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Der Freischütz has not been seen at the Met since 1972!
When the birthdays start to pile up in the double digits in big round numbers, you start to examine your past and review what you have done with your life.
Every mediocre performance of Trovatore (and don’t we know about those?) could instead be a very good performance of Massenet‘s Hérodiade.
Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes — not I vespri siciliani, but the French original.
Korngold‘s opera in a live broadcast from Boston
A live broadcast from the Vienna Staatsoper conducted by Franz Welser-Möst.
Renée Fleming leads a performance recorded in New York in 2007
The forces of the Teatro La Fenice in a performance of Respighi‘s opera recorded last spring at Venice’s Teatro Malibran
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
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
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.
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.
Peter—may I call you Peter? It has come to our attention that you are seeking operas with “rich, melodic scores.”
Nigel Wilkinson reports on Teodor Curentzis and Peter Sellars‘s new production of Rameau‘s Castor et Pollux in Paris.
This is an astonishing recording by one of the greatest singers of the 19th century.
An 1887 French grand opera by a Black American composer receives its world premiere with Opera Lafayette and OperaCréole next week and is raising questions about the potential of “restorative justice” in the operatic canon.
The Greatest Thing Ever (AKA Lisette Oropesa) in a stunning performance of “Martern aller Arten”
Are Beethoven’s symphonies overplayed? Yes, but for a reason. While this justification may sound cliché, Beethoven’s humanist universalism is a sentiment that feels urgent in an era of widespread polarization and pessimism.
Following last week’s multiple versions of three prime concert arias, Chris’s Cache concludes its Mozart month by offering more of those special vocal works, this time twenty-five arias for mezzo, tenor or bass, as well as more for soprano.
Never heard more beautiful runs than by Della Casa.
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.
A message from CEO and General Director Piper Gunnarson and Board President Corey Kinger announces the closure of the innovative New York-based On Site Opera
William Christie curates an evening of French Baroque music in a live broadcast from Carnegie Hall.
Lise Davidsen and Michael Spyres, now in a live video broadcast from Vienna.
Despite the practically unmitigated fiasco of the last Verdi concert opera performance seen in Boston, I approached Sunday’s Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras performance of Don Carlo at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre with much more optimism.
Idomeneo from the 2022 Aix festival. A wacky production, with those moving towers, but the cast is outstanding: Michael Spyres (Idomeneo), Anna Bonitatibus (Idamante), Sabine Devieilhe (Ilia), Nicole Chevalier (Elettra); Raphaël Pichon, Conductor.
One of the most purely gorgeous voices I’ve ever heard live.
Mozart: Zaide, K.344 / Act 1: “Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben” · Lucia Popp · Vienna Haydn Orchestra · István Kertész from Mozart Opera Festival ? 1972 Decca Music Group Limited
A live broadcast of a new production from the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
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