The boys from Syracuse
Trove Thursday begins February with two striking versions of Rossini’s Tancredi.
Lawrence Brownlee
64 pieces since 2007 — in 20 roles, at 15 companies, most often at Metropolitan Opera.
64
pieces
20
roles
15
companies
20
years
By role
By company
Metropolitan Opera 13
Lyric Opera of Chicago 7
Opera Philadelphia 3
Washington National Opera 2
92nd Street Y 1
Bayerische Staatsoper 1
Boston Lyric Opera 1
Caramoor 1
Houston Grand Opera 1
Opéra Bastille 1
Paris Opera 1
Richard Tucker Gala 1
Royal Opera House 1
San Francisco Opera 1
Washington Concert Opera 1
Role Argirio
Role Arturo
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Manon
I had the pleasure of attending Manon starring Lisette Oropesa and Benjamin Bernheim at Opernhaus Zürich this past October.
By Mario C
Comment
I wanna be the one to walk in the sun
Two recent Paminas feature in concerts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
Doublet trouble
A messy new I puritani at the Met is a historic and historical disappointment.
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.
Puritani, as the driven snow
It was an afternoon of spectacular singing, particularly from the two principals and the glorious Lyric Opera Chorus.
Purity woman
That’s the exact word I’d use to describe Olga Peretyatko’s debut in I Puritani last night at the Metropolitan Opera: “calm.”
Role Charlie Parker
Birdsong
In Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, an opera based on the famed jazz musician’s life, the title character asks, “So if there is a God, why does the negro suffer? Is my prayer, my music lesser, smaller in God’s eyes?”
Role Count Almaviva
Sparkle, Lyric, sparkle!
It’s an old chestnut of a joke that applies even more to opera than to the theatre: A veteran actor is on his deathbed.
Role Don Ramiro
Girl of the moment
It took the Metropolitan Opera decades to catch up with the rest of the world and finally stage La Cenerentola. Gioachino Rossini’s opera buffa, one of his most beloved and accomplished works, received its belated Met debut in 1997, amidst legitimate suspicions that the new production was less a genuine desire to add a belcanto […]
Role Gondolier
The muse as mezzo
Joyce Di Donato‘s latest release is a CD entirely devoted to music Rossini composed for his first wife, Isabella Colbran, one of the most celebrated divas of the early 19th century.
Role Idreno
Killer queen
Rossini’s Semiramide is a highly original and imaginative work of theater that impresses for its creative and beautifully scored orchestration, incisive recitatives and ensembles, and theatrically intriguing characters.
Queen of the damned
“Semiramide—a better opera than this dude expected!”
Role Ilo
A Lesbian in distress
Zelmira, a work of 1822, was the last of the eight operas Rossini composed for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, then the largest opera house in Italy—perhaps in Europe.
Role Le Comte Ory
Down for the comte
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Le Comte Ory was a lovely cake with waaaay too much frosting.
Role Mitridate
Acting is rè acting
Boston Lyric Opera’s shows, of late, are often going to war with their texts.
Role Nadir
Stormy weather
Looking at the Houston Grand Opera’s 2018/19 season, I think Hurricane Harvey subconsciously must have had an impact on the choice of operas.
Role Normanno
Someone else does the heavy lifting for a change
La Cieca introduces a new feature on parterre.com, the guest review. First up to bat is longtime print zine stalwart Little Stevie, who saw Lucia di Lammermoor last night. Take this as you will: based on this evenings performance the new Met Lucia is pretty bad. The acclaimed Ms. Zimmerman simply doesn’t know how to […]
Role Oreste
Favola bella che ieri t’illuse, che oggi m’illude
Washington Concert Opera’s season opened with a triumphant performance of Gioachino Rossini’s rarely heard Ermione Saturday night at George Washington University in D.C., led by Antony Walker and a stellar quartet of principals in Angela Meade, Lawrence Brownlee, David Portillo, and Ginger Costa-Jackson.
Role Ramiro
Mice mice baby
This “new-to-Chicago” production is a sheer pleasure from beginning to end.
Role Rinaldo
The Bland Witch Project
The premiere of Mary Zimmerman’s production of Giacomo Gioachino Rossini’s Armida was arguably the most controversial event of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2009-2010 season. The performances represented Armida’s first run at the Metropolitan Opera and had been commissioned at the behest of mega-diva Renée Fleming. The soprano had scored a triumph in concert presentations of the […]
German, te togli al campy…
1817 was a fertile and diverse time for 26 year old Gioachino Rossini. It opened with his last true opera buffa, La Cenerentola, continued with his most important semiseria, La gazza ladra, and ended with two operas, which, although both nominally belonging to the seria genre, could not be more different from each other.
Once on that island
Our Own Gualtier Maldè (right) escaped today’s Armida dress rehearsal at the Met with his wits intact. He reports:
Role Rodrigo
A divided duty
Rodrigo is a ball-breaking role, but Lawrence Brownlee makes the demands sound easy—tossing in additional high notes and audaciously decorating cabalettas as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
Role Tamino
Crazy extremes
Simon McBurney’s Die Zauberflöte, the second new production of the Met’s May Mozart Miracle, opened on Friday to rousing near-unanimous cheers.
Role Tenor
The best of everything
Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper’s victory lap at Carnegie Hall concluded Thursday night with a sumptuous Der Rosenkavalier spectacularly conducted by Kirill Petrenko
Role Tonio
Avec la victoire, l’instant du bonheur
Buoyed by a strong cast, The Metropolitan Opera continues its autumn bel canto streak with a winning revival of Donizetti’s La fille du regiment.
Martial “La”
I’ve never had a better time in an opera house.
Les ‘Filles’ mal gardées
Two problematic 1990s Donizetti daughters
After the fall
Washington National Opera offered a shellshocked D.C. some much-needed diversion Saturday night, with a new production of La Fille du Regiment.
Role Uberto
Wan lake
The sound of Joyce DiDonato, Lawrence Brownlee and John Osborn nailing La Donna del Lago’s thrilling second-act trio alone made worthwhile enduring one of the ugliest, most bone-headed productions seen at the Metropolitan Opera in many a year.
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
