One goddess, one Hallenberg! One goddess, one Hallenberg!

Although I usually pretend that I don’t have the diva-worship gene, sharp-eyed readers of parterre box will know that since I joined the site in 2011 as “DeCaffarrelli” I have often swooned as an Ann Hallenberg-fanboi.

By February 28, 2020 at 11:58 AM
1 comment
Kitchen confidential Kitchen confidential

Since 1985, from the Chicago Symphony at Carnegie Hall to the Welsh National Opera visiting BAM and from Chicago Lyric to New York City Opera to the Met, I’ve never encountered a bad Falstaff—or one that didn’t astound and delight me. 

By February 25, 2019 at 11:00 AM
24 comments
Belief in a higher power Belief in a higher power

The behavioral phenomenon of limerence has been described as “an involuntary potentially inspiring state of adoration and attachment to a limerent object involving intrusive and obsessive thoughts, feelings and behaviors from euphoria to despair, contingent on perceived emotional reciprocation.”

By July 29, 2013 at 5:28 PM
37 comments
Virgin territory Virgin territory

The chicken or the egg?

By July 27, 2012 at 4:39 PM
11 comments
Agitated, of two minds Agitated, of two minds

Few singers today cause me as much consternation as Vivica Genaux.

By February 06, 2012 at 11:29 AM
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Fire and Music

With Händel’s canon largely rediscovered and audiences hungry for more music from the Baroque period, opera houses and recording companies have increasingly turned their attention towards the stage works of Antonio Vivaldi. In only the past decade around 25 of Vivaldi’s operas and pasticcios have been revived, and more and more artists are performing and…

By December 05, 2009 at 5:15 PM
109 comments