The late Thomas Stewart as Wotan in Herbert von Karajan‘s film of Das Rheingold. La Cieca will present a podcast tribute to Mr. Stewart this weekend.
Announced today: highlights of the archival Met broadcasts to be featured on Sirius during the month of October:
Carmen (1/9/37) Papi; Ponselle, Bodanya, Rayner, Huehn
Lucia di Lammermoor (2/27/37) Papi; Pons, Jagel, Brownlee, Pinza
Die Walküre (12/2/44) Szell; Traubel, Bampton, Thorborg, Melchior, Janssen, Kipnis
Roméo et Juliette (2/1/47) Cooper; Sayão, Benzell, Turner, Björling, Brownlee, Moscona
Aida (2/20/54) Cleva; Milanov, Barbieri, Baum, Warren, Hines
I Vespri Siciliani (3/9/74) Levine; Caballé, Gedda, Milnes, Díaz
Aida (3/6/76) Levine; Price, Horne, Domingo, MacNeil, Giaiotti
Parsifal (4/7/01) Levine; Urmana, Domingo, Ketelsen, Wlaschiha, Tomlinson
Die Meistersinger (12/8/01) Levine; Mattila, Grove, Heppner, Polenzani, Morris, Allen, Pape
La Traviata (3/6/04) Gergiev; Fleming, Vargas, Hvorostovsky
And La Cieca reminds you that the complete schedule of live broadcasts may be found here.
Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon in the dress rehearsal of Manon at the Los Angeles Opera.
La Cieca is back in her beloved Sunnyside late this evening, even though the Metropolitan Opera opening night began at 6:30. By her watch, the performance of Madama Butterfly ran not quite four hours including intermissions and curtain call. Oddly, though, the evening didn’t seem unnaturally long — maybe because La Cieca enjoyed a disco nap prior to the performance, or maybe because her seat for this opening night was in the plaza, watching on the big screen video, or, as we have come to call it, the Plazatron. First things first: quite unlike most free events in New York, [...]
A few tidbits in reference to the impending Sirius broadcasts of the Met Opera. First, La Cieca’s backstage spy reports that the Met has installed literally dozens of permanent microphones in various spots in the auditorium. These mikes are described as being reminiscent of CIA spy equipment, “the kind of technology that kind pick up a whisper a hundred yards away.” (This sort of sensitivity will surely come in handy when Angela Gheorghiu sings Carmen a few seasons hence.) Our source went on to say that the Met and Sirius are trying for a completely different sound mix and balance [...]
Talking heads Anthony Tommasini and our own little JJ discussed “Opera for the Masses” yesterday afternoon on WNYC’s “Soundcheck.” The station’s website has made available the show for listening or download. (Scroll down to “Opera lives on YouTube” for JJ’s portion of the program.)
La Cieca has just noticed that when you go to the Sirius.com website, the first thing you see is a big splashy ad for the Sirius/Met partnership. Cool, right? Well, here’s more coolness. parterre.com has become an affiliate with Sirius to promote their new channel, and if you click through either of the ads on this page and follow up on the offer, La Cieca gets a small commission. The ad to the left takes you to a limited-time discount on Sirius radios, and the ad over in the right nav bar is an offer of free online Sirius service, [...]
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