Twenty-five years ago today, a zine cracked its shell and poked its timid beak into the world. Read more »
This is our anniversary day, cher public: the 23rd birthday of parterre box and what would have been the 93rd birthday of Maria Callas. Read more »
Celebrated conductor William Christie, widely considered among the foremost interpreters of early-music for modern audiences, and his acclaimed ensemble Les Arts Florissants have delighted audiences at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) for 30 years. On March 1st, they return with Rameau, maître à danser, featuring two rarely seen operas originally penned by 18th-century French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau for the court of Louis XV.
A pastoral atmosphere prevails throughout La naissance d’Osiris, a one-act ballet set to a libretto by Louis de Cahusac commissioned to celebrate the birth of the Duke of Berry, future Louis XVI; Daphnis et Églé tells the story of two lovers ignorant of their own love for each other, charming audiences with its use of classic European dance styles like sarabande, gavotte, gigue, minuet, tambourin, and contredanse.
Both operatic miniatures served as a symbol of the court’s opulence as well as a source of evening entertainment; together, as Rameau, maître à danser, they serve as a sublime showcase for Christie’s singular brilliance and the ravishing power of baroque music. At the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Mar 1—3. Read more »
Can it really be 40 (Four, oh!) years since La Cieca was born on that sultry evening at the State Fair Music Hall in Dallas, Texas? Read more »
“We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.”
Fifteen years after his first parterre box interview, that criterion of countertenors David Daniels speaks of Oscar Wilde, Marilyn Horne, marriage and political art.
That day we all knew eventually would come did come, in the winter of 2001, when the final issue of parterre box, the queer opera zine was mailed out to the cher public, such as they were at the time.
The winds of change sweep across the first post-9/11 issue of parterre box, the queer opera zine.
In issue #46 of parterre box the queer opera zine (“Spunk”), you will find an endorsement by the legendary Astrid Varnay.
Cher Public