November 2006
So, more scoop on that “emergency meeting” La Cieca hinted at yesterday. It seems that the costumes for the Met’s new production of The First Emperor arrived from China in the last couple of weeks. La Cieca is told that when the boxes were unpacked, the wardrobe staff complained of a strong chemical odor emanating…
That popular and versatile artist TBA will enjoy a busy December at the Met alternating the roles of Mimi and Musetta in La boheme. La Cieca wonders if Cristina Gallardo-Domâs is “indisposed” with the same “health” “problems” that beset Susannah Glanville. Anyway, G-D is out of the rest of 2006, though she’s still on the…
La Cieca has been informed that there’s an emergency meeting called this afternoon at the Met on the subject of, well, let’s just say, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Let’s hope staffers are able to clear the air!
As La Cieca mentioned last month, the 2007-2008 Met season will include a new production of Satyagraha, the Gandhi-themed opera by Philip Glass and Constance De Jong. And now La Cieca has been informed that there is actual basis in fact for her wild surmising. Darling Dawn Fatale drew La Cieca’s attention to an announcement…
A sneak preview of Natalie Dessay‘s Lucia, scheduled for next season’s opening night at the Met. La Cieca hears that Dessay’s first Met Lucia will be a new production, but she guesses it will not be this one from the Opéra Bastille (bootlegged about six weeks ago). Though, to tell the truth, this soprano would…
On this day of Thanksgiving, there are so many things for which La Cieca would like to give thanks. But enough about that. Here’s one thing for which La Cieca would like to say, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Among the participants in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving parade: none other than The Beautiful Voice, or, as…
Live, unedited, current and obviously unauthorized opera video. If you discover any such snippets on YouTube, let La Cieca know.
Which Met prima donna recently enraged her maestro when she forgot (or refused) to bring him out a curtain call at his final performance of the run? In recounting the story of this obvious snub, the “always friendly and downright jocular” conductor becomes so emotional that he begins to gesticulate as wildly as he does…
Beverly Sills was nothing if not precocious (and La Cieca means that in every way — listen to the way the little sexpot purrs, “G’bye, Uncle Sol” at the end of the clip!) Anyway, here she is at somewhere between seven and nine years of age in the 1938 film short Uncle Sol Solves It.…
Fred Kirshnit joins the legions dazzled by the radiance that is Millo. In The Sun, Kirshnit writes People who love Aprile Millo really love Ms. Millo, and so interspersed among the nearly capacity crowd dressed in their finery as the National Italian American Foundation honored the soprano were the occasional young man or pair of…
Perhaps you’ve been wondering why James Levine has taken over the final two performances of this season’s Madama Butterfly at the Met. Could it be that Asher Fisch has fallen ill? Well, no, Maestro Fisch is just fine, thank you. In fact, La Cieca hears that Levine has returned so that these two performances can…
From the mailbag: Dear La Cieca, First of all, you are fab. [Several paragraphs of fulsome praise snipped.] But that’s beside the point. I just noticed that the Met has published more details on their upcoming HD broadcasts. Unfortunately, at least as far as Ontario is located, they did an abominable job in choosing their…
You all remember that new Norma slated for Zurich with Renaaay (and Marcello Giordani, by the way)? Well, La Cieca hears that talks are already in progress to import the show (complete with The Beautiful Druidess) to the Met. The good news is that we’ll see the retirement of the “Ping-pong Table Norma” last glimpsed…
New York fans of puppylicious tenor Juan Diego Flórez will be happy to hear that he will be a fixture at the Met the next few seasons. Next year he stars in a new production of La Fille du regiment opposite his Barbiere prima donna, Diana Damrau. In 2008-2009, he headlines the first Met performances…
The infamous X-rated telephone calls from Fox News blowhard Bill O’Reilly to his producer Andrea Mackris are now arias in a decidedly secular oratorio by composer Igor Keller. According to the gossip site radar.com, Keller has set court documents relating to Mackris’s sexual harassment lawsuit against O’Reilly as “seven chorales, four recitatives, and numerous arias.”…
The scene: Backstage at the Richard Tucker Gala. The situation: Diva X is onstage, singing music from the opera _________, a role for which Diva Y (also on the bill) is famous. Diva Z is among the onlookers while Diva Y “holds court.” [The guests chatter.] Diva Y: Silence! What’s that music! Diva Z: Why,…
La Cieca has just heard that impeccable Ira Siff will return to the Met Sirius broadcast tonight for the second intermission of Tosca. Listen and learn!
The late dramatic soprano in film clips spanning almost four decades of her career. November 14, 2006 is the 80th anniversary of her birth.
La Cieca must be brief as she is on jury duty (can you imagine, La Cieca being asked to pass judgment?) Anyway. Highlight of the Tucker Gala was definitely Marcello Giordani, who was in absolutely ideal voice for the “Improvviso,” and only slightly nervous for the “Vicino a te.” (He sharped on the very final…
Soprano Yali-Marie Williams is currently singing Traviata at the Opéra de Montréal. Now, La Cieca realizes that not every Violetta can literally look like she’s wasting away, but surely even a more Junoesque soprano can look handsome and chic if she’s costumed intelligently. This is not what La Cieca calls intelligent costuming. In fact, La…
A video for Daniel.
What’s happening next week on Sirius. Monday, November 13, 2006 6:00 AM Offenbach: Les Contes D’Hoffmann. 12/3/55 Monteux; Tucker, Peters, Stevens, Amara 9:00 AM Donizetti: Don Pasquale. 4/15/06 Benini; Florez, Netrebko, Alaimo, Kwiecien 12:00 PM Mascagni/Leoncavallo: Cavalleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci. 4/11/1964 Santi; Farrell, Miller, Tucker, Bardelli / Amara, Corelli, Colzani, Marsh, Ghitti 3:00 PM Wagner: Tannhauser.…
Where else would La Cieca be this Sunday but basking the the star radiance of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation’s annual gala? Now! With 100% more Met artists, including Elizabeth Futral, Samuel Ramey, José Cura, René Pape, James Morris, Marcello Giordani, Patricia Racette, Joseph Calleja, Angela Marambio, Sandra Radvanovsky and Aprile Millo. The galalicious fun…
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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