Tosca
Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads Sondra Radvanovsky (Tosca), Brian Jagde (Cavaradossi), George Gagnidze (Scarpia) and Patrick Carfizzi (Sacristan).
Metropolitan Opera
The mothership and mecca of opera in America—and home base for Parterre Box.
The Magic Flute
“Rolando Villazón makes an exciting role debut as the lovable lout Papageno.”
Eurydice
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Erin Morley (Eurydice), Joshua Hopkins (Orpheus), Jakub Józef Orlinski (Orpheus’s Double), Nathan Berg (Father) and Barry Banks (Hades).
A certain theatrical precision
Sondra Radvanovsky was a force of nature as Tosca on Thursday night at the Met.
In my very own private hell
No, we don’t really need another “Orpheus” opera. Or, rather, we don’t need this one.
Not really about ‘La bohème’
What is there to say about the Franco Zeffirelli Bohème? What is left to say?
Turandot doesn’t exist
It’s back to business as usual at the Met, for better and for worse.
A wig and a prayer
A snarky commentator might dub last night at the Met “Boris of the divo hair flip” but that would do a disservice to a serious, often effective performance of the challenging original version of Mussorgsky’s masterpiece.
Playing with ‘Fire’
With composer Terence Blanchard and librettist Kasi Lemmons‘ incendiary Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the Met makes long overdue history and Will Liverman ascends to superstardom.
Great and happy, but not quite live
This was a great and happy event, but it wasn’t so much a musical one.
Diane Zola departs
La Cieca has received a copy of a message, apparently from the Metropolitan Opera, announcing the departure of Diane Zola from the company.
Soft opening
As the Met gears up for its first performances in a year and a half. the company is already canceling shows in the early fall.
I am a victim of telephone
For the Met, high ticket costs, hostile unions and COVID are only part of the problem, according to performer, teacher and writer David Rohde.
(Another) Change of Season
Last year at this time, performance arts organizations in NYC were announcing that the COVID pandemic would force closures through the summer. We here at parterre box, having honed our mantic powers predicting the precise timing of a singer’s vocal collapse, foresaw a grimmer reality.
Who wants to ‘Live’ forever?
The Metropolitan Opera announces two further concerts in the Met Stars Live in Concert series.
The skills to pay the bills
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra has accepted a deal to receive bridge pay in return for returning to the bargaining table.
Put a ‘Ring’ on it
The eventually reopened Metropolitan Opera promises a swift return to its status quo ante as a farm team for the English National Opera, sharing the London company’s new Ring cycle directed by vieillard terrible Richard Jones.
The Met offers a tradeoff
The catch: Employees would have to agree to a 30 percent cut in pay, half of which would be restored once the Met’s box office returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Take the money and run
The Met settled with disgraced former music director James Levine for a cool $3.5 million.
Dreaming a world
Fueled by a fierce intelligence, deep earnestness, exceptional eloquence, and social media savvy, Joyce DiDonato is a presence and a power, as much when speaking and thinking as when singing. Who better to imagine a program that would suit this (we hope) unique moment?
Press conference at the Met
Stay tuned as La Cieca attends this Zoom press conference with Peter Gelb and special guest zoomers.
Bad news bared
The Metropolitan Opera is heading for a very rocky couple of years.
Met postpones opening to December 31
The Metropolitan Opera announced today that the company has made the difficult decision to cancel the first few months of its 2020–21 season, based on current information regarding the ongoing health crisis. The new season is now scheduled to begin on December 31, 2020, with a special gala performance, the details of which will be shared at a later date.
A change of season
What options are there for the Met and the other performing arts organizations trying to envision restarting performances in the fall?
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).