Bohème is completely miscast.
By Mr. Fabulous
222 comments
Broadcast
Asmik Grigorian in Recital / Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Asmik Grigorian performs an eclectic program live from Rome with Lukas Geniušas
Streamed February 11, 2026 at 2:30 PM
19 comments
Extravaganza of ideas
Iván Fischer‘s Mahler 3 with the Budapest Festival Orchestra at Carnegie Hall is memorable but crude, sometimes exhilarating and often tedious.
No shrinking Violanta
A chic production of Violanta at the Deutshce Oper Berlin continues the Korngold craze on the other side of the Atlantic.
The crowd-pleaser comes around
Juan Diego Flórez‘s charm and artistic sensibility remain as vibrant as ever, as seen at a recent Carnegie Hall recital.
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.
One is silver, the other is Golda
In an all-Mozart program with the San Francisco Symphony, Golda Schultz shows that her soubrette days are behind her.
The 2023 Turandot is so overrated
The recent highly hyped studio recording of Puccini’s Turandot left me greatly disappointed.
By Moe Rear
153 comments
Broadcast
Faust / Bayerische Staatsoper
Nathalie Stutzmann conducts Jonathan Tetelman, Olga Kulchynska, and Kyle Ketelsen in a live broadcast from Munich.
Streamed February 8, 2026 at 12:00 PM
7 comments