parterre box

All the fine young cannibals Offenbach's Robinson Crusoé is salvaged from obscurity. 

All the fine young cannibals

Joan Sutherland sings “The Twelve Days of Christmas” Auntie Joan goes the whole nine yards on this one and invigorates it to make it work in a way as no one else can.

Joan Sutherland sings “The Twelve Days of Christmas”

Mezzo in the dark It is a physical pleasure to hear Kate Lindsey at close quarters.

Mezzo in the dark

Scenes from a revolution "This isn’t an opera that touches on queer themes; it’s a bundle of queer themes tied up in an opera."

Scenes from a revolution

Jamie Barton sings “Maria Wiegenlied” Like Type 2 Diabetes, symptoms of YAS (Yuletide Aversion Syndrome) commonly creep up on gay men after manopause.

Jamie Barton sings “Maria Wiegenlied”

Form over function A consideration of Anika Kildegaard’s extraordinary recital in Philadelphia—and the oddity of recitals themselves. 

Form over function

Happy holidays from Mary Costa, Bing Crosby, and Robert Goulet This month’s theme – “Opera singers celebrate the holidays” – conjured up a vast lexicon of memories of growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Happy holidays from Mary Costa, Bing Crosby, and Robert Goulet

Paris is always a good idea Though perhaps showing its age, a storied production of La bohème nonetheless makes a welcome return to the Los Angeles Opera

Paris is always a good idea

Jonas Kaufmann sings “All I Want for Christmas Is You” "It duz... not... SCHVING!!!!"

Jonas Kaufmann sings “All I Want for Christmas Is You”

Kathleen Battle sings “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” One of my favorite Christmas recordings is Kathleen Battle's A Christmas Celebration.

Kathleen Battle sings “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

Lightning strikes twice New York audiences got a taste of Ben Bliss in Mozart this fall, but this week Grand Tier Grab Bag offers snippets of the tenor trying his hand at Handel earlier this year.

Lightning strikes twice

Gabriela Beňačková sings Czech Christmas Music Gabriela Beňačková is featured in a wonderful Christmas album called Carolling, released by Supraphon in the early 1990s.

Gabriela Beňačková sings Czech Christmas Music

Get in the zone Tamara Wilson and Stanislas de Barbeyrac are the standouts in Calixto Bieito's underwhelming Die Walküre in Paris

Get in the zone

Renata Tebaldi sings “O Divine Redeemer” "O Divine Redeemer" is, I suppose, more properly an Advent or Lenten piece. But when Renata Tebaldi asks us to hear her "croy", who can resist?

Renata Tebaldi sings “O Divine Redeemer”

Shades of gray MasterVoices presents a strongly-cast Sweet Smell of Success—but the merits of this noir musical are hardly black or white. 

Shades of gray

So brutal but also so joyful Composer Philip Venables talks about queer utopias and bending gender and genre in The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions which opens at the Park Avenue Armory this week.

So brutal but also so joyful

Anna Moffo sings “O Holy Night” Anna Moffo, in glorious voice and looking gorgeous as usual, sings "O Holy Night," one of my favorite Christmas tunes.

Anna Moffo sings “O Holy Night”

I’m still thinking about George Tabori’s Pagliacci I love Tabori—his staging of Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung are among my five favorite opera performances of all time.

I’m still thinking about George Tabori’s Pagliacci

Big time sensuality Barbara Strozzi links two sensuous programs by L’Arpeggiata and Catapult Opera. 

Big time sensuality

To Be a Poet is a Condition Are today’s stars enough to sustain Andrea Chénier?

To Be a Poet is a Condition

Out of the mouths of babes 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.

Out of the mouths of babes

Monkey business The Monkey King at San Francisco Opera combines spectacle and sentiment.

Monkey business

Oceanic feeling Grand Tier Grab Bag features a complete performance of Ernest Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer ahead of a particular year for both its soloist and conductor.

Oceanic feeling

I’m still thinking about Martin Kusej’s Rusalka The production is based on the Elisabeth Fritzl story, and it really made me reconsider this opera's fairy tale storyline.

I’m still thinking about Martin Kusej’s Rusalka

Everything the light touches Vincent Lombardo pays poetic tribute to the 60-year-long career of Robert Wilson.

Everything the light touches

Hear, O Israel As Messiah season begins, Christopher Corwin reports on two of Handel’s forays into the Old Testament.

Hear, O Israel

I’m getting married in the morning Washington National Opera presented a well-sung and humorous Marriage of Figaro, buoyed by clever direction and a strong cast, particularly Rosa Feola’s Countess and Joélle Harvey’s Susanna.

I’m getting married in the morning

Medieval Times Carl Orff’s cantata tries its fortunes at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Medieval Times

I’m still thinking about Peter Sellars’s Così fan tutte I never thought an opera production could be this well done.

I’m still thinking about Peter Sellars’s Così fan tutte

We’re still thinking about Robert Carsen’s Mefistofele Les Camilles both agree on this one. And WHY? You ask??!

We’re still thinking about Robert Carsen’s Mefistofele