Headshot of La Cieca

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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Pyramid scheme

A special Halloween trick (or is it a treat?) for the cher public. Read more »

Enigma

guleghina_turandot

At this point, Maria Guleghina is still listed as tonight’s Turandot at the Met. Any of the cher public attending this performance are encouraged to share news, reviews and scuttlebutt about what did or did not happen (broad enough for you?) here in the comments section.

Love in the afternoon

Right now on BBC 3, Tristan und Isolde from the Royal Opera. Read more »

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Castrata Diva

Cecilia Bartoli’s latest vanity release bucks protocol to present an album heavy on historical concept. The classical recording industry has long feasted on the popularity of operatic solo records, especially during the last few years of industry-wide decline in CD sales. Incidentally, as record companies run out of ways to sell the standard repertoire to collectors who already own it five times, baroque and early opera are also selling well. 

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An overnight project

La Cieca hopes you will enjoy the following little video (shared with us by the lovely and personable kashania) and that you will be inspired to go and do likewise. (You know what the comments section is for!)

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Une femme de mon nom

Felicity Palmer has withdrawn, alas, from the Met’s spring revival of La Fille du Régiment. In her place, alternating in the role of the Marquise de Berkenfield we will hear Ann Murray (pictured, with friend) and Philip Langridge. (Oh, all right, La Cieca is being silly. Not Philip Langridge, actually, but rather Meredith Arwady. But La Cieca still thinks her casting is funnier.) This artist, apparently, was unavailable…

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Doyenne overwhelmed by reader interest

The response to the critic auditions post has been something more than gratifying, cher public, with over 30 of you competing for entry into one of La Cieca’s limited number of slots.

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Another sloe-eyed vamp

“Since its 1987 premiere, this Franco Zeffirelli production has transitioned from breathtaking to tasteless to endearingly camp.” [JJ in NYP]

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