August 2010
All the cool kids will be watching Die Walküre from Bayreuth tomorrow afternoon. That leaves Betsy Ann Bobolink and the rest of us sitting by the radio and chatting, chatting.
As part of the massive CD/DVD release celebrating the 40th Anniversary of James Levine at the Met, “In Concert at the Met, 1982-83” offers generous excerpts from three memorable Gala Concerts: from February 1982, Troyanos-Domingo-Levine; from March 1982, Price-Horne-Levine; and from January 1983, Domingo-Milnes-Levine. I had the pleasure of being in the house for each…
As perhaps you know, if there’s anyone Norman Lebrecht hates more than opera singers and superstar conductors, it’s artists’ managers. So imagine his glee when he got his mitts on an email “leaked… in the dark of night” detailing “the balance of terror that prevails between a soloist and the person who supposedly has his…
On the subject of the FringeNYC’s production of The Pig, the Farmer and the Artist, Our Own JJ writes: “Gay stereotypes and penis jokes, with enough sodomy references for an entire season of Oz!” [NY Post]
This live CD of Wagner orchestral excerpts and the Wesendonck Lieder is noteworthy for the conducting of Franz Welser-Most and the truly remarkable playing of The Cleveland Orchestra. I have seldom heard an ensemble sound so beautiful on CD. The strings shimmer like satin, the reeds are clean and clear, the brass warm and burnished with…
It’s just a little over a month until “The Season” starts here in New York — though La Cieca hears that there is opera done elsewhere and she hopes someone will keep her up to date on this trend — but, anyway, what with the Season starting and the glittering crowds and shimmering clouds in…
La Cieca hears that the Hildegard Behrens Foundation will be launched today, the first anniversary of the death of the German dramatic soprano. First activities of the group will include bestowing grants on the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and the YOA Orchestra of the Americas.
So, just as an anchor posting for a return to discussion of Mawrdew Czgowchwz (to resume Wednesday morning), La Cieca offers a little trivia question for the cher public. No prizes for the winner, but your doyenne is sure that sheer competitiveness will inspire you as so often before.
That archetypical Leo, Mae West, was born 117 (or so) years ago today, on August 17, 1893.
La Cieca just heard that Stephen Costello goes on tonight (i.e., in just a few hours) in Roméo et Juliette at the Salzburg Festival opposite Anna Netrebko. He’s jumping in for Piotr Beczala, who, if you ask Norman Lebrecht, is probably malingering with a South Seas cutie.
Every time La Cieca says she’s through once and for all reading Norman Lebrecht, that middlebrow minstrel of the maestro myth soars to new heights of noisomeness. This time (yet again) it’s about how utterly callous those silly opera singers are for canceling (imagine!) when they’re too sick to sing.
Blazing Jupiter, the Jovial Star, my personal magical azimuth, plus Perseid meteors wafting about, burning out as do our souls, as we arrived home from Seattle Opera’s new production of Tristan und Isolde.
La Cieca must say that, for a chick, Katharina Wagner sure doesn’t talk much. But perhaps her reticence is something of a blessing, since it prevents her from spouting such facile generalizations as “…’Die Meistersinger,’ Hitler’s favorite Wagner opera.”
Martin Bernheimer, who was wise long before most of the rest of us were on solid food, writes what is likely to be remembered as the definitive essay on the Donald Rosenberg/Plain Dealer situation.
Our Own Dear Betsy reports: Right this way, ladies and gentlemen, for The Greatest Show on Earth, the world-famous La Cieca Chat. Feted (“Fated”? “Fetid”?) artistes from the far corners of the planet demolish reputations with a single mot. SEE — dainty Mam’zelle Manou soar high above the heads of the crowd in flights of…
Christof Loy’s highly controversial 2009 production of Berg’s Lulu for The Royal Opera House has been released on DVD (Opus Arte), with beautifully realized film direction by Robin Lough. Antonio Pappano and the Orchestra of The Royal Opera House lead an extraordinary cast of singing actors in plumbing the musical and psychological depths of this…
My grandfather warned me once: “Beware redheaded women. They’re both good and evil, depending on the second.” On Patricia Petibon’s new album Rosso the soprano combines arrestingly beautiful singing and aggressively amorous characterizations with wildly dramatic artistic choices so easily and effectively, that she in a way lends an air of truth to the old…
La Cieca has just heard (from no less a source than Sarah Billinghurst herself!) a tidbit that will no doubt interest Daniel Stephen Johnson among many others. It seems that the Met will produce Prince Igor in 2013 with Valery Gergiev (naturally) conducting and Dmitri Tcherniakov directing. The Prince himself will be Ildar Abdrazakov.
It may seem quixotic that La Cieca subscribes to Opera News, and the print version at that, but, after all, the dear people there were kind enough to interview Our Own JJ last summer on the subject of this very cum-blog, so, well, noblesse oblige and all that, you know. Since the mag is showing…
From time to time the younger queens ask La Cieca, “Why does all the camp date back decades? Did something happen to camp? Why is there no new camp? Where should we look to find our own 21st century camp? Now La Cieca has an answer for you young queens. Look no further! Camp, with…
With over 2,600 votes cast over the course of last week, you, the cher public have spoken about which operas in the Met’s repertoire will be de rigueur, can’t miss, where-the-elite-meet Sternstunden, and which productions promise no more than a great big snooze. The top ten Met offerings will be Die Walküre, Das Rheingold, Le…
Time for the blindest item of all: which world-famed and much-recorded tenor has just been signed to make what is sure to be a controversial Met debut?
In celebration of James Levine‘s 40th anniversary at the Met, the company is releasing two massive collections of previously (mostly) unavailable material conducted by the maestro. Highlights include video performances of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride (Teresa Stratas, Nicolai Gedda, Jon Vickers, Martti Talvela), and Der Rosenkavalier (Kiri Te Kanawa, Tatiana Troyanos, Judith Blegen, Luciano Pavarotti,…
“Let’s say that the Metropolitan Opera wants to broadcast all of its operas in 3-D. They might not want to do that over the public Internet. Who knows what other technologies might bring us?” As seen here, a possible marketing campaign for Les Contes d’Hoffmann. [New York Observer]
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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