Cast the first chat
UPDATE: La Cieca hears that Sondra Radvanovsky is ill this afternoon, which presumably means Juliana DiGiacomo will sing Lina.
Here, cher public, is your Saturday afternoon chat posting for Stiffelio. The performance begins at 1:00 PM.
The real-time chat is, as usual, over at La Casa della Cieca.
Sondra’s ill and won’t sing?!!!
WQXR confirms the above at 12:35pm. DiGiacomo is on.
Hm, they are still announcing Radvanovsky as Lina on my radio.
Washington station announces Verdi’s Stiffelio with Placido Domingo… (pause).. conducting.
And yes, Radvanovsky is indisposed and not appearing.
I for one am unexpectedly listening because of the cancellation.
Oh, now comes the announcment. I wish that RTV Ljubljana would’have chequed up with la Cieca first.
Is Cura’s singing as blowzy as I’m hearing or have my ears hit a new level of decrepitude?
Again I am unable to load the live chat. A very elaborate error message pops up when it fails, and I am offered impenetrable (to me)details.
On WQXR, DiGiacomo’s voice seems to be of quality, but to me she appears to be singing notes, not the music. Her phrasing is very choppy. Domingo is not helping very much: if this rum-te-tum was Verdi, his operas would be historical artifacts, rather than the living, breathing marvels we know them to be.
I have a ticket for Carmen tonite, but I am not eager to sit through this production (which I have seen twice) for Viktoria Vizen. My experience of her was her Maddelena in Rigoletto with Filanotti as the Duke. Their antics in Act 4 were delightfully parental guidance, and she was adequate to the music, with no indication that she would be able to support a leading role. Does anyone know if Borodina is singing? She is listed on the Met site, but so was Radonovsky to almost the last minute.
Let me have the ticket then if you aren’t eager to sit through the production.
It’s amazing how almost tinny the orchestra sounds when in less than great hands. I don’t know how that alchemy works.. Cura is hooty and can’t hit a high note without sliding up to it. I agree that DiG. is simply singing notes with none of the phrasing that was so incredibly expressive when Rad. sang this act. DiG. has a nice upper register but it feels like a long trip to get to the lower notes.