As Parterre readers may know, I’ve been a long-time attendee of the Academy of Vocal Arts, including a number of their Giargiari Bel Canto competitions. These always have a special sense of occasion, but perhaps even more so this year: the timing intersected with Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O22, and it felt somehow felicitous that even as I sat in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater, a block away at the Academy was Rossini’s Otello.

More to the point, this is likely the best Giargiari year in my experience, evidenced in several important ways…

Click here to read the full text at Parterre Box.