Think of the children
One of the highlights, if not the highlight, of No-Met-February was an all-Ravel evening presented by the Juilliard Orchestra.
Recent Stories
The twilight zone
As I mentioned in my last article (on the subject of Calixto Bieito’s production of Das Rheingold at the Paris Opera), in what the French might call une histoire belge, La Monnaie’s Ring cycle started with Romeo Castellucci as its director, and is now ending with Pierre Audi.
More people should listen to Hanne-Lore Kuhse
East Germany’s Hochdramatische icon, Berlin’s local Nachtigall.
By Ben Miller
55 comments
Sea glass
“Baritone Thomas Glass will sing the role of Starbuck in tonight’s performance of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, replacing Peter Mattei, who has withdrawn due to illness.”
Wishin’ and hopin’ and thinkin’ and prayin’
Eli Jacobson inaugurates parterre box’s new “Perspectives on the Aria” feature with a deep dive into Leonore’s “Abscheulicher!” from Beethoven’s Fidelio which returns to the Metropolitan Opera tomorrow with the Met’s current dramatic soprano star Lise Davidsen as Leonore.
More people should listen to Barbara Haveman
Unfortunately, Barbara Haveman does not perform very much anymore and she did not leave many recordings.
By Remko Jas
77 comments
More people should listen to Isabelle Poulenard
My parents- heroes that they were- used to drive me to Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus (RIP, to both the store and while we’re here, to my parents) after dinner on my birthday, to take advantage of the fact that it was open until midnight.
By Armerjacquino
89 comments
Carmen
A 2010 broadcast documenting Yannick Nézet-Séguin‘s Metropolitan Opera debut performances
Jenufa
Corinne Winters and Karita Mattila lead a performance recorded last month in London
More people should listen to Benita Valente
Many of us of a certain age had the good luck to see Benita Valente frequently at the Met. My memory is that she was treated rather like a house singer at first, and only later was appreciated for her extraordinary gifts.
By Le Petit Yniold
99 comments
Pick a little, talk a little
Following the successful launch of the new regular feature The Talk of the Town in January, the team at the box is inviting contributions for a new quarter of operatic potpourri.
It has become that time of evening
Ahead of Natalie Dessay‘s adieu to classical music and upcoming American turn, parterre box offers a sample of her in Gounod‘s “Jewel Song” recorded just last year.
The Met should revive Khovanshchina
Mussorgsky‘s Khovanshchina is one of the most gripping operatic political dramas ever written, with lots of gorgeous melodies and superb choral writing.
By Montagu James
91 comments
Another op’nin’, another show
Opera San José (OSJ) is continuing the second half of its 41st season with a company premiere of Béla Bartók’s Symbolist opera Bluebeard’s Castle (A kékszakállú herceg vára), with a libretto by his friend and poet Béla Balázs, and OSJ truly spared no effort to make the occasion a memorable one.
The baptism of Konstantin
Sitting in Park Avenue Armory last week for the American debut of baritone Konstantin Krimmel, the rush of joy I felt was two-fold.
The Met should revive Oberon
Great score; let anyone but Jeremy Sams concoct a new libretto!
By Krunoslav
124 comments
All creatures great and small
No Leos Janácek operas have turned up this month among the works we’d like to see at the Met, so Chris’s Cache corrects that omission with live recordings of two of the composer’s most compelling operas (performed in English).
The Met should revive La Gioconda
It used to be proverbial on the Met Opera Quiz, usually quoted by quiz master Edward Downes: “If you can’t remember where a certain plot event occurs … it happens in La Gioconda.”
By John Yohalem
159 comments
Girl next door
My first introduction to Béla Bartók’s one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle was the musicologist Susan McClary’s infamous book Feminine Endings. Here, McClary likened her search of a feminist musicology to Judith’s journey through the seven doors; a journey that ends in Judith’s symbolic death.
The Met should revive Maria di Rudenz
I know that there is no chance that Met will ever do this since they have decided to focus on contemporary opera at the expense of reviving older works. Still it has some of Donizetti’s most moving and striking moments. The plot is so over the top gothic that it could still be quite effective.
By Patrick Lenaghan
123 comments
Paranorma activity
Following the peek at Asmik Grigorian‘s attempt, parterre box humbly offers an in-house snippet of Federica Lombardi‘s “Casta Diva” from a few blocks over on the Ringstrasse
Americans in Paris
Even if our monolingual American tourists can be the source of vexation for many a Parisian, our singers gave much for the city’s operagoers to admire this month in stylish productions of Semele at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and I Puritani at the Opéra Bastille.
The Met should revive Armide
More action than in Gluck‘s other great works, and plenty of opportunities for scenic spectacle.
By southerndoc1
137 comments