Parterre Box

{{Short description|Online opera magazine}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox magazine | title = ''Parterre Box'' | logo = | logo_size =  | image_file = Parterre box cover.jpg | image_size = | image_alt = Scan of cover of ''Parterre Box'', issue #22, created by James Jorden. | image_caption = Issue #22 of ''Parterre Box'' | editor =  | editor_title =  | previous_editor = | staff_writer = | photographer = | category = | frequency = Bimonthly 1993–2001 in print.<ref name="parchive" /> | format = | circulation = | publisher = | paid_circulation = | unpaid_circulation = | circulation_year = | total_circulation = | founder = James Jorden | founded = 1993 | firstdate =  | finaldate =  | finalnumber = | country = | based = New York City | language = English | website = {{URL|parterre.com}} | issn = | eissn = | oclc = }}

'''''Parterre Box''''' (often stylized as '''''parterre box''''') is an online magazine devoted to opera, which cultivates an attitude that may be deemed to be campy, critical and opinionated with explicitly gay overtones.

The publication was founded by the New Yorker James Jorden in 1993<ref name="parchive">{{cite web |title=Making it that way again |url=https://parterre.com/2013/12/03/making-it-that-way-again/ |website=parterre box |date=3 December 2013 |access-date=19 March 2021}}</ref> during a period of under-employment as an opera director.<ref>{{cite news|author=Joshua Barone|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/arts/music/parterre-box-25th-anniversary.html|title=How an Underground Queer Zine Became the Best Blog in Opera|date=December 13, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 7, 2022}}</ref> It appeared bi-monthly from 1993 to 2001 in print form. It is now solely published on the Web,<ref name="parchive" /> where it is considered an influential opera blog.

In May 2005, Jorden introduced the first regular opera podcast entitled ''Unnatural Acts of Opera''. For this show, Jorden took on the drag persona of "La Cieca", a gossip commentator. La Cieca introduced a single act of what she called "demented" opera, concentrating on live vocal performances from around 1950 to the time the acts started.

A highlight of the 2006 season of ''Unnatural Acts of Opera'' was the first ever podcast of Richard Wagner's four-opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'', an event Jorden termed "''Götterdämmerung''". Jorden has also contributed a number of opera video clips to YouTube, concentrating on his favorite divas, including Renata Scotto, Leonie Rysanek and Dame Gwyneth Jones.

The podcasts appear to have ended in 2009 and are known to be available via various services, including iTunes and in streaming form on the parterre.com website.

From 2009 to 2013, Jorden contributed opera reviews to the ''New York Post''.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *[https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/27/magazine/you-go-diva.html "You Go Diva!"], ''The New York Times'', April 27, 1997. Accessed April 7, 2022. *[http://observer.com/2001/01/the-parterre-posse/ "The Parterre Posse"], ''The New York Observer'', January 29, 2001. Accessed January 18, 2008. *Lynn Neary, [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1310841 "When Opera Fans Attack"], NPR: ''Morning Edition'', June 26, 2003. *[http://www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=2314 "Voice of the Opposition"], ''Opera News'', July 2009. Accessed February 9, 2011. *[http://observer.com/2009/07/the-bewitching-art-of-la-cieca/ "The Bewitching Art of 'La Cieca'"] by Zachary Woolfe, ''The New York Observer'', July 8, 2009. Accessed February 9, 2011.

== External links == * {{Official website|http://www.parterre.com/}}

Category:Magazines about opera Category:Music blogs Category:Magazines published in New York City Category:Online magazines published in the United States Category:Magazines established in 1993 Category:1993 establishments in New York City Category:Zines published in the United States