Married to their jobs
Ahead of their opening in Don Carlo in Dallas tonight, Christopher Corwin chats with Nicole Car and Étienne Dupuis — and offers a special edition of Chris’s Cache!
Metropolitan Opera
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.
The René Jacobs Giulio Cesare is so overrated
George Frideric Handel (born 341 years ago on Monday) composed over 40 operas including many masterpieces, but his Giulio Cesare is the one that everyone knows best.
For my next trick
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under conductor Stéphane Denève plays up the schtick in a concert performance of The Magic Flute – and obscures Mozart’s magic in the process.
Manon Lescaut
Mirella Freni stars in a 1990 Metropolitan Opera performance chosen by Asmik Grigorian
Streamed February 21, 2026 at 1:00 PM
57 comments
Di qualità, di qualità!
San Diego Opera presents a strongly directed and cast revival of Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Some unholy wars
Caitlin Vincent‘s new book Opera Wars paints a persuasive picture of the problems facing opera today, though her solutions leave something to be desired.
The Solti Ring Cycle is so overrated
It was many decades ago that I first listened to the Solti Ring Cycle.
By Mister Snow
281 comments
Idomeneo
A performance from 1986 featuring David Rendall, Frederica von Stade, and Hildegard Behrens curated by Joyce DiDonato
Streamed February 14, 2026 at 1:00 PM
178 comments
Living the part
Diana Soviero chats with Roger Pines about six decades of performing, four decades of teaching, and how she’s handing the tradition off to the next generation.
The crowd-pleaser comes around
Juan Diego Flórez‘s charm and artistic sensibility remain as vibrant as ever, as seen at a recent Carnegie Hall recital.
Werther
A performance from 1979 starring Alfredo Kraus and Régine Crespin, chosen by Lawrence Brownlee
Streamed February 7, 2026 at 1:00 PM
54 comments
Any recording of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny is so overrated
It’s always surprised me how so many performances of the major Brecht/Weill collaborations seem to have zero clue of how to handle either Weill’s music.
By Cornelia
6 comments
The best thing I saw in 2025 was La sonnambula
Easily the Met’s new Sonnambula, where cast and production team delivered a gorgeously sung and well thought out concept for a libretto often derided for its simplicity.
By Bel Raggio
Comment
The snows that lie on the mountains of Judaea
Salome sweeps in like a storm at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Faith in their hands shall snap in two
Franz Welser-Möst leads a rigorous, if emotionally staid, performance of Verdi‘s Requiem at Carnegie Hall.
Porgy and Bess
The Gershwins' opera in a live broadcast from New York
Streamed January 24, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Comment
Look to your laurels
A Strauss rarity receives a ravishing concert performance at Seattle Opera.
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Christina Nilsson in Aïda
Christina Nilsson‘s successful Met debut as Aïda was for me one of the shining highlights of the 2025 season.
By Moe Rear
Comment
Irish blessing
Lise Davidsen‘s first Isolde is only one of the highlights of Tristan und Isolde at the Liceu in Barcelona.
When her ship comes in
Anticipating the titanic arrival of Lise Davidsen‘s Isolde in New York in March, Parterre Box is thrilled to share a bit of her debut opposite Clay Hilley recorded in Barcelona last week.
I wanna be the one to walk in the sun
Two recent Paminas feature in concerts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
The best things I saw in 2025 were Nina Stemme and Les Arts Florissants
I can’t say 2025 was my best operagoing year; apart from a superb Fille du régiment, most of my good nights at the opera were decidedly mixed affairs.
By Cornelia
Comment
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).