Peter Gelb announces that the Met will return its 1980s glory days as a hideously overpriced theme park and David McVicar whinges about literally everything.
“Are you kidding? I’m having it put in my casket.”
In November, everyone wanted to hear more about Jonas Kaufmann‘s Johnson.
Denigrating myths about opera abound.
” Mr. Gelb chuckled and said, ‘I’m not going to find out’.”
Remember the disastrous 2010 Traviata at the Met, “conducted” by Leonard Slatkin?
In this Sunday’s New York Times, Our Own JJ (not pictured except in spirit) examines why Bellini’s Norma should be considered “the Everest of Opera.”
Today, the New York Times offers the strongest suggestion yet that Cecilia Bartoli will bring her Norma to New York sooner rather than later.
Our Own JJ (not pictured) muses on the difficulty of staging Mozart’s greatest opera in his latest piece for the New York Times.
La Cieca wishes to extend her heartiest congratulations to that journalistic power couple the da Fonseca-Wollheim-Stephenses.
“There is a water sprite (called a merman by the Juilliard), a witch and other flora and fauna of Czech folklore.”
“When you’re really quiet, you can hear the tinkling when they stop.”
An aging eccentric—who has for decades occupied a dubious place on the fringes of New York’s musical life—today saw a lifelong dream fulfilled.
Well, when the New York Times goes into a tizzy, you know times are hard, cher public, but your doyenne is ready to ride to the rescue, hakeo don’t panic.
“In opera, voice is everything.”
“Mr. Luisi won praise replacing Mr. Levine time after time, particularly in a costly version of Wagner’s Ring cycle—though, perhaps in a sign of the situation’s delicacy, the two conductors have never met in person.”
La Cieca thinks she knows who the murderer is.
It’s up to you, cher public, to try to decide for yourself what, if anything, this bizarre story in the New York Times means.
The Met’s pilot program of octogenarian outreach looks to be a smashing success.
Count on the New York Times to include in a photo caption all the information you really wanted to know.
Leave it to the New York Times to present a hard-hitting, no-holds-barred debate on the explosive subject of race, with Anthony Tommasini and Ben Brantley boldly in agreement throughout.
Anna, Bart and Peter talk about the Met’s new season with the always engaging Michael Cooper of the New York Times.
Naming rights, Sunday performances, an extension of the Met’s lobby forward into Lincoln Center Plaza . . . Peter Gelb puts all that and more on the table.
“Few operas better represent a moment such as ours, when stability and long-held certainties are hard to come by, particularly in regard to sexuality.”
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
