Which operatic A-lister — not scheduled to appear at the Met until next year — is going to offer New York a wonderful surprise return next week?
La Cieca is idly wondering how James Levine‘s back is feeling this morning, after yesterday’s flareup that left him unable to conduct Tosca at the Met last night. Rather an important question, too, since he’s scheduled for that high-profile Stravinsky-Mozart concert with the Boston Symphony tonight.
In the absence of any hard evidence, your doyenne is afraid she’s just going to have to ask the question and hope for someone, somewhere to offer an answer.
So, intangible forces of the Universe, La Cieca asks, “How’s Maestro Jimmy’s back today?” Read more »
UPDATE: James Levine‘s on-again, off-again back problem is on again. He’s out of tonight’s Tosca, Joseph Colaneri deputizing.
Carlo Guelfi sings Scarpia tonight because of the continuing indisposition of George Gagnidze.
Meanwhile, James Levine‘s back seems to be feeling better. Read more »
“Britain’s Royal Opera House will stage a rarely performed Tchaikovsky opera over the Christmas period which director Francesca Zambello called the Russian composer’s ‘best kept secret’.” [Reuters] The unintenional comedy gold continues after the jump.
Our JJ‘s review of the Met’s revival of Le nozze di Figaro didn’t make it into today’s New York Post for reasons that you should be able to figure out once you’ve read the piece. At the suggestion of his editor, La Cieca is publishing it here.
Dear Alex Ross (though he sure as hell didn’t like it) is not quite ready to join the “sky is falling” chorus. Opera being a delightfully paradoxical medium, this whole debacle left me in an upbeat mood. The Met is refusing to repeat itself and is seeking, by trial and error, a new theatrical identity. One or two meetings might be in order to determine how things went awry, and once Bondy is safely on the plane back home it should be relatively easy to devise new stage business to replace his lamer notions. The audience was, at least, paying [...]
So, was anyone at Saturday night’s performance by the Boston Symphony? How’s James Levine doing with that back problem? And doesn’t it seem that a maestro who has had a history of delicate health should maybe at this point decide whether he wants BSO or the Met — particularly when both these organizations have elaborate and difficult programs to be prepared and presented simultaneously — because, obviously, early this week, something had to give, and what “gave” was the Met.
You mission, cher public, should you decide to accept it: Soprano Renée Fleming returns to her alma mater to give her first master class in NYC on Tuesday, October 20 from 6 – 7:30 PM at Juilliard. Ms. Fleming rarely gives master classes and this special event is a benefit for Juilliard…. Benefit tickets are available at $500 (priority seating and a post-event reception with Ms. Fleming) and $125 (priority seating)…. A very limited number of popularly-priced tickets will be available beginning October 6 at the Janet and Leonard Kramer Box Office at Juilliard (155 West 65th Street). For further [...]
Cher Public