The art of the possible
Ahead of his first season as the Music & Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic, how much longer can — and should — Gustavo Dudamel stay quiet about the situation in his native Venezuela?
thoughtful thinking
Peter’s arabian nights
The moral stench seeps through Peter Gelb‘s decision to partner with the Saudi government, but what new sources of funding for the Met don’t have red flags?
Da tempeste
My recollections of Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in Louisiana twenty years ago today, come with a pair of odd bookends: it starts with Verdi’s Don Carlo and ends with Puccini’s Il trittico.
Up stares, down stares
Ahead of tomorrow’s Live in HD, Michael Steinberg talks Leonore, Salome, and the “endemic misogyny” of Claus Guth‘s new production
Opera injustice
Hunding, of Die Walküre notoriety, is the most misunderstood character in opera.
The newest normal
A nonstop flow of COVID related announcements from New York City performing arts organizations has swept the city the past weeks.
I am a victim of telephone
For the Met, high ticket costs, hostile unions and COVID are only part of the problem, according to performer, teacher and writer David Rohde.
(Another) Change of Season
Last year at this time, performance arts organizations in NYC were announcing that the COVID pandemic would force closures through the summer. We here at parterre box, having honed our mantic powers predicting the precise timing of a singer’s vocal collapse, foresaw a grimmer reality.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).