March 2009

diva deterrent

She’s headlined at the Paris Opera and the Met. She’s sung for kings and queens and for Nelson Riddle. She’s provoked feuds with teenagers. But now Dame Kiri te Kanawa has revealed a hitherto undiscovered talent: fighting crime. The mayor of a New Zealand city plays recordings of the Kiwi songbird in order to deter…

song to the moonshine

[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/2bY1unOjt7w” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] “I just think she always sounds like she’s drunk, especially when she tries to be serious.” – YouTube Commenter

sister act

Christine Brewer and Linda Watson will share the role of Brünnhilde in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in all performances at the Met this season. Lisa Gasteen was originally scheduled to sing Brünnhilde in the second and third cycles, but has withdrawn from the performances due to a back injury. Brewer will replace her in…

Renee Fleming (seated) and Barry Banks (standing) … in the Met’s 2010 Mary Zimmerman Armida

[This caption by rysanekfreak replaces La Cieca’s original, “So it’s agreed: Roberto gets the house in Monte Carlo; Angela gets custody of the gays”.]

hit it, boys!

When la Cieca’s dear friend and chief flunky around parterre.com JJ shlepped out this morning to fetch a copy of the New York Post, he seemed oddly keyed  up.  “With what I got in me, I could have been better than any of you,” JJ muttered. Flinging the tabloid down on the breakfast bar, he…

“exasperating!” raves the new york times

Tony Tommasini weighs in on the Met’s Sonnambula.

no way out

A quick YouTube search for “opera” this morning yields this startling snippet. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/EM1YsAZnBAU” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]

the sonnambula chat

La Cieca thanks all you cher public who participated in the live chat during the broadcast of La sonnambula, and a special thanks to featuring your guest host Sanford.

a place at the table

The staging you may like or not like (and La Cieca is sure you will not be shy about expressing your opinion), but, my goodness, what gorgeous singing from Tatiana Monogarova and Mariusz Kwiecien! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/kC6cuSQuyd0″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]

son geloso del chat errante

La Cieca invites you to join guest host Sanford and the cher public for a friendly little webchat tonight, March 2, 2009 during the broadcast on Sirius and RealNetworks of Bellini’s La sonnambula live from the Metropolitan Opera. Please check back at parterre.com at 7:45 PM to access the chat login screen.

to die with honor

Patricia Racette takes over the remaining performances of Madama Butterfly this season (March 3 and 7) at the Met including the HD telecast, “replacing Cristina Gallardo-Domâs who is ill.”

regie from the block

Quite a few of you, led by Chris, guessed correctly that last week’s Regie puzzler was La bohème. So La Cieca will ratchet up the challenge a bit this week with a less familiar opera. 

tales of the tunnel

It’s good to know that after the nuclear apocalypse there will still be Lois Kirschenbaum to keep Cher and the cockroaches company. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/FGnWt7pWRPs” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]