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Cher Public

  • papopera: thank you. looking forward to six o'clock
  • Will: I think the reasoning here is that these productions of what...
  • Nerva Nelli: Apparently Billingsgate has Ingrid Steger and Carol Yahr sta...
  • grimoaldo: Good lord. I find that somewhat sad. Why are they having ope...
  • oedipe: Well, I have -at last- seen the infamous Paris Opera Mano...
  • Donna Anna: Anna Russell, thou shouldst be living at this hour but since...
  • Batty Masetto: Oh. I thought Croche was calling dibs on Agathon in a comple...
  • Will: Casting note: Glimmerglass has announced that opposite Dwayn...
  • Straussmonster: I want to be Alcibiades, especially if I can come in late, a...
  • Superconductor: Considering that the Metropolitan Opera press office is noto...

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stork club?

Earlier today Opera Chic reported on a still fairly vague rumor that Anna Netrebko is pregnant again. Here in New York the information is also pretty vague, but La Cieca has heard that Erwin Schrott (currently in Naples) is spilling spilled beans as proud papas will do.

Whispers in New York indicate that the Met is on alert that Anna may not be available for the December-January Contes d’Hoffmann or even for the March revival of La boheme. The reasoning here is that Netrebko and some of the public believed the first Babypause wasn’t quite long enough, so the second time around she would take her time returning to the stage.  Read more »

carry on regie

Too clever by half you are, méchant public: our most recent quiz revealed itself to you as Lohengrin far sooner than La Cieca had hoped.

So, this week, something with a bit more visual flair: Read more »

lede balloon

La Cieca warns you, music writers, she is going to giggle like a madwoman you begin your article with the line  “We owe Chicago Opera Theater tremendous thanks for dragging the smaller operas of Benjamin Britten out of the closet…” [Chicago Tribune]

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put up your duke

This is why the YouTube was invented. Hell, this is why the universe was invented.

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unnatural birthday to you

In honor of her one-third of a century, La Cieca has at long last returned to the Sunnyside Studios to record not one but two episodes of Unnatural Acts of Opera.  Finally, cher public, you can hear the last two acts of a legendary performance of Jenufa from Opera Orchestra of New York, on March 30, 1988.

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and so young!

La Cieca was born exactly 33 years ago today.

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cher public uncovers scoop

Vesselina Kasarova is dipping her oar into dramatic mezzo waters, and, well, it’s not exactly smooth sailing. (Thanks, tamerlano, for unearthing this clip!)

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the weed of crime bears bitter fruit

“Renee Fleming, 50, allegedly snatched a MasterCard from the victim’s pocketbook in the Green Café on West 57th Street near Sixth Avenue at 2 p.m. on April 15.” [via NY Post; thanks to williams!] UPDATE: According to an email from Mary Lou Falcone (RF’s publicist), it’s a different, non-operatic Renee Fleming the Post was talking about. Ah, well.

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