The parterre team is glad to make available a professionally produced recording of the February 3rd memorial held in honor of parterre box founder James Jorden
Members of cher public are reminded that the upcoming celebration of the life and legacy of parterre box founder James Jorden will be held one week from today (February 3) at 2 PM EST in Adler Hall at the Society for Ethical Culture in New York City.
Born on this day in 1913 composer Benjamin Britten
Zack Woolfe of The New York Times remembers James Jorden
The writers of the Box and James’s friends are saddened to announce the death of the inimitable founder of Parterre Box
“I have almost forgotten what it felt like to sit in a velvet seat at the Met, surrounded by people coughing.”
Of the hundreds of opera performances Our Own JJ (not pictured) attended in the 2010s he narrows it down to the ten most glittering highlights.
Joining the talking and singing heads of Aria Code is Our Own JJ, deconstructing “Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix.”
Our Own JJ catches up with the tail end of the Met season.
Mean, moody, magnificent Matt Baume (left) hosts a live version of his celebrated podcast The Sewers of Paris this afternoon beginning at 5:00 PM Eastern time.
Opera originalist Heather MacDonald is at it again, describing Our Own JJ as “New York’s shrillest advocate for revisionist opera productions.”
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.”
Gregory Spears‘ Paul’s Case is on the way to being commercially recorded.
Our Own JJ (not pictured) muses on the difficulty of staging Mozart’s greatest opera in his latest piece for the New York Times.
“Roberto Alagna has found his most congenial and emotionally moving role yet: Cyrano de Bergerac.”
“James Jorden always wanted to direct, but when he first moved to New York the closest he could get to the stage was in a low-paying job sweeping up bobby pins.”
“She not only sang the difficult leading role, she also directed the opera.”
Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now presented new works in which women were variously gang-raped, eviscerated and executed by firing squad.
“We want to figure out how to create a nationwide change in how people think opera can be done. \“
The celebrated ‘Triumph’ scene… borders on homoerotic porn.
“He towered over the listless supporting cast like Daniel Day-Lewis guest-starring in a marionette show.”
“Just as every downtown shopping street in every major American city now features the same familiar retailers’ names, New York City Opera has no particular artistic identity different from, say, Opera Carolina.”
La Cieca (pictured) asks, what are your eight (or even 10) can’t-miss opera events for the fall?
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.
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.
