Recent Stories
Rigoletto at The Santa Fe Opera is a near miss.
I’d never heard Götterdämmerung in a live performance until 1985 at The Dallas Opera. OMG, so long ago!
La bohème at The Santa Fe Opera feels warmed over in more ways than one.
Jacquelyn Stucker leads a performance recorded last month in Santa Fe
It took me a while to “warm up” to Wagner.
Well, I had a favorite—Sabine Kalter. But 15 years later, I changed my mind. It was Sabine Kalter.
A performance recorded earlier this month in Salzburg with Lisette Oropesa and Kate Lindsey
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Le galant tireur
American tenor Charles Castronovo performs a bit of Weber’s Der Freischütz ahead of the opportunity to hear Berlioz‘s take on the score at Carnegie Hall next week.
American tenor Charles Castronovo performs a bit of Weber’s Der Freischütz ahead of the opportunity to hear Berlioz‘s take on the score at Carnegie Hall next week.
My 600 performance life
Parterre Box acknowledges Riccardo Muti‘s 600th performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by highlighting two of his favorite singers — under a different conductor.
Parterre Box acknowledges Riccardo Muti‘s 600th performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by highlighting two of his favorite singers — under a different conductor.
Life imitates art
With Gustavo Dudamel in the spotlight at Parterre Box this week, Grand Tier Grab Bag foreshadows one of the New York Philharmonic’s upcoming operatic engagements.
With Gustavo Dudamel in the spotlight at Parterre Box this week, Grand Tier Grab Bag foreshadows one of the New York Philharmonic’s upcoming operatic engagements.
Drink me
Parterre Box answers the question, “how can a singer do both Tristan and Nemorino within a few month of each other?” with a clip of a recent role debut from Michael Spyres.
Parterre Box answers the question, “how can a singer do both Tristan and Nemorino within a few month of each other?” with a clip of a recent role debut from Michael Spyres.
Otherwise occupied
Parterre Box features a performance from two belcantisti who would rather you not think about their political affiliations.
Parterre Box features a performance from two belcantisti who would rather you not think about their political affiliations.
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.
Régine Crespin singing the Wesendonck Lieder is the most beautiful Wagner singing I’ve ever heard.
Christof Loy‘s Louise in Aix-en-Provence scratches at the urban– and operatic– unconscious
All of the Teatro Colón live opera recordings conducted by Fritz Busch are special, but his 1936 Parsifal is my favorite.
The start of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro provides a perfect opportunity to enjoy a bit of the breathtaking Vasilisa Berzhanskaya recorded there last summer
Dame Gwyneth Jones as Brünnhilde pretty much started it all for me.
Perhaps a piece of Mahler’s? For Wagner Month, Chris’s Cache offers the unexpected collaboration Die drei Pintos, started by Wagner-predecessor Carl Maria von Weber and completed by one of Wagner’s followers, Gustav Mahler
The world premiere of Dolores and Charpentier‘s David and Jonathan bring the heat to West Edge Opera’s 2025 Festival.
Wolf Trap Opera’s stirring production of Dialogues des Carmélites was a welcome respite from a brutally hot and humid DC summer.
Talk of the Town
A favorite art song performance from Lou Ann Darras
Thanks to Elly Ameling, I made it through college.
Thanks to Elly Ameling, I made it through college.
A favorite art song performance by Harry Rose
What a shaded and elegant delivery William Mattteuzzi brings to this lilting setting of D’Annunzio‘s “O falce di luna calante”!
What a shaded and elegant delivery William Mattteuzzi brings to this lilting setting of D’Annunzio‘s “O falce di luna calante”!
A favorite art song performance from David Phillips
Does this count as an art song?
Does this count as an art song?
A favorite art song performance from Mr. Portafiori
I have always loved this recording of Canteloube‘s Chants d’Auvergne sung by Dawn Upshaw and conducted by Kent Nagano.
I have always loved this recording of Canteloube‘s Chants d’Auvergne sung by Dawn Upshaw and conducted by Kent Nagano.
A favorite art song performance from Mister Snow
Jessye Norman really embraces elements of the song falling somewhere between classical art song and popular ballad.
Jessye Norman really embraces elements of the song falling somewhere between classical art song and popular ballad.
A favorite art song performance from La Grunowa
Janet Baker sings Elgar‘s Sea Pictures with such honesty and clarity and fervor.
Janet Baker sings Elgar‘s Sea Pictures with such honesty and clarity and fervor.
Daniela Barcellona leads a live broadcast from the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro
Júlia Várady‘s smoldering, almost feral Sieglinde from the Sawallisch/Lehnhoff Ring, remains my favorite.
R.B. Schlather‘s shadowy production with Heartbeat Opera at the Williamstown Theatre Festival proves that Vanessa might be coming into its own at last
A live broadcast from the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro
This is one of my favorite operas, and visually and story telling-wise, you can’t beat this production.
One final appeal for you to share what most titillates you in the upcoming season for September’s The Talk of the Town