Parterre box

1 week ago | parterre.com | Christopher Corwin

By ’79, Norman had given up Aida, which I believe she only performed in concert, so it’s a surprise to discover her stinging “Ritorna vincitor,” along with Santuzza’s aria from Cavalleria rusticana, an opera which, like Carmen, Fidelio, Salome, and Pénélope, she recorded but did not perform on stage. Gurrelieder, on the other hand, was a work that Norman took on occasionally and recorded with Seiji Ozawa.

1 week ago | parterre.com | John Yohalem

Chekhov’s Law has it that if a gun is shown in Act I, it must be fired by the end of the play. By an operatic corollary, if the opening scene presents a cake on a cake stand, and the pastry is divided (or tossed, or smeared) during the first scenes of the show, somebody’s head must replace it by the finale. Catapult Opera’s production of Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista does not disappoint.

1 week ago | parterre.com | Cameron Kelsall

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra launched an ambitious, multi-year survey of Verdi’s operas with a complete performance of Aïda, the final concert of their 2024-25 season. The presentation served as a balm to the Charm City, which has been largely starved for music drama since Baltimore Opera Company ceased operations in 2009.

2 weeks ago | parterre.com | Eli Jacobson

Richard Strauss was 29 years old when he premiered his first operatic composition, Guntram, in Weimar on May 10, 1894, conducting his own score. Like many other late nineteenth century and early twentieth century composers, he was (briefly) under the spell of Richard Wagner and like the master of Bayreuth, he supplied his own libretto. Strauss had already established himself with orchestral tone poems and Lieder.

3 weeks ago | parterre.com | John Yohalem

The Uncle from Rome, by Joseph CaldwellHow often do you read the final chapter of a novel with ever gathering dread, not knowing what catastrophe will befall characters you have genuinely begun to care about – only to read the final brief paragraph in fits of laughter? But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. Joseph Caldwell produced this charming tale from a year spent in Italy on the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.