If song recitals by opera stars Piotr Beczala and Asmik Grigorian sometimes came up short, Semyon Bychkov’s powerful rendition of the Glagolitic Mass instantly became one of the year’s highlights.
44 comments
Sponsored
Reach your audience through parterre box!
parterre box, “the most essential blog in opera” (New York Times), is now booking display and sponsored content advertising for the 2023-2024 season. Join Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Warner Classics and many others in reaching your target audience through parterre box.
Here’s the bottom line: at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall stage on December 3, Iestyn Davies and viol consort Fretwork made the sweetest sounds I’ve heard from human beings all year.
Montagu James reviews the US tour of the Kirill Petrenko-led Berlin Philharmonic
Lisette Oropesa, a product of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Program, has not been seen much on the stage of the Met in recent seasons.
I’m old enough to remember when Yannick Nézet-Séguin could do no wrong.
To bring a well-known story to the stage, many methods are available.
Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann made her New York recital debut at Weill Hall on May 8.
There was much to love in Andrew Ousley’s Tiergarten: a three-night cabaret revue from Death of Classical and part of Carnegie Hall’s Weimar Festival, performed in the vaulted gothic hall of the Church of St. Mary.
Her star is indeed on the rise, but squarely on her terms.
This month: French Baroque from Opera Lafayette, German Requiem at Carnegie Hall, family friendly Haydn from little opera theater of NY, and Wagner’s satin and perfume fetishes?
Rachel Willis-Sørensen might be the greatest American soprano right now who doesn’t sing much in America.
At the parterre box Calendar, nature is refurbishing herself. Spring varieties abound with the usual Met fare and all manner of recitals and rarities. We’ve got our eyes on these from our friends and sponsors.
Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot are, in their different ways, the final decadent flowering of a musical tradition at its twilight.
The past seems to be in conversation with the present.
How many hours of our lives are spent looking back?
Traditional Christianity has always used the threat of dying unabsolved and going to Hell as a tool to get us not only to accept Jesus but also obey the dictates of the Church. Last week in New York, two classical works touched on the theme of repentance and absolution.
Boston Symphony Orchestra recently confirmed an infinitely renewable contract upon Andris Nelsons, its music director since 2014. To understand why, one needed little more evidence than the outfit’s recent visit to Carnegie Hall.
There is a strong case to be made that George Fridrich Handel is the composer most suited to the present moment.
When the Staatskapelle Berlin announced a two-night engagement at Carnegie Hall performing all four Brahms symphonies, I immediately made a note in my calendar to attend. I also wondered who would be the conductor when the announced Daniel Barenboim inevitably withdrew.
As far as I know, Juan Diego Flórez last appeared in New York City (not totally to his advantage) as Alfredo in the Met’s garish new production of La Traviata back in December 2018, nearly five years ago.
Renée Fleming arrived at Carnegie Hall on May 31 with something to prove.
I wish more sopranos programmed recitals like Fatma Said does.
What happens when you attend a performance and it doesn’t engage you?
Sponsored
Call for submissions: parterre box‘s new Talk of the Town
parterre box is launching a new themed regular feature curated by our readers and opera fans across the world! We are asking for your favorite clips, recordings, and anecdotes to get people chatting, listening, and thinking.
Exclusive opera reviews, commentary, top reads from us and our friends.
Delivered to your email weekly…ish.