Parterre Box - Page 28 of 698 - Opera from a certain point of view

Broadcast

Medea / Teatro San Carlo

Sondra Radvanovsky sings the lead in a live opening broadcast from the Teatro San Carlo in Naples

Streamed December 6, 2025 at 1:00 PM

Comment

Performance Review

Form over function

A consideration of Anika Kildegaard’s extraordinary recital in Philadelphia—and the oddity of recitals themselves.

By David Fox Comment

The Talk of the Town

Happy holidays from Mary Costa, Bing Crosby, and Robert Goulet

This month’s theme – “Opera singers celebrate the holidays” – conjured up a vast lexicon of memories of growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s.

By TildyDiva Comment

Performance Review

Paris is always a good idea

Though perhaps showing its age, a storied production of La bohème nonetheless makes a welcome return to the Los Angeles Opera

By Michael Anthonio Comment

The Talk of the Town

Jonas Kaufmann sings “All I Want for Christmas Is You”

“It duz… not… SCHVING!!!!”

By Ben Miller Comment

The Talk of the Town

Kathleen Battle sings “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

One of my favorite Christmas recordings is Kathleen Battle‘s A Christmas Celebration.

By Mr. Portafiori Comment

Grand Tier Grab Bag

Lightning strikes twice

New York audiences got a taste of Ben Bliss in Mozart this fall, but this week Grand Tier Grab Bag offers snippets of the tenor trying his hand at Handel earlier this year.

By Parterre Box 8 comments

The Talk of the Town

Gabriela Beňačková sings Czech Christmas Music

Gabriela Beňačková is featured in a wonderful Christmas album called Carolling, released by Supraphon in the early 1990s.

By Guy Wheatley Comment

Grand Tier Grab Bag

Wet ‘n wild

Parterre Box invites you to cool off with a dip in the lake alongside Sonya Yoncheva and Pavel Černoch in Rusalka.

Grand Tier Grab Bag

Troy and Troy again

For those with Odyssey fever, this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag item features a performance of another ancient epic: Les Troyens with Russell Thomas.

Grand Tier Grab Bag

Bass desires

Alexander Köpeczi, currently plying leading roles in two operas in Santa Fe and, rumor has it, the life of one prominent soprano, is the object of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.

Grand Tier Grab Bag

Bel canto snarl for bel canto snarl

Rising stars Chelsea Lehnea and Ricardo José Rivera are the protagonists of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.

Grand Tier Grab Bag

Wie tönender Schall schlug’s an mein Ohr

It’s a busy summer for Vida Miknevičiūtė and Eric Cutler, the subjects of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.

Grand Tier Grab Bag

Noch mein’ ich mir selber so sicher zu sein

Elina Garanča’s aborted first Ariadne may have been the headline item at the Salzburg Festival next month, but this week Parterre Box features the Zerbinetta, Ziyi Dai.

Broadcast

Porgy and Bess / Metropolitan Opera

A live broadcast of the Gershwins' opera from New York

Streamed December 2, 2025 at 7:25 PM

Comment

Broadcast

L’elisir d’amore / Gran Teatre del Liceu

Javier Camarena and Pretty Yende star in a live broadcast from Barcelona's Liceu

Streamed December 2, 2025 at 1:30 PM

Comment

Performance Review

Get in the zone

Tamara Wilson and Stanislas de Barbeyrac are the standouts in Calixto Bieito’s underwhelming Die Walküre in Paris

By Nigel Wilkinson Comment

The Talk of the Town

Renata Tebaldi sings “O Divine Redeemer”

“O Divine Redeemer” is, I suppose, more properly an Advent or Lenten piece. But when Renata Tebaldi asks us to hear her “croy”, who can resist?

By Apulia Comment

Performance Review

Shades of gray

MasterVoices presents a strongly-cast Sweet Smell of Success—but the merits of this noir musical are hardly black or white.

By David Fox and Cameron Kelsall Comment

Feature

So brutal but also so joyful

Composer Philip Venables talks about queer utopias and bending gender and genre in The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions which opens at the Park Avenue Armory this week.

By Kevin Ng Comment

The Talk of the Town

Anna Moffo sings “O Holy Night”

Anna Moffo, in glorious voice and looking gorgeous as usual, sings “O Holy Night,” one of my favorite Christmas tunes.

By Sanford Comment

Broadcast

Zampa, ou La fiancée de marbre / Münchner Rundfunkorchester

A live performance from Munich's Prinzregentheater of Ferdinand Hérold's opéra-comique

Streamed November 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM

Comment

Talk of the Town

The Talk of the Town

Next season I’m excited for La fanciulla del West

I’m looking forward to the Met’s new production of Puccini’s La fanciulla del West.

The Talk of the Town

Some filth or dementia from Leyla Gender-Bender

It is only a concert performance, but no one seems to have told them that; and thank the heavens for that!

The Talk of the Town

Some filth or dementia from piotr

Pure dementia. Magda Olivero in the finale to Fedora.

The Talk of the Town

Some filth or dementia from Darby Fegan

What is more demented than a thrilling performance of Strauss’s Elektra?

The Talk of the Town

Some filth or dementia from Sanford

This Strauss is demented in the best way possible.

The Talk of the Town

Some filth or dementia from Ben Miller

They should sell pay-per-view tickets to this like WWE.

The Talk of the Town

I’m still thinking about George Tabori’s Pagliacci

I love Tabori—his staging of Bluebeard’s Castle and Erwartung are among my five favorite opera performances of all time.

By Remko Jas Comment

Broadcast

Christmas Eve / Bayerische Staatsoper

Rimsky-Korsakov's opera in a live broadcast from the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich

Streamed November 29, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Comment

Broadcast

The Makropulos Case / Royal Ballet and Opera

Jakub Hrůša conducts Ausrine Stundyte in a performance recorded in London earlier this month

Streamed November 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM

Comment

Performance Review

Big time sensuality

Barbara Strozzi links two sensuous programs by L’Arpeggiata and Catapult Opera.

By Max Keller Comment

Performance Review

To be a poet is a condition

Are today’s stars enough to sustain Andrea Chénier?

By Eli Jacobson Comment

our own

Out of the mouths of babes

Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.

By Parterre Box Comment