Car Park Casta Diva
Fine music-making meets a clunker of a production in La Monnaie‘s revival of Norma
Recent Stories
My heart belongs to daddy
This week, Parterre Box shares Quinn Kelsey and Jennifer Rowley in a duet from a Verdi opera rumored to be returning to New York this time next season.
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).
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Giulio Cesare
In the spring, The English Concert completed a three-city tour performing a concert version of Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto.
Broadcast
I Puritani / Metropolitan Opera
A live New Year's Eve broadcast from New York featuring Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee
Streamed December 31, 2025 at 5:55 PM
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Broadcast
Die Fledermaus / Wiener Staatsoper
Jonas Kaufmann and Diana Damrau celebrate New Years Eve live from Vienna
Streamed December 31, 2025 at 1:00 PM
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Say it to my face
Two weeks remain for you to submit your thoughts for this spring’s The Talk of the Town.
A New Years’ Toast from 1984 Covent Garden
What better sentiment can we embrace as the year ends then to hope, often against against hope, for peace and love in a world of chaos?
By Baritenor
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Parterre Box un*wrapped, 2025
The ten most-“read” stories of this truly f*cked-up year
Off the rim and off the wall
Ivy Lin searches for a slam dunk version of Elvira’s Mad Scene from I puritani in the latest “Perspectives on an Aria.”
O stars of wonder, stars of night
A starry (and potentially annual) Christmas gala lights up Carnegie Hall.
Happy New Year from Ettore Bastianini and Giulietta Simionato
I am sure many of us will post the Fledermaus gala, but it doesn’t get better than this, even in a Fledermaus gala
By Leyla Gender-Bender
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Juan Diego Flórez sings “Auld Lang Syne”
If you’ve ever been to Juan Diego Flórez‘s recitals, you’ll know the part most of the audience is waiting for is when he takes out his guitar.
By Ivy Lin
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Broadcast
La damnation de Faust / Théâtre des Champs Elysées
Benjamin Bernheim and Victoria Karkacheva star in a production recorded last month at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
Streamed December 27, 2025 at 2:00 PM
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Broadcast
Handel at the Met / Metropolitan Opera
The Met celebrates 300 years of Rodelinda with a look back at over 40 years of Handel performances at the house
Streamed December 27, 2025 at 1:00 PM
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Eileen Farrell sings Christmas carols
Eileen Farrell could sing in all genres. I call her the queen of crossover, especially in her bluesy albums. Eileen Farrell, like Miami, you’ve got style!
By Scott Grunow
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Lisette Oropesa sings “Gesù bambino”
Lovely Christmas carol by Pietro Yon, “Gesù bambino” as sung by The Greatest Thing Ever at a Christmas concert in Ravello in 2021. Beautiful!
By grimoaldo2
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Mediterranean crossings
Grand Tier Grab Bag anticipates Elina Garanca‘s upcoming Zwischenfach pivot by sharing her in some other not-quite-mezzo repertoire opposite Brian Jagde.
Leontyne Price sings Christmas songs
Leontyne Price in her early prime is soaring and radiant in traditional Christmas songs.
By Gergory B. Mowery
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Oh that’s it, a switch! A switch!
Bernie Williams and Jonathan Tetelman take over Carnegie Hall for one night. You’ll be fine.
By Parterre Box + AllStar Encore
Make them die through singing
Ahead of a new production opening at the Met on New Year’s Eve, director Charles Edwards and Lisette Oropesa discuss creating an I puritani that is stark and serious — and sings.
Yvonne Kenny sings “Christmas Day”
An Australian Christmas where the paddocks are brown, the gullies are green, and the singing is, frankly, better behaved than most of us will be by lunchtime.
By Robbie Johnstone
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Reduce, reuse, recycle
Global warming meets the cool factor in The Seasons.
Jessye Norman sings Christmas music at the Ely Cathedral
Though there are a number of fine recording of holiday music by opera singers (Eileen Farrell!), this great performance of Jessye Norman was captured on video as well.