Elina Garanča’s aborted first Ariadne may have been the headline item at the Salzburg Festival next month, but this week Parterre Box features the Zerbinetta, Ziyi Dai.

One Italian soprano continues to save the day in bel canto roles at La Scala; this week Parterre Box features Marta Torbidoni.

Ambur Braid‘s biggest dramatic soprano assignment yet — the Dyer’s Wife in Aix — is occasion for Parterre Box to feature her in some of her old repertoire.

Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.

Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.

Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.

I trust, fellow Parterre readers, that we can all agree that Riccardo Muti is a great opera conductor.

Fifty some years ago I stumbled on to John Barbirolli‘s recording of matchless Elgar & V-Williams music for strings and discovered my go-to conductor for life.

Antonio Pappano‘s versatility in both German and Italian repertoire and beyond is both rare and impressive.

Whether an opera by Puccini, Verdi, Wagner, Strauss, or Berg, Dimitri Mitropoulos brought to the podium a total understanding and love for each score he touched.

I am once again going to laud the classic Rudolf Kempe commercial recording of Lohengrin (which I have lauded overall) for its conducting.

Roger Norrington conducted Rossini’s Semiramide in Pesaro ’94 and made the Orchestra part of the drama in a way I still have never heard duplicated in a Bel Canto opera.