Here’s a snapshot of the current Unnatural Acts of Opera poll: Read more »
The last couple of quizzes have been perhaps not quite challenging enough for you, cher public. The most recent one, for example, you guessed was Luisa Miller almost immediately. So La Cieca has decided to up the ante a bit. Read more »
Our Own Sanford reports from this afternoon’s National Council Grand Finals Concert at the Met.
First things first: No hunkentenors, but Edward Parks is a barihunk, and Christopher Magiera is almost a barihunk.
Now to the important stuff. There were nine singers in the final, and I would say that 10 of them deserved to be there. Patricia Racette was a charming host, who tried mighty hard to tell jokes (“How do you know a singer’s at your door? They can’t find the key and they don’t know when to come in.”) Read more »
The furore in New Zealand over Dame Kiri te Kanawa‘s apparent criticism of Kiwi popera divette Hayley Westenra may now be on a downward slope after peaking earlier this weekend.
La Cieca has just learned more details about the Royal Opera’s Naked Executioner Guy and she’s sure that we all want to stay right on top of the story. Naked Executioner Guys’s real name is Duncan Meadows. He is a busker who, like so many in the busking biz, does the bulk of his bulking in the Covent Garden area.
La Cieca is sure that her cher public will not want to miss Sunday morning’s (4:30 AM) screening of the camp classic Yes, Giorgio. This 1982 crossover attempt by Luciano Pavarotti (from tenor to matinee idol) must have sounded like a good idea at the time, but, fortunately for music lovers, the film flopped mightily, sending the Pav back to the opera house where he so magnificently belonged.
Just when La Cieca thought she would never get another chance to use the “popera” and “turbans” tags in the same post, she found this clip!
La Cieca is delighted to note that her old, old, old friend Charlie Handelman has picked up the podcasting microphone again after a hiatus earlier this winter. Recent episodes of The Handelmania Podcast include surveys of recordings of Ernani and Lohengrin recordings and tributes to Claudia Muzio, Caterina Mancini and Leopold Stokowski. And don’t miss Charlie’s two-part collection of Verdi finales!
Cher Public