Recent Stories
It’s always surprised me how so many performances of the major Brecht/Weill collaborations seem to have zero clue of how to handle either Weill’s music.
Simon Boccanegra has never felt as foreboding or prophetic as it did at a recent performance at La Fenice.
Music Director Eun Sun Kim is at the center of the repertory, and a long Wagner arc is now officially underway
Parterre Box highlights two recent Verdi Requiems of interest with a pair of Libera mes from Asmik Grigorian and Anna Netrebko.
I don’t know if it’s overrated because I don’t think anyone rates it, but for pure party disc joy not much beats this 2018 recording of the original 1847 version of Verdi‘s Macbeth.
A stark, sweltering performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk shocks the Komische Oper Berlin.
With Siegfried, the directorial vision of the Paris Opera‘s Ring cycle finally takes root.
This is the classic Onegin and there’s much to love, especially from Khaikin‘s sensitive conducting and Lemeshev‘s ideal Lensky.
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Otherwise occupied
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.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Northern star
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.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Tra voi belle
Tra voi belle
Following the announcement that she’ll make her Met debut next season, Grand Tier Grab Bag brings Italian soprano Erika Grimaldi to your attention with a duet from Manon Lescaut.
Following the announcement that she’ll make her Met debut next season, Grand Tier Grab Bag brings Italian soprano Erika Grimaldi to your attention with a duet from Manon Lescaut.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
León in winter
León in winter
Ahead of his performance in Les pêcheurs de perles with Washington Concert Opera, Parterre Box features the unusually elegant Anthony León performing Mozart.
Ahead of his performance in Les pêcheurs de perles with Washington Concert Opera, Parterre Box features the unusually elegant Anthony León performing Mozart.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Assai più vale il soglio
che un genitor perduto
Assai più vale il soglio
che un genitor perduto
Parterre Box highlights a busy few months of Verdi performances for Marina Rebeka and Ludovic Tézier with an exciting sample of their debuts in Nabucco.
Parterre Box highlights a busy few months of Verdi performances for Marina Rebeka and Ludovic Tézier with an exciting sample of their debuts in Nabucco.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Women’s liberation
Women’s liberation
Parterre Box highlights two recent Verdi Requiems of interest with a pair of Libera mes from Asmik Grigorian and Anna Netrebko.
Parterre Box highlights two recent Verdi Requiems of interest with a pair of Libera mes from Asmik Grigorian and Anna Netrebko.
An opera about the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics was never going to be an easy task.
Ponchielli goes east with mixed results in I Lituani.
Both performances moved me profoundly and served as a form of catharsis, ending a challenging 2025 with a glimmer of hope for the future
Easily the Met’s new Sonnambula, where cast and production team delivered a gorgeously sung and well thought out concept for a libretto often derided for its simplicity.
Old pros Gregory Kunde and Pier Luigi Pizzi anchor a new staging of Stiffelio co-produced by three theaters in Emilia-Romagna.
Ahead of a special boozy, bawdy Valentine’s Day concert, artistic director of Opera Lafayette Patrick Quigley speaks with soprano Maya Kherani about her journey from MIT to rising American Baroque star.
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Krunoslav
A favorite bass performance from Krunoslav
Boris Christoff’s Procida (along with Cerquetti’s Elena) lifts Mario Rossi’s RAI Torino Vespri to distinction.
Boris Christoff’s Procida (along with Cerquetti’s Elena) lifts Mario Rossi’s RAI Torino Vespri to distinction.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Michael Landman-Karny
A favorite bass performance from Michael Landman-Karny
If I must choose a single bass performance, it is still Boris Christoff’s Boris Godunov.
If I must choose a single bass performance, it is still Boris Christoff’s Boris Godunov.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Kevin Ng
A favorite bass performance from Kevin Ng
Boris Christoff‘s sound is justly famous, and his vocal splendor is on full display here.
Boris Christoff‘s sound is justly famous, and his vocal splendor is on full display here.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Carmen Paddock
A favorite bass performance from Carmen Paddock
Christopher Purves in Saul – the clarity, the range, the expression, the drama!
Christopher Purves in Saul – the clarity, the range, the expression, the drama!
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Bel Raggio
A favorite bass performance from Bel Raggio
No one in my experience both live and on records could swagger, spin out roulades, and ripple through Rossini and Handel like Samuel Ramey.
No one in my experience both live and on records could swagger, spin out roulades, and ripple through Rossini and Handel like Samuel Ramey.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Mr. Fabulous
A favorite bass performance from Mr. Fabulous
Before hearing Samuel Ramey as Zaccaria in Nabucco, I had always been more interested in higher voices.
Before hearing Samuel Ramey as Zaccaria in Nabucco, I had always been more interested in higher voices.
Salome sweeps in like a storm at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Bellini and Donizetti may be top of mind these days, so Parterre Box offers two budding belcantisti, Beth Taylor and Dave Monaco, in a duet from Rossini’s La cenerentola.
Yuja Wang slayed in this performance of Prokofiev‘s 2nd piano concerto with the Boston Symphony.
Franz Welser-Möst leads a rigorous, if emotionally staid, performance of Verdi‘s Requiem at Carnegie Hall.
“Let me look around once more. Who knows when I shall see this house again?”
Many productions have emphasized Salome’s youth, but few have gone as far as this spectacular and visceral production at the Komische Oper by Evgeny Titov.
