The Met’s season premiere of L’elisir d’amore, starring Angela Gheorghiu and Massimo Giordano, is tonight’s topic of discussion. Listen at 8:00 pm on Sirius or RealNetworks and chat, chat, chat!
In the bodice-ripping tradition of HBOShowtime’s The Tudors, DG presents I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Or does La Cieca just think everyone looks like Jonathan Rhys Meyers?
Latest to join the ranks of classical music bloggers: intrepid Anne Midgette, whose Classical Beat offically launched today. Coverage includes la Midgette’s recent head-butt with Norman Lebrecht on the subject of the Wizard of Bayreuth.
At last we know the identity of the eponymous heroine of Rufus Wainwright’s maiden effort as opera composer. The aging Prima Donna who is strugging “to regain her status as a top-flight soprano on the world stages” s’appelle Régine Saint Laurent. If ever a name screamed, “cover girl, put the bass in your walk,” surely “Régine Saint Laurent” is it!
Since we in New York are not going to hear Rolando Villazon until (at the earliest) April 8, La Cieca thought it would be interesting to share a recent document of his singing. Here’s a scene from Act 3 of Werther, as sung in Paris earlier this month.
(Thanks, tenore23!)
Mrs. John Claggart saw through the balloonery of our most recent Regie quiz, correctly identifying not only the opera Werther but each scene depicted. So, cher public, let’s see how you do with this week’s conundrum. Read more »
Many of you (well, a few of you) have expressed an interest in La Cieca’s working process as a journalist. As such, your doyenne thought she would share with you dear people some rare documentary footage of La Cieca’s early days reporting and writing opera gossip.
Or, in other words: this, cher public, is how the sausage is made.
Werther with Rolando Villazon and Susan Graham continues on France Musique. (Broadcast began at 3:00 pm EDT.)
Concert donné le 28 février 2009 à l’Opéra Bastille à Paris, en simultané avec l’Union européenne de radios. Rolando Villazon : Werther, poète; Ludovic Tézier : Albert, jeune homme; Alain Vernhes : Le Magistrat; Christian Jean : Schmidt, ami du magistrat; Christian Tréguier : Johann, ami du magistrat; Susan Graham : Charlotte, fille du magistrat; Adriana Kucerova : Sophie, sa soeur. Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris. Maîtrise des Hauts de Seine. Choeur d’Enfants de l’Opéra National de Paris; Direction : Kent Nagano.
Listing from Operacast.
Discussion of the first afternoon of the Met’s broadcast Ring cycle. (Illustration from P. Craig Russell’s Ring of the Nibelung graphic novel
Cher Public