parterre box
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The best opera magazine on the web, bet. Performance reviews, breaking news, critical essays, and brainrot commentary on opera from those demented enough to love it.
Lucky those people who are so anxious to believe
Lucky those people who are so anxious to believe
A high-drama Vanessa by the Boston Symphony Orchestra offers something to believe in.
parterre.com
January 13, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Lucky those people who are so anxious to believe
Dad, I’m seria
Dad, I’m seria
Sir Simon Rattle and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra strike (almost) all the right notes in their new recording of Mozart’s Idomeneo.
parterre.com
January 12, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Dad, I’m seria
Music is a woman
Music is a woman
Dan Johnson on the unique voice of Hildegard composer Sarah Kirkland Snider — and why some music could only ever be written by a woman.
parterre.com
January 12, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Music is a woman
The best things I saw in 2025 were vocal recitals
The best things I saw in 2025 were vocal recitals
I'm going with four outstanding, deeply personal NYC recitals
parterre.com
January 12, 2026 at 3:01 PM
The best things I saw in 2025 were vocal recitals
The best thing I saw in 2025 was In a Grove
The best thing I saw in 2025 was In a Grove
I had the pleasure of going with some members of the Pittsburgh Opera to the PROTOTYPE Festival in New York at the start of the year- almost unfortunate it was so early on in 2025 because it set my expectations for the year so high!
parterre.com
January 11, 2026 at 3:00 PM
The best thing I saw in 2025 was In a Grove
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Festen
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Festen
It's a dazzling, shocking, and entertaining 100 minutes - one of the best new operas I've seen.
parterre.com
January 10, 2026 at 3:00 PM
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Festen
Left of Center
Left of Center
Washington National Opera is leaving the Kennedy Center, according to The New York Times
parterre.com
January 10, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Left of Center
Settling scores
Settling scores
Tobias Kratzer digs beneath the surface of Strauss's Intermezzo in an excellent new DVD from Deutsche Oper Berlin.
parterre.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Settling scores
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Sunset Boulevard
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Sunset Boulevard
I still don't think Sunset Boulevard is a top-tier musical but it was by far the most memorable vocal performance I saw in 2025.
parterre.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:00 PM
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Sunset Boulevard
Tabled for now
Tabled for now
Ahead of the return of Louise to the Opéra National de Lyon, Parterre Box features Elsa Dreisig in a much more famous French opera.
parterre.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Tabled for now
Doublet trouble
Doublet trouble
A messy new I puritani at the Met is a historic and historical disappointment.
parterre.com
January 7, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Doublet trouble
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Elina Garanča in Aïda
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Elina Garanča in Aïda
Elina Garanča scaled the vocal and dramatic summits of the Judgement Duet and Scene in the May series of Aïda.
parterre.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:01 PM
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Elina Garanča in Aïda
The offal truth
The offal truth
"Call me traditional, but I want to see a silver platter!"
parterre.com
January 5, 2026 at 4:01 PM
The offal truth
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Der Freischütz
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Der Freischütz
A staged Freischütz is rare enough in itself to be the highlight of any opera season, but it was in Christoph Marthaler's Antwerp production that I connected with the characters and felt the story for the first time.
parterre.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:01 PM
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Der Freischütz
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Breaking the Waves
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Breaking the Waves
Houston Grand Opera's 2025 Breaking the Waves was absolutely my highlight of the year!
parterre.com
January 3, 2026 at 3:00 PM
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Breaking the Waves
Staring into the abbess
Staring into the abbess
Dan Johnson gives an inside look at the creation of Sarah Kirkland Snider's rapturous new opera Hildegard which opens at New York's PROTOTYPE Festival next week.
parterre.com
January 2, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Staring into the abbess
Car Park Casta Diva
Car Park Casta Diva
Fine music-making meets a clunker of a production in La Monnaie's revival of Norma
parterre.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Car Park Casta Diva
My heart belongs to daddy
My heart belongs to daddy
This week, Parterre Box shares Quinn Kelsey and Jennifer Rowley in a duet from a Verdi opera rumored to be returning to New York this time next season.
parterre.com
January 1, 2026 at 4:00 PM
My heart belongs to daddy
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Giulio Cesare
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Giulio Cesare
In the spring, The English Concert completed a three-city tour performing a concert version of Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto.
parterre.com
January 1, 2026 at 3:00 PM
The best thing I saw in 2025 was Giulio Cesare
Say it to my face
Say it to my face
Two weeks remain for you to submit your thoughts for this spring's The Talk of the Town.
parterre.com
December 31, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Say it to my face
A New Years’ Toast from 1984 Covent Garden
A New Years’ Toast from 1984 Covent Garden
What better sentiment can we embrace as the year ends then to hope, often against against hope, for peace and love in a world of chaos?
parterre.com
December 31, 2025 at 3:00 PM
A New Years’ Toast from 1984 Covent Garden
Parterre Box un*wrapped, 2025
Parterre Box un*wrapped, 2025
The ten most-"read" stories of this truly f*cked-up year
parterre.com
December 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Parterre Box un*wrapped, 2025
Off the rim and off the wall
Off the rim and off the wall
Ivy Lin searches for a slam dunk version of Elvira's Mad Scene from I puritani in the latest "Perspectives on an Aria."
parterre.com
December 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Off the rim and off the wall
O stars of wonder, stars of night
O stars of wonder, stars of night
A starry (and potentially annual) Christmas gala lights up Carnegie Hall.
parterre.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:00 PM
O stars of wonder, stars of night
Happy New Year from Ettore Bastianini and Giulietta Simionato
Happy New Year from Ettore Bastianini and Giulietta Simionato
I am sure many of us will post the Fledermaus gala, but it doesn't get better than this, even in a Fledermaus gala
parterre.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Happy New Year from Ettore Bastianini and Giulietta Simionato