Parterre fave Joyce DiDonato headlines an all-star performance of Le nozze di Figaro broadcast this afternoon from Lyric Opera of Chicago. [WFMT] Read more »
La Cieca is going to claim doyennical privilege here and say that the correct answers for last week’s Regie quiz are disqualified on grounds of a) silly guess and b) prior knowledge. Otherwise how could she go on with these Regie quizzes, knowing that such wildly unlikely images would immediately shout “Die Meistersinger” to you? Anyway, more “unlikely images” after the jump. Read more »
This afternoon’s broadcast of La bohème (beginning at 1:00 pm) is sure to provoke lots of commentary from the parterriani.
Conductor: Marco Armiliato; Mimì: Anna Netrebko; Musetta: Nicole Cabell; Rodolfo: Piotr Beczala; Marcello: Gerald Finley; Schaunard: Massimo Cavalletti; Colline: Oren Gradus; Benoit/Alcindoro: Paul Plishka.
No press release yet, but a couple of cher pubes have written to La Cieca noting that the name of Bruce Ford has disappeared from cast listings of the Met’s Armida, replaced by John Osborn.
This just in from the Met press office: “Giovanni Meoni will sing the role of Ezio in Verdi’s Attila on February 27, March 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 19, replacing Carlos Alvarez, who is ill.” (Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera) UPDATED: Note the correction above, i.e., Meoni is currently announced only for the performances to be conducted by Riccardo Muti; “TBA” is on for the three evenings to be conducted by Fabio Marco Armiliato. (That will change soon enough, sadly.)
What better way to stay warm (and to avoid falling branches) than to enjoy Our Own JJ in a rare symposium appearance? The bloviation transpires this afternoon, and details are after the jump.
That Issac Mizrahi production of A Little Night Music for Opera Theater of St. Louis just got even gay gay gay gay gayer with the announcement of legendary diva Siân Phillips in the role of Madame Armfeldt. Also appearing will be notable non-slouches Amy Irving as Desiree and Ron Raines as Fredrik. [OTSL]
I really haven’t paid much attention to “opera regie,” so I can’t give you a firm definition of it. A while ago, a pithy and biting piece called “How to Opera Germanly” made the internet rounds, and it serves as a handy guide for we who are un- or under-initiated. This production of Haydn’s Orlando Paladino, recorded for TV (on DVD, EuroArts 2057788) at the Staatsoper Unter der Linden, Berlin in May of 2009, lacks certain de rigueur regie elements: no one is lit from beneath while wearing pale makeup with dark shading, there are no inexplicably homo-erotic moments, no [...]
Impresarios from Cornwall to Caithness are delighted to hear today that another traditionally Albion-adminstered opera company has begun the succession process with the search for a new heir-presumptive. Or, in other words, Glimmerglass General and Artistic Director Michael MacLeod is out the door at the end of the 2010 season, and now we just have to wait to see which Brit will get the job next. [Opera News]
“Anna Netrebko‘s gorgeous lyric soprano proved an ideal fit for the role of tubercular seamstress Mimi. Like a great wine, her voice is sweet but complex, vivid with overtones. She acted with a calm, fatalistic quality, even in the death scene, where many singers overdo the coughing. Here Netrebko suggested waning strength by gradually letting her rich tone turn pale.” It’s La boheme, starting right now, on Sirius and RealPlayer.
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