Recent Stories
parterre box celebrates the beginning of Pride Month with a throwback to one of the queerer events in recent operatic memory: a bit of Carmen starring Jamie Barton and Stephanie Blythe!
A double bill of rare Bizet works in Paris is not something any of us needs to do more than once
Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Philadelphia Orchestra, Stuart Skelton, and Nina Stemme in a Tristan und Isolde for the ages
Not about opera per se, Sweeney Todd notwithstanding, but I’m looking forward to reading the poignant and touching ode to Sondheim’s oeuvre by Richard Schoch.
For Niel Rishoi, a new CD of Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi by Eleonora Burrato for Pentatone can’t help but invite unflattering comparisons
A live broadcast from Rome
Joseph Caldwell produced this charming tale from a year spent in Italy on the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
If you thought that opera was the final bastion against technicolor illumination and drag, first of all Why? Second of all San Francisco Opera begs to differ, and they’re sending in the heavy artillery for Pride Weekend on June 27th. Yes, the War Memorial Opera House will be aglow. Tal Rosner’s projections and Justin A.…
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Kathryn the great
Kathryn the great
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Count your blessings
Count your blessings
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
One man’s Junker
One man’s Junker
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Don’t cry because it’s over
Don’t cry because it’s over
Grand Tier Grab Bag hearkens back to the days when Sondra Radvanovsky — who is singing no Verdi at all next season — seemed like the Verdi soprano of reference.
Grand Tier Grab Bag hearkens back to the days when Sondra Radvanovsky — who is singing no Verdi at all next season — seemed like the Verdi soprano of reference.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Rizzin’ to the occasion
Rizzin’ to the occasion
Parterre Box features the Met’s current Eugene Onegin, Iurii Samoilov, in a performance of Rossini ahead of a return to Pesaro this summer.
Parterre Box features the Met’s current Eugene Onegin, Iurii Samoilov, in a performance of Rossini ahead of a return to Pesaro this summer.
This week, Chris’s Cache features five singers in Orchesterlieder by Richard Strauss
I think most of us have come around to recognizing John Adams‘s Doctor Atomic the masterpiece that it is.
The final live weeknight broadcast of the 2024-25 season from New York
West Bay Opera’s Otello punches well above its weight
A bleak and somber version of the familiar story by Saint-Réal, mixing facts with fiction, making it even more tragical than the Verdi opera.
Following last week’s performances in Cleveland, Ronnie Banerjee compares six different versions of the Kostelnicka’s monologue from Leos Janácek’s Jenufa for “Perspectives on an Aria”
Because D.M. Thomas‘s book was a famous book back in its day — I read it in the mid-eighties, yet have forgotten 90% of what it’s all about.
Astrid Varnay‘s autobiography. Entertaining, cogent. Shows wit and character. Much more than “I sang, I got applause, and everyone loved me.”
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
Anna Caterina Antonacci should have made it to the Met
Anna Caterina Antonacci should have made it to the Met
The one who got away was Anna Caterina Antonacci, a thrilling performer.
The one who got away was Anna Caterina Antonacci, a thrilling performer.
The Talk of the Town
Lina Bruna Rasa should have made it to the Met
Lina Bruna Rasa should have made it to the Met
In the case of Lina Bruna Rasa, the reasons why she never sang at the Met are painfully clear.
In the case of Lina Bruna Rasa, the reasons why she never sang at the Met are painfully clear.
The Talk of the Town
Conchita Supervia should have made it to the Met
Conchita Supervia should have made it to the Met
For vibrato fanciers, of course, discovering Supervia is like hitting the mother lode.
For vibrato fanciers, of course, discovering Supervia is like hitting the mother lode.
The Talk of the Town
Gertrud Grob-Prandl should have made it to the Met
Gertrud Grob-Prandl should have made it to the Met
Yes, the Met had Birgit Nilsson – so they let the volcano that was Gertrude Grob-Prandl‘s voice slip through their fingers.
Yes, the Met had Birgit Nilsson – so they let the volcano that was Gertrude Grob-Prandl‘s voice slip through their fingers.
The Talk of the Town
Eglise Gutierrez should have made it to the Met
Eglise Gutierrez should have made it to the Met
So much color in this beautifully agile voice.
So much color in this beautifully agile voice.
The Talk of the Town
Mado Robin should have made it to the Met
Mado Robin should have made it to the Met
I like to use this recording to annoy Mariah Carey fans by proving that whistle register doesn’t count.
I like to use this recording to annoy Mariah Carey fans by proving that whistle register doesn’t count.
Act now to join the starry ranks of The Talk of the Town contributors for a new quarter of à propos chitter chatter!
A live broadcast from New York
I’m bending the rules a little here, and not only substituting TV for film, but turning the category on its head by doing Movies At The Opera rather than the other way round.
Corinne Winters is back at the Met and back in the pages of parterre box, which inclines us to share a bit of Winters in Jenufa
A live performance streamed from the Wiener Staatsoper.
Francis Ford Coppola‘s Apocalypse Now (1979) uses Richard Wagner‘s “Ride of the Valkyries” to terrifying effect, depicting the brutality and horror of impersonal aerial warfare in the Vietnam War.
An impressively well-rounded revival of Francesca Zambello‘s production of Porgy and Bess concludes the Washington National Opera season
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