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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.
Damned to hell
Damned to hell
Only the singers, led by Benjamin Bernheim, can salvage a dismal La Damnation de Faust at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées.
parterre.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Damned to hell
Animal house
Animal house
Ursula Sturgeon looks at the furry opera company HowlAria and discovers that maybe one man’s Callas recording collection is another man’s fursuit.
parterre.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Animal house
I’m still thinking about David McVicar’s Giulio Cesare
I’m still thinking about David McVicar’s Giulio Cesare
With Cesare's old-school rules of war set spinning by Cleopatra's Bollywood-inspired manipulations, a Da Capo aria has never felt more dangerous
parterre.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I’m still thinking about David McVicar’s Giulio Cesare
Beyond the wail
Beyond the wail
Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci at Lyric Opera of Chicago are hysterical in all the wrong ways.
parterre.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Beyond the wail
Comic relief
Comic relief
Pacific Opera Project's high-spirited revival of Fra Diavolo is both therapy and an escape.
parterre.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Comic relief
The replacements
The replacements
Second casts in Don Giovanni and Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera offer mixed blessings.
parterre.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:00 PM
The replacements
I’m still thinking about Barrie Kosky’s Dialogues des Carmélites
I’m still thinking about Barrie Kosky’s Dialogues des Carmélites
Barrie Kosky's incredible production widened and universalized the ending.
parterre.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I’m still thinking about Barrie Kosky’s Dialogues des Carmélites
To our glorious dead
To our glorious dead
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra offered a rending reading of Britten's massive War Requiem with an eclectic trio of soloists.
parterre.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:00 PM
To our glorious dead
We wear the masque
We wear the masque
A brief concert at the Frick Collection teases the multifaceted artistry of Davóne Tines
parterre.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
We wear the masque
Tag team
Tag team
The women were the highlights of Washington National Opera's militaristic Aïda
parterre.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Tag team
I’m still thinking about John Dexter’s Dialogues of the Carmelites
I’m still thinking about John Dexter’s Dialogues of the Carmelites
The opening of John Dexter's production of The Dialogues of the Carmelites (originally produced in English) is one of the most arresting and memorable images I have ever seen.
parterre.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:01 PM
I’m still thinking about John Dexter’s Dialogues of the Carmelites
I’m still thinking about Laurent Pelly’s The Golden Cockerel
I’m still thinking about Laurent Pelly’s The Golden Cockerel
In a lifetime of opera going I suppose I have seen many transformative productions, but this recent one seems, in the light of the increasing disaster enfolding this country, uncannily pertinent.
parterre.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I’m still thinking about Laurent Pelly’s The Golden Cockerel
Let’s do the time warp again
Let’s do the time warp again
Tobias Kratzer's time-traveling Arabella from the Deutsche Oper Berlin, now available on DVD, turns the opera's problems into its strengths.
parterre.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Let’s do the time warp again
I’m still thinking about Richard Jones’s Hansel und Gretel
I’m still thinking about Richard Jones’s Hansel und Gretel
I saw this production in HD, and it really shocked me because I was used to the cackling mezzo witch, guardian angels, and gingerbread figures.
parterre.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I’m still thinking about Richard Jones’s Hansel und Gretel
Step-mothers and sons
Step-mothers and sons
Rachel Willis-Sørensen and Stephen Costello make their returns to the Met later this month and Grand Tier Grab Bag anticipates their performances by sharing them in the Act II duet from Don Carlo recorded in Munich this spring as well as a taste of Willis-Sørensen's Liebestod
parterre.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Step-mothers and sons
I’m still thinking about John Dexter’s I vespri siciliani
I’m still thinking about John Dexter’s I vespri siciliani
My first reaction in 1974 wasn't good. The production was full of stairs, and I was afraid Montserrat Caballé would fall at any moment.
parterre.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:01 PM
I’m still thinking about John Dexter’s I vespri siciliani
Beyond the merely pretty
Beyond the merely pretty
J'Nai Bridges makes a sophisticated companion to the Morgan Library & Museum's Renoir Drawings exhibit.
parterre.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Beyond the merely pretty
I’m still thinking about Barrie Kosky’s Semele and Saul
I’m still thinking about Barrie Kosky’s Semele and Saul
My experiences with live performances of Handel's operas/oratorios has been hit or miss, mostly miss.
parterre.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:01 PM
I’m still thinking about Barrie Kosky’s Semele and Saul
Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns
Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns
San Diego Opera's Pagliacci puts a play within a play within a play.
parterre.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns
“An opportunity to deliver”
“An opportunity to deliver”
Daniele Rustioni, who starts his tenure as Met Principal Guest Conductor with Don Giovanni this week, might just be the opera conductor we’ve all been waiting for -- and he’s betting on a long haul.
parterre.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:01 PM
“An opportunity to deliver”
I’m still thinking about John Cox’s The Rake’s Progress
I’m still thinking about John Cox’s The Rake’s Progress
I came to The Rake’s Progress with a huge “Show Me” chip on my shoulder.
parterre.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:01 PM
I’m still thinking about John Cox’s The Rake’s Progress
I’m still thinking about Lotte De Beer’s Aïda
I’m still thinking about Lotte De Beer’s Aïda
Lotte De Beer's astonishing reading of Aïda at the Paris Opera was a victim both of Covid and the culture wars.
parterre.com
November 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I’m still thinking about Lotte De Beer’s Aïda
I’m still thinking about Stefan Herheim’s La bohème
I’m still thinking about Stefan Herheim’s La bohème
Death is the prima donna in this opera, and Herheim doesn't let you forget it.
parterre.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I’m still thinking about Stefan Herheim’s La bohème
Grail against the machine
Grail against the machine
A new production of Parsifal at San Francisco Opera stirred something deep inside Michael Anthonio about how music soothes the soul
parterre.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Grail against the machine