Metropolitan Opera
The mothership and mecca of opera in America—and home base for Parterre Box.
Little girls get bigger every day
Elza van den Heever and Peter Mattei (and the stage elevator) elevate an assertive, if not definitive, new Salome at the Met
Ritorna vincitrice
Elina Garanca is back at the Met for the first time since 2020 — her Amneris is, in a word, sensational.
L’assedio di Corinto
A broadcast from 1975 celebrates 50 years since the Met debut of Beverly Sills
Seville servants
A muted and merry carousel ride out of feudalism in the Met’s production of Le nozze di Figaro
Moby-Dick
Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer‘s whale of an opera live from New York
This magic moment
Look, for one of the most-staged operas in the repertoire, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte seems awfully difficult to stage.
L’enfant et les sortilèges and Les mamelles de Tirésias
Hilda Harris and Catherine Malfitano in an 1981 broadcast to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ravel‘s opera
Nilsson ratings
Christina Nilsson‘s debut enlivens the Met’s new Aïda.
Laffont Grand Finals Concert
The conclusion of the Metropolitan Opera’s annual competition, live from New York
Fidelio
A live broadcast from New York – and Lise Davidsen‘s final broadcast before her maternity leave!
Semper Fidelio
Fidelio, which opened last week at the Metropolitan Opera, will always be relevant, I fear.
Third leg
The term “narrative prosthesis” refers to the tendency for works of literature to use disability as the conflict upon which the whole narrative hinges. Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is a quintessential example of “narrative prosthesis.”