Meet “Opera Singer” Oksana Grigorieva. The Ukraine-born diva (seen here resting between selections during a performance of “Detskaya”) was once the girlfriend of Timothy Dalton but now is best known as “the woman behind Mel Gibson‘s billion-dollar divorce.” The Braveheart star himself produced the enceinte Grigorieva’s current single “Call My Name” (no relation to the Destiny’s Child hit) which the bravehearted among the cher public may hear streaming exclusively from People.com.
What could say “Paris in the spring” more eloquently than this musical offering:
Paris
Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
06/14/2009
Kurt Weill : Die Dreigroschenoper
Ian Bostridge (Macheath)…
Oh, sorry, forget I said anything!
Oh, the shark has
Teeth like razors
And a massive
Overbite…
Just how badly does Robert Heuer want Stewart Robertson out of Florida Grand Opera? Well, so La Cieca hears, badly enough for the board to agree even in the current economy to pay Robertson his full salary for next season. This is despite the fact that the maestro resigned early this year, and has been relieved of his conducting duties at FGO for 2009-2010.
This just in from the Met’s press office: “In the Met’s new staging of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Joseph Calleja will sing the title role, replacing Rolando Villazón, and Alan Held will sing the roles of the four villains, replacing René Pape.” The press release goes on to explain that Villazón plans to undergo throat surgery and will return to the stage in 2010. Pape has decided not to add the four villains (Lindorf, Coppélius, Dappertutto, and Dr. Miracle) to his repertory.
“But perhaps the greatest delight was witnessing Richard Bonygne wielding his baton. Demonstrating a general air of ease (but levels of energy that one might have expected from someone fifty years his junior) …” [MusicOMH]
La Cieca is fully aware that Anna Netrebko is a dress size or two bigger now than she was a couple of years ago. And yet, there is no excuse, no excuse I tell you, to transform the young courtesan Violetta Valery into the middle-aged dowager Mrs. Claypool. Now, La Cieca has a couple of things to rant about here.
Yuriy Mynenko represents Ukraine in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competion — though probably not with this particular selection!
First reports indicate major personal successes for Anna Netrebko and Charles Castronovo in last night’s Traviata at San Francisco Opera.
Cher Public