One of the late Mike Richter‘s most endearing traits was his fascination with rare or downright offbeat recordings, such as this complete 1963 performance of Verdi’s Don Carlos in Russian by artists of the Bolshoi.
Mike Richter, via CD-ROM, takes us back to the golden age of concert opera in New York City with Il pirata starring Montserrat Caballé.
From one of the earliest Mike Richter CD-ROMs, “Odd Opera,” comes a piece definitely fitting that description.
This week’s gem from the Mike Richter collection is all the more precious for its rarity: a performance of Fauré’s Pénélope starring ravishing Régine Crespin.
By special request of Our Own DeCaffarrelli, and courtesy of Mike Richter, here’s a treat: a 1969 performance of La Cenerentola starring the delectable Teresa Berganza.
The mighty Teatro Colón Ring cycle draws to a close, courtesy of Mike Richter‘s superb CD-ROM “El Anillo.”
Legendary Birgit Nilsson heads a spectacular cast in the second act of Götterdämmerung, our latest treasure from Mike Richter‘s trove of CD-ROMs.
The final day of the Buenos Aires Ring dawns in our latest sampling from the Mike Richter’s trove of CD-ROMs.
The respective long slumbers of Brünnhilde and La Cieca are finally at an end as we continue “EL Anillo” from the Mike Richter collection with the third act of Siegfried.
From the legendary Mike Richter collection, here’s another segment of “El Anillo,” act two of Siegfried from the Teatro Colón.
Continuing “El Anillo” from the Mike Richter collection, Siegfried at the Teatro Colón (not pictured).
From the Mike Richter collection, Act Three of Die Walküre at the Teatro Colón, featuring Hans Hotter and Birgit Nilsson (not pictured.)
Mike Richter‘s documentation of the 1962 Buenos Aires Ring continues with the second act of Die Walküre featuring Birgit Nilsson and Hans Hotter.
First up (naturally), Das Rheingold.
From Mike Richter‘s CD-ROM “El Anillo,” here is radiant soprano Gré Brouwenstijn in the first act of Die Walküre as performed at the Teatro Colon in 1962.
A particularly delectable treat from the Mike Richter trove: Wolfgang Sawallisch conducts a 1985 performance of Arabella at the Bayerische Staatsoper, featuring Lucia Popp and Wolfgang Brendel.
More Verdi from the Mike Richter collection, this time from CD-ROM SFO-02, a performance of Simon Boccanegra featuring Ingvar Wixell and Kiri Te Kanawa.
A summer performance of a wintry treat is this week’s bonbon from the Mike Richter collection, this time from his Opera from Munich CD-ROM, AE204.
Well, “extreme” is such an, oh, how shall I put it… extreme word, my dears; really La Cieca is no more than the humble intermediary here between Mike Richter‘s CD-ROMs and you, the cher public. This time our treat from the trove is Eugene Onegin, a selection from his disc devoted to the Metropolitan Opera…
La Cieca assumes, or at least hopes, such an encounter is currently taking place on some other plane. In slightly more mundane terms, though, Mike Richter did “meet” Claudio Abbado, though not in the context of his celebrated CD-ROM series.
In what seems to be turning into an informal salute to Kathleen Battle (not pictured), our gem from the Mike Richter collection this week is a performance of Un ballo in maschera, featuring Jose Carreras and Katia Ricciarelli (pictured).
From an early Mike Richter CD-ROM, “Odd Opera” comes this gem, a live performance of Handel’s Semele at Carnegie Hall on February 23, 1985, the 300th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Bundle up warmly, cher public, and enjoy a weather-appropriate selection from the Mike Richter hoard.
One of Mike Richter‘s most spectacular achievements was the remastering and digitization of the complete master classes conducted by Maria Callas at the Juilliard School in 1971-1972.
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.
