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How better to launch this week’s general interest discussion than with a video of Joyce DiDonato singing “Over the Rainbow” at the Last Night of the Proms?
Utterly scientific polls follow the jump.
Ask not which soprano just canceled her only remaining opera gig for the year; ask whether the blue gown will fit her replacement.
When the world ended last week, it happened in New York City.
Here’s a canard proceeding from a clearly truthful premise.
On the occasion of “the greatest party for Classical Music on the planet,” the Last Night of the Proms, mezzo Joyce DiDonato quietly (but audibly) takes a stand for equality.
LA SCALA DE MILAN propose à Roberto une nouvelle production d’AIDA sous la Direction de Lorin MAAZEL ainsi qu’une nouvelle collaboration pour le futur.
La Cieca now would like to extend a special offer to performing arts organizations in the Greater New York are who would like to join the parterre.com family of advertisers.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Poetic license
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Her appearance is incongruous to this setting.
A bio in need of perhaps a little minor retouching.
The “gown of a thousand mirrors” arrived in New York Wednesday, direct from Rochburn, near Monte Carlo. The Chicago Grand Company’s Mary Garden brought it, and the steamer La France made port with both.
There is a mighty appetite among both old Wagnerians and new ones to see a Ring that follows—if not too slavishly—the scenic requests of the libretto.
If Frank Castorf‘s work on Der Ring des Nibelungen at Bayreuth accomplishes nothing else, it should serve as a sort of loud disorganized reminder of the dangers of indulging in the intentional fallacy.
For your perusal and social planning, cher public, parterre’s 2013-2014 New York Opera Calendar is now online and current through the end of the season.
Mark your calendars and set your alarm clocks, cher public, for 13 October 2013 at 18:00 CEST (that is, 2:00 PM in New York City) when individual tickets for the 2014 Bayreuth Festival will go on sale online.
Take a nice long break, cher public, to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects.
Talk of the Town
Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo should have made it to the Met
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
Ebe Stignani and Anita Cerquetti should have made it to the Met
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
Sena Jurinac should have made it to the Met
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
Janet Baker should have made it to the Met
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
Dorothy Maynor should have made it to the Met
We had to wait for Marian Anderson to break the color barrier at the Met and many great Black opera singers never had a chance there.
We had to wait for Marian Anderson to break the color barrier at the Met and many great Black opera singers never had a chance there.
Leyla Gencer should have made it to the Met
Leyla Gencer had a long European career but never sang at the Met.
Leyla Gencer had a long European career but never sang at the Met.
Congratulations and best wishes to Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser and and economist John Roberts, who will be married tonight at the performing arts center in a ceremony officiated by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Teresa Berganza is the latest superannuated superstar to jump on the “I hate regie” bandwagon.
All right, I admit it; I finally broke down and read the program notes for the Ring in the Bayreuth program book.
The 1965 season was a time of big changes at the Vienna State Opera.
Which opera company has informed a budding composer they are willing to add his new opera to their repertoire for next season… so long as said composer can kick in the estimated $2 million it would cost to present his work?
Is Der Ring des Nibelungen responsible for the transformation of Seattle from a gray, damp, low-rise Boeing company town where half the jokes had punchlines in Norwegian (and were about lutefisk in any case) into today's booming cultural metropolis? I like to think so.
Which veteran artist delivers doubly sad news this week, canceling an opera that was written for her?
I’m told that the public were, if hardly enthusiastic, at least ambivalent toward the Frank Castorf Ring up until the first performance of Siegfried, at which point things got really ugly and the booing started in earnest.
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