Since last night marked the debut of history’s newest and perkiest interpreter of the role of Norma, and (more to the point) since Bellini’s druid priestess will grace the woods of Katonah, NY during the month of July, La Cieca thought it would be exciting to organize a YouTube competition on the theme of bel canto. The very special prize to the winner of this week’s competition: a pair of tickets (complete with transportation) to the Bel Canto at Caramoor presentation of Norma on July 16. Read more »
“I’ve been moving on stage all my life and I can still manage long rehearsal periods, so I feel fine in the right repertoire…. I just don’t want to go further than I should. I suppose there’s a certain limit: I don’t want to be 70 and still singing opera. I don’t think I will still be singing on 21 January 2011, which is my 70th birthday.” So does this mean Plácido Domingo‘s farewell to the operatic stage is only half a year away? UPDATE: Domingo’s publicist says this is “a quote from quite a while ago I believe. He has planned engagements well past his birthday.” [The Independent]
Congratulations to SF Guy (pictured), for his winning entry in the “Tout gai!” competition. A copy of the newly-released DVD The Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991: 25th Anniversary at Lincoln Center
I’d never actually seen a production of Lohengrin before I agreed to review a new Decca DVD of Richard Jones‘s staging for the Bayerische Staastoper, starring Jonas Kaufmann, so I hope I’ve got this right: It’s about this architect named Elsa, who lives in an Orwellian steampunk Germany that has videocamera technology but still dresses like it’s the Third Reich. Her brother has disappeared — “MISSING” posters are everywhere — and Friedrich of Telramund accuses her of killing him. He is rescued at the last minute from being burnt at the stake when a nameless time-traveler arrives, carrying an animatronic swan. [...]
“…she, according to the habit of women and cats, who do not come when you call them, but come when you refrain from calling them, -she halted in front of me and spoke to me.” (Prosper Mérimée)
Congratulations to the many, many of the cher public (pictured above) who really outgayed themselves (if such a thing is possible) with their vigorous and multiple entries in the “Tout gai!” video competition. The results of these perverse efforts can best be summed up in the phrase “gayer than eight guys fucking nine guys,” which also, coincidentally, describes La Cieca’s usual method of selecting a winner from among several front-runners. But she thought better of that, and she hopes that you, the cher public, can help her make her decision, post-jump.
A member of the cher public reminds La Cieca, “How soon do we start wondering who will conduct the new Rheingold at the Met? I thought I would see Jimmy at Tanglewood next week for the Mahler 2nd, but Mikey Twinkle-Toes will be in charge that evening.” La Cieca’s answer: it’s never too soon to start wondering. And there’s only one way to learn the answer to this pressing question.
Cher Public