From a social distance
Naturally the top ten posts on parterre box for the month of March focused on the encroaching menace of COVID-19.
Recent Stories
Die Frau ohne Schatten
A spectacular production of Richard Strauss‘s enigmatic masterpiece from the Vienna State Opera.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
This was Sebastian’s garden
There’s no way for any production of Suddenly Last Summer to completely avoid at least a whiff of camp.
Happy April 1!
This afternoon’s “Opera in Exile” features a live recording of Fedora with Franco Corelli and Maria Callas.
Il barbiere di Siviglia
From the first season of Live in HD, Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez and Peter Mattei star.
L’elisir d’amore
More repertoire from the Vienna State Opera.
Dialogues des Carmélites
Last season’s stunning Met revival of the Poulenc classic.
The Tsar’s Bride
Dmitri Tcherniakov‘s eerie production of the Rimsky-Korsakov romance is performed by the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
Sexy and sinewy
Having just watched and written about the famous Actors Studio Three Sisters, it also feels right to turn now to The Cherry Orchard—Chekhov’s final play—in a production from the BBC.
Time is very kind to her
On this day in 1892, Adelina Patti sang her first and only performance of La traviata at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Tannhäuser
Eva-Maria Westbroek, Michelle DeYoung, Johan Botha, Peter Mattei and Gunther Groissböck star in Wagner’s romantic opera.
Don Giovanni
Ivo van Hove‘s production of the Mozart opera, as seen at the Opéra national de Paris.
Flop of steel
On this day in 1966 the musical It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman opened at the Alvin Theatre.
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Annette Dasch, Johan Botha and Michael Volle, conducted by James Levine headline this performance from 2014.
A problem like Maria
To opera denizens, Terrence McNally is probably best known for Master Class, a fictionalized account of Maria Callas’s 1970s Juilliard master classes, which was a surprise hit on Broadway in the 1990s.
Fidelio
Lise Davidsen and Jonas Kaufmann headline this new production from Covent Garden.
Götterdämmerung
Join the gang at parterre box to watch the world end tonight.
Le nozze di Figaro
A performance from the Vienna State Opera featuring Carlos Álvarez, Dorothea Röschmann and Adam Plachetka.
Nobody gets anything for nothing
Born on this day in 1899 film diva Gloria Swanson.
Siegfried
The third segment of Der Ring des Nibelungen takes to the interwebs tonight.