On this day in 1883 the Metropolitan Opera presented the company premiere of La traviata.
On this day in 1926 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with La vestale with Rosa Ponselle in the title role.
Dame Ethel Smyth’s third opera, The Wreckers, opened at Houston Grand Opera on October 28 and runs through November 11.
On this day in 1956 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with Maria Callas in Norma.
On this day in 1966 the Metropolitan Opera presented a new production of Elektra.
Come back, Big Clock! We need you more than ever!
On this day in September 27, 1988, the Metropolitan opera presented the company premiere of Giulio Cesare, starring Kathleen Battle and Tatiana Troyanos.
Why did Ted Sperling and MasterVoices choose to perform an old warhorse like Carmen which has been produced almost continuously over decades just up the street at Lincoln Center?
Edita Gruberova considered her greatest pride and loves not her career but her daughters Klaudia and Barbara and grandchildren Cris, Denis, and Alyssa.
Philippe Jaroussky mentioned introducing his encores that he has not appeared in New York in 12 years.
On this day in 1973 the Metropolitan Opera presented the company premiere of Les Troyens.
On this day in 2008 Anja Harteros sang her first Metropolitan Opera Violetta.
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays” – Soren Kierkegaard
We watch Peter Grimes being made into a deviant— a process that can take place through the mechanism of the law, but often happens outside of it through social processes.
On October 14, 1979 I spent my birthday attending my first all-star opera gala, thrilled at the chance to hear some of the great singers I’d only experienced on LPs, broadcasts or via my pirate reel-to-reel tapes.
On this day in 1998 the Metropolitan Opera presented a new production of Le nozze di Figaro featuring Cecilia Bartoli as Susanna.
On this day in 1964 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor.
David McVicar’s 2017 production of Tosca returned to the Met on Tuesday night, with an able and watchable, if not transcendent cast.
Michael Spyres’s nobly moving Idomeneo wasn’t just a bravura triumph: singing strongly throughout, he brought more colors to his portrayal of the tortured king than I had experienced from others in the Ponnelle production.
It’s nasty world, Shostakovich seems to say, where life alternates between boring and terrifying.
Sondra Radvanovsky has an unconventional voice that is suited to unconventional characters and is best used in rangy, difficult music. The lack of lush beauty was no deficit in depicting Medea’s jealousy and vengeful rage.
Robert Carsen‘s legendary production of Eugene Onegin finally arrives in San Francisco.
With the phenomenal cast that stacked Paris Opera’s production of I Capuleti e i Montecchi , it was easy to overlook the quirks of Bellini’s opera and get lost in the pleasures of glorious bel canto singing.
My impression was of a very fine singer performing a role that was slightly too large for him.
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
×
Sign up for Parterre’s free newsletter.
Exclusive opera reviews, commentary, and top reads
delivered to your email weekly…ish.