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And what a luxury it is to experience this musically outstanding Parsifal with a cast of this caliber!
Happy 55th birthday mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona
Having relished last week’s American Symphony Orchestra “once-in-a-liftetime” Gurrelieder (my third, in fact), I wanted to keep enjoying Schönberg’s lush early epic.
Born on this day in 1950 mezzo-soprano/soprano Maria Ewing
Speranza Scappucci conducts the Metropolitan Opera opening night of Puccini’s wistful opera with Angel Blue, Jonathan Tetelman, Emily Pogorelc, and Dekhzod Davronov
La forza del destino concluded its run at the Metropolitan Opera with a significant cast change.
On this day in 1964 the Jule Styne-Bob Merrill musical Funny Girl opened on Broadway
Susan Graham will lead a four-performance run of A Little Night Music at Lincoln Center in June.
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
Life imitates art
Life imitates art
With Gustavo Dudamel in the spotlight at Parterre Box this week, Grand Tier Grab Bag foreshadows one of the New York Philharmonic’s upcoming operatic engagements.
With Gustavo Dudamel in the spotlight at Parterre Box this week, Grand Tier Grab Bag foreshadows one of the New York Philharmonic’s upcoming operatic engagements.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Drink me
Drink me
Parterre Box answers the question, “how can a singer do both Tristan and Nemorino within a few month of each other?” with a clip of a recent role debut from Michael Spyres.
Parterre Box answers the question, “how can a singer do both Tristan and Nemorino within a few month of each other?” with a clip of a recent role debut from Michael Spyres.
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.
Born on this day in 1910 soprano Magda Olivero
On this day in 1920 the first performance of Tchaikovsky‘s Eugene Onegin at the Met
Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads Nadine Sierra, Benjamin Bernheim, Samantha Hankey, Frederick Ballentine, and Will Liverman in a broadcast from New York
On this day in 1977 soprano Ileana Cotrubas made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Mimì
Natalie Dessay debuts as Madam Rose in Paris in 2025
Maria Callas’s official debut in opera was as La Gioconda in 1947 at the arena in Verona.
Birthday Celebrations of Musical Theater composers:
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from H_Badger
A favorite bass performance from H_Badger
The Met in HD proved to be a major gateway drug for me, showing me my first Don Carlo in 2010.
The Met in HD proved to be a major gateway drug for me, showing me my first Don Carlo in 2010.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Eli Jacobson
A favorite bass performance from Eli Jacobson
This bass aria “Sous les pieds d’une femme” from Gounod’s La Reine du Saba used to be a concert favorite
This bass aria “Sous les pieds d’une femme” from Gounod’s La Reine du Saba used to be a concert favorite
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from La Grunowa
A favorite bass performance from La Grunowa
Tancredi Pasero is so noble in mien and rich-voiced here, a perfect complement to Caniglia’s earthy Leonora who honestly charts the movement from despair to fervent, transcendent faith in this duet.
Tancredi Pasero is so noble in mien and rich-voiced here, a perfect complement to Caniglia’s earthy Leonora who honestly charts the movement from despair to fervent, transcendent faith in this duet.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Cornelia
A favorite bass performance from Cornelia
I don’t know if I’ll ever hear as great a performance as René Pape‘s Gurnemanz.
I don’t know if I’ll ever hear as great a performance as René Pape‘s Gurnemanz.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Bere Wendriner
A favorite bass performance from Bere Wendriner
Cesare Siepi and Giulio Neri give a reference rendition of the Grand Inquisitor scene.
Cesare Siepi and Giulio Neri give a reference rendition of the Grand Inquisitor scene.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite bass performance from Ivy Lin
A favorite bass performance from Ivy Lin
Not much to say here. Legendary bass Mark Reizen was born in the USSR and thus never got to tour much to the west.
Not much to say here. Legendary bass Mark Reizen was born in the USSR and thus never got to tour much to the west.
Next week Puccini’s La Rondine returns to the Met for the first time in eleven years, so Chris’s Cache offers three quite diverse sopranos as Magda: Ljuba Welitsch, Virginia Zeani, and Cristina Gallardo-Domâs.
On this day in 2008 soprano Angela Meade made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Elvira in Ernani
The past seems to be in conversation with the present.
Not in my wildest dreams could I have come up with anything more homosexual than the sight of Almodóvar muse Rossy de Palma in a stage-length wedding gown onstage Madrid’s Teatro Real.
Born on this day in 1890 tenors Lauritz Melchior…
Riccardo Minassi conducts Angela Meade, Mattia Olivieri, Carmela Remigio, and Francesco Demuro in a live performance from Genoa
A May 2023 performance of Poulenc‘s opera from Vienna featuring Nicole Car, Michaela Schuster, Maria Motolygina, Eve-Maud Hubeaux, and Maria Nazarova conducted by Bertrand de Billy
The tragic speaker of Schubert’s Winterreise makes his fateful journey but once, yet some singers cannot help trodding the path again and again.