La Cieca hears that incoming NYCO intendant Gérard Mortier is wasting no time in putting his stamp on the company, even though his tenure is not due to begin until 2009. La Cieca’s source whispers that Mortier is sending Kevin Murphy (currently head of the music staff at Paris) to New York to replace the City Opera’s “entrenched” John Beeson. Kevin Murphy is the husband of Heidi Grant Murphy, who perhaps not coincidentally has been singing a lot in Paris lately, where reportedly she has met with something less than universal acclaim.
La Cieca has managed yet once more to scoop the everloving world. Here, for your enjoyment, prior to its unveiling in the Met’s Schwartz gallery: an exclusive sneak preview of the just-completed video portrait of Renee Fleming, directed by Robert Wilson.
Until the Met gets around to installing their Robert Wilson video portrait of Renee Fleming, we can bide our time with the artist’s take on Brad Pitt. (Warning: audio contains wild ranting and screaming, but at least it’s not “I could have danced all night.”)
First Opera Professional: Mortier will be a disaster at NYCO! He has the worst taste in singers of anyone in the business! Second Opera Professional: Oh, then he must have done the casting for for their 2007-08 season.
The New York Times reports that Gérard Mortier will become general manager and artistic director of the New York City Opera in 2009. Of course, you already knew that, didn’t you?
The delectable details of the 2007-2008 season at the Metropolitan (discussed this morning in a press conference with Peter Gelb, James Levine and representatives of the new season’s production teams) may be found on the Met’s web site. Our publisher JJ was there in the flesh, and he forwards his impressions: The biggest news this morning was something unspoken. Instead, it was Levine’s body language, which (in contrast to previous years) suggested he is both comfortable and secure working with Gelb. Levine stayed for the entire press conference and was particularly attentive when Phillip Glass was speaking. The press conference [...]
The most startling news from tomorrow’s press conference at the Met (as released early to the New York Times) — in 2011, a new production of Bellini’s Norma, starring Renee Fleming and directed by Robert Wilson. The casting of Cecilia Bartoli as Adaligisa is La Cieca’s own whimsy, but, hey, stranger things have happened. (For example, a Wilson/Fleming Norma…) UPDATE: The role of Adalgisa in the Fleming/Wilson Norma scheduled for 2011 will not, as La Cieca puckishly suggested, be sung by Cecilia Bartoli. In fact she has just been informed by one of her most impeccable sources that the part [...]
Ah, dear Alberto Vilar — remember when he was going to swoop down from the skies and rescue the Metropolitan Opera and The Royal Opera at Covent Garden and, well, just opera, in general? And, more to the point, remember how he never tired of bragging about his munificence, and demanding lavish expressions of gratitude? Well, he’s in the news again. To be more specific, Vilar has turned up in the pages of the New York Post. The tab rag reports that the “former philanthopist” is complaining about how cruel and unusual it is to be confined to an 11,000 [...]
Angela Gheorghiu sings “La vie en rose” at the Paris Garnier Gala conducted by Ion Marin, New Year’s Eve 2006.
The final act of Loreley is hardly the only attraction on the current episode of Unnatural Acts of Opera. La Cieca also salutes the birthdays of three of the greatest sopranos of all time, and, can you believe it, presides over the return of one of your all-time favorite features, “The Enigmas of La Cieca.” Once more, cher public, you can play “opera quiz” from the comfort and safety of your own lovely homes, without the difficultly of slogging through the snow to List Hall, or, for that matter, the difficulty of slugging Anthony Laciura once you get there. (Who [...]
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