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Cher Public

  • Regina delle fate: It’s not her first staged Cleo. That was in Zurich two or three seasons ago, I think. 6:59 PM
  • phoenix: Of course it is – and with the latest Salzburg Pfingstfestspiele Carbon-fiber Heating Technology!... 6:41 PM
  • PushedUpMezzo: That is not an option, ROH. Lance Ryan, Skelton, Begley, O’Neill, Daszak,perhaps a... 6:33 PM
  • PushedUpMezzo: Cecilia is certainly more viable than Natalie. But over both I favour Karina Gauvin or Carolyn... 6:26 PM
  • bobsnsane: Is that a crotch rocket? 6:19 PM
  • mrmyster: Point taken, Monty, but Voigt in FDW? Ouch! I think that is an exception to your generalization,... 6:17 PM
  • MontyNostry: Maybe she can take over as Cleopatra if Dessay cancels at the Met next season. With Jonathan Miller... 6:15 PM
  • phoenix: Ha! Do you really think that overblown warhouse Bartoli singing that even more overblown old warhorse of... 6:07 PM

is that a gun in your regie, or are you just glad to see me?

Since the new Bayreuth Parsifal was so easily recognizable and the all barechested barihunk all the time Don Giovanni from Salzburg not particularly challenging, La Cieca offers a bonus Regie quiz for the first week of August. Blurting out the answer (as in “I saw this production last week: it’s [title]” or “I saw these photos in Opera News: it’s [title]“) will result in suspension of commenting privileges. (La Cieca hates to crack the whip, but she does want her cher public to have a good time!) Read more »

drag jesus meets mrs. softee

This photo by Nancy Palmieri for The New York Times illustrates a review of Karol Szymanowski’s King Roger, a production that even Tony Tommasini thought was just too gay.

Perhaps the cher public have ideas for an alternative caption for this photo?

rings and things and fine array

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Nothing tantalizes the diehard opera collector like a new version of Wagner’s mighty tetralogy. So La Cieca is pleased to offer for your consideration “The Copenhagen Ring.”

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thy sweet voice

Well, NachtundTraume buzzed in first with all eight names in the correct order for the “Mon coeur” quiz. Since this week’s Regie seems already to be a wash as a guessing game, La Cieca will try to keep you entertained with yet another performance of the celebrated selection from Samson et Dalila. Can you identify the two singers?

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return of the regie

You can’t get anything past Our Own tannengrin, who almost immediately identified Simon Boccanegra as the subject of the most recent Regie quiz. 

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CCCP music factory

After decades of acclaim both as a People’s Artist and as an international monstre sacré, what is left for a diva but to join in that hip-hop all the youngsters are doing these days? [kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/BgC0jQq_AXI" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

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bad girls

Eight Dalilas, courtesy of Our Own Sanford. Can you identify them? Mon coeur contest

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something sort of grandish

La Cieca hears that the “all 20th century” concept of the first Gerard Mortier season at NYCO may be subject to modification. According to an impeccably reliable source, the first season will include a rarely-seen French Grand Opera and an evening centered around pieces of Verdi done with a double chorus – one all African-American, one all Caucasian that will tell stories of today’s New York. During the first season we can also expect a new Pelleas et Melisande, but the plan for Nixon in China has been abandoned due to Gelb’s producing it in 2010-11. NYCO and The Met [...]

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