Headshot of La Cieca

Cher Public

  • Regina delle fate: Haha! Well spotted, Ginger! 7:19 AM
  • oedipe: See, that’s why I think the next season at Staatsoper Wien is tops and I plan to spend a lot of my... 7:17 AM
  • manou: And I am very glad too as I am going to Orange in July for Lise Lindstrom’s Turandot (Michel Plasson). 7:14 AM
  • Buster: “Somehow compelling” is much better than “somewhat compelling,” not? Glad you... 6:47 AM
  • oedipe: You are right, I almost forgot! Though -as she is the one and only and way past sale by date, whereas... 5:13 AM
  • armerjacquino: Apart from the fact that the singer he originally cast is French. 4:51 AM
  • oedipe: That’s why she is moving on to French roles, which ANYBODY can sing. Of course, it would never occur... 4:23 AM
  • Feldmarschallin: What a surprise this morning when I was listening to Bayern 4 Klassik at 7 and they bring a... 2:39 AM

Melons! Coupons!

La Cieca just received a press release from the Met detailing some of the cast changes and reshufflings already afoot for next season. She is pretty sure than none of this has anything to do with last night’s steam pipe explosion in Midtown.

Angela M. Brown will sing the title role in Aida replacing Maria Guleghina on September 29, October 4 and 16. La Brown will sing the role of Aida on November 2, 5 and 8 as previously scheduled; Micaela Carosi will replace her on October 30.

Maija Kovalevska replaces Krassimira Stoyanova as Micaëla on February 4, 8, 13 and 16. Stoyanova will go on as scheduled at all other performances of Carmen. Lucio Gallo will sing the role of Escamillo (role debut) in all performances of the opera this season.

Ekaterina Siurina replaces Isabel Bayrakdarian as Susanna in Nozze on November 10, 14, 17, 21, 24, 28 and December 1. La Bayrakdarian retains her October 2, 6, 10, 13 and 18 performances.

Matthew Polenzani will sing Roméo opposite Anna Netrebko replacing Rolando Villazón on December 27 and 31. Villazón is still scheduled at all other performances of the opera.

Anthony Dean Griffey now sings the entire run of Peter Grimes; to no one’s surprise, Neil Shicoff is a no-show.

Now, here’s where it get complicated. Do listen carefully, because La Cieca is only going to say this once. Maria Guleghina gets the prima and the fall run of Macbeth (replacing Andrea Gruber) on October 22, 26, 31 and November 3. Gruber is still scheduled for the May 9, 13, and 17 performances. Meanwhile, Guleghina is out of the November 12, 16, 19 and 23 performances of Norma, with Hasmik Papian leaping into the breach. Guleghina tries her hand at the Bellini on November 26, 30, December 4, and 7. Oh, and on January 5, 9, 12 and 15, our old, old, old friend TBA returns triumphantly to the Met… as Lady Macbeth.

Jerry Hadley 1952 – 2007

Jerry Hadley died at 11:20 this morning.

That manzanilla has quite a kick!

Read more »

Zum Raum wird hier die Zeitgeist

As a warmup for this evening’s Unnatural Acts of Opera podcast of Parsifal (Act 1), a short film by Kopernikus1618 demonstrating what happens when “Andy Warhol meets Richard Wagner.” Speaking of Unnatural Acts, La Cieca is once more setting a precedent by offering an alternative to the current program of Wagner’s Rienzi, a live performance from Vienna in 1997. Since the Vienna Rienzi is heavily cut and catches Siegfried Jerusalem on an off night vocally, La Cieca has decided to make available the most nearly complete version of Rienzi available, based on a 1976 radio performance of the work conducted [...]

Read more »

Read more »

Et nous aussi, honey!

“Je voudrais que le public oublie que je chante” — Entretien avec Renée Fleming, Opéra Magazine No. 20 Juilliet – Aout.

Read more »

Read more »

NYT reports on Hadley

Story now on the Times website reports that last night Jerry Hadley shot himself in the head; the case is being investigated as an attempted suicide. According to a spokesperson for the State Police, Hadley is not expected to survive.

Read more »

Read more »

Rhine Gold

The Chuck Jones classic What’s Opera, Doc? premiered exactly 50 years ago this week. And did you know that the “Bugs Bunny meet Wagner” motif was first essayed two years earlier, in the wartime short Herr Meets Hare?

Read more »

Read more »

Régine Crespin, 1927-2007

Régine Crespin in Recital Wolf: Blumengruß – Der Schäfer – Die Spröde – Anakreons Grab -Epiphanias – Mignon I, II and III – Philine – Kennst du das Land Debussy: Le Promenoir des deux amants: Auprès de cette grotte sombre -Crois mon conseil, chère Climène – Je tremble en voyant ton visage Milhaud: Poèmes Juifs (exc.): Chant d’amour – Chant de forgeron -Chant de nourrice Rosenthal: Chansons du Monsieur Bleu: Quat’ et trois sept – L’éléphant du Jardin des Plantes – Fido, Fido – Le petit chat est mort – La souris d’Angleterre Encores: Berlioz: Le spectre de la rose; [...]

Read more »