As I was watching this newly released DVD
The multi-slashed Manuela Hoelterhoff (Bloomberg editrix/spouse to disgruntled New York City Opera intendant manquée Francesca Zambello/grouch emeritus) dipped her goose quill in venom this morning once again to take on her favorite subject, i.e., how NYCO has gone to hell in a handbasket ever since they didn’t hire her girlfriend to run the place. Read more »
UPDATE, Tuesday, 7:45 AM: The Met sent out a press release at 1:27 AM New York time today announcing major changes to its roster for the tour of Japan this month. La Cieca has revised the following gossip item (which appeared at 11 PM last night) to reflect the Met’s confirmations. Read more »
This mostly wonderful performance of Handel’s Theodora opened the 2009 Salzburg Festival in honor of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death. Written at the beginning of the last decade of the composer’s life, it was a work that he held in very high regard even though he knew its subject matter would not excite. Only performed three times before his death, it seems a singularly excellent choice to mark his passing since its music and libretto are of a most solemn nature. Its relative neglect would appear to be unjust and hopefully this DVD will bring its virtues to a [...]
Very soon, the Met will once again admit that the casting for their Japan tour was only the, “uh, stuff that dreams are made of.”
La Cieca expects that many of the cher public (pictured) will take the afternoon off for fun in the sun, but for those of you who prefer to stay in air-conditioned interior comfort, there’s chat. And this pm there’s a true embarrassment, and I’m not just talking about the Capri pants pictured above; also of riches for the discerning listener and the voluble chatter, as listed (in part) after the jump.
Other than binging on seven or eight Agatha Christie novels in seventh grade, I can’t recall ever again reading another mystery novel, or what they now call “crime fiction.” Perhaps it’s a coincidence but around that same age I attended my first opera and began subscribing to Opera News. Hence, Commissario Guido Brunetti, hero of twenty highly successful crime novels set in Venice, rang no bells for me until I discovered he was the creation of Donna Leon, better known to me as a rabid fan of the operas of George Frideric Handel.
At long last, the most closely guarded secret of 2011 (besides, you know, everything about what’s going to happen to City Opera) is about to be revealed. Ladies and public, the Second Annual Parterre Cher Public Choice Awards!
Cher Public