“The New York City Opera, which just reported a $19.9 million deficit in 2008-09, paid Gerard Mortier $400,000 for his stint as part-time general-manager in-waiting.” [Bloomberg News]
By La Cieca
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“The new avant-garde head of Madrid’s opera house, Gerard Mortier, Wednesday promised an ‘innovative’ first season in charge.” [AFP]
By La Cieca
A member of the cher public who attended last night’s premiere of Verdi’s Macbeth at the Opéra national de Paris filed this report: It was Paris Opera GM Gerard Mortier‘s penultimate opportunity – his term ends in July –  to moon opening night Parisian audiences and he did just that. He flew in bad-boy director…
By La Cieca
Gerard “La Môme” Mortier told Le Monde yesterday that he has “no regrets” walking away from the New York City Opera. The wily Belgian impresario added, “But through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out. I faced it all and I stood tall; and did it my way.”…
By La Cieca
The people have spoken, and so from henceforth George Steel will be known by his, whatchamacallit, you know, his sobriquet, which (per your decree) is “The Man of Steel.” La Cieca thought she should review at least a couple of the biggest challenges facing The Man of Steel as he and the NYCO begin a restoration project…
By La Cieca
“Belgian Gerard Mortier said Thursday he hopes to turn Madrid’s Teatro Real into one of Europe’s top opera houses when he takes over as artistic director, adding that many of his productions would be from the 20th century.” [via AFP]
By La Cieca
Just announced: Gerard Mortier has accepted the job of artistic director Madrid’s Teatro Real, beginning in 2010. [via AP]
By La Cieca
Kennedy Center head Michael Kaiser will assist the New York City Opera in finding a new leader and scheduling a 2009-10 season following the departure of Gerard Mortier. [via AP]
By La Cieca
La Cieca has just been informed that Boston Lyric Opera “is mere hours away” from announcing their new Director of Artistic Operations, Nicholas Russell (formerly of Glimmerglass Opera before the regime coup there). It should be noted that although Russell is “dall’ immondo sangue degl’inglesi dei scozie,” he is a naturalized U.S. citizen, so it’s…
By La Cieca
Sadly, La Cieca, who foresaw the beginning, foresaw the end as well.
By La Cieca
Now, La Cieca asks you, cher public. Wouldn’t you think that someone as experienced in deconstructing Mozart as Gerard Mortier would find some new take on the role of the coy Zerlina, instead of all this “I would and then I waver, I tremble to depa-art” nonsense. Well, yes, you would, and so would La…
By La Cieca
Next week at The Morgan Library and Museum, New York City Opera General Manager-Designate Gerard Mortier will discuss his vision of opera. The lecture, entitled “The Excitement of 20th-Century Opera,” will focus on classic works composed by Claude Debussy, Leos Janácek, Olivier Messiaen, Karol Szymanowski, Mieczyslaw Weinberg, and others. Tickets for the program, scheduled for…
By La Cieca
So, this is what La Cieca gathers in the way of hearsay and rumor about the “future” of the New York City Opera. According to an NYCO insider, in the wake of La Cieca’s speculation that Gérard Mortier might not be taking on the NYCO job after all, “total chaos ensued,” spurring an emergency meeting…
By La Cieca
At a time of year when most opera company employees are hectically rushing about producing opera, the administrative staff of the New York City Opera enjoyed a two-day “furlough” last week. Meanwhile, the company’s finance officials frantically passed the hat among “board members, private donors and other sources†to meet this week’s payroll. [via NYT]
By La Cieca
In what is becoming the New York City Opera’s only conduit of information to the public, a Friday afternoon news dump reveals that the company has laid off 11 members of its administrative staff. The layoffs are “because of financial pressures and a lack of work caused by the cancellation of most of its season.”…
By La Cieca
You have to hand it to Gérard Mortier: he manages to get press coverage in most unexpected places!
By La Cieca
La Cieca is still goggling at a press release she just received. Cher public, you can talk about this for a while. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York City Opera Commissions Philip Glass to Compose an Opera Based on the Life of Walt Disney (New York, NY, September 29, 2008) Following a meeting of New York City Opera’s…
By La Cieca
Cher public, you may recall that it was La Cieca who was the first to break the story that Gérard Mortier was under consideration to be the next General Manager of the New York City Opera, not quite a week before confirmation appeared in the moribund print media. Since then the irreverent intendant has made a…
By La Cieca
According to a statement on the Bayreuth website, stepsisters Katharina Wagner and Eva Wagner-Pasquier will take over the Festspiele from their father Wolfgang Wagner, who is retiring after more than half a century at the helm of the festival. Members of the “Wieland” branch of the Wagner family tree are, of course, furious at this…
By La Cieca
Opera Chic reports this morning that Gerard Mortier is throwing his hat in the, uh, Ring for the co-directorship of the Bayreuth Festival. The Belgian intendant is reportedly teaming up with Nike Wagner to apply for the top Bayreuth spot to be vacated as soon as it can be pried from Wolfgang Wagner‘s cold dead…
By La Cieca
La Cieca hears that the “all 20th century” concept of the first Gerard Mortier season at NYCO may be subject to modification. According to an impeccably reliable source, the first season will include a rarely-seen French Grand Opera and an evening centered around pieces of Verdi done with a double chorus – one all African-American,…
By La Cieca
According to a press release from the New York City Opera, George Manahan will continue there as Music Director through 2012. In the inaugural Gérard Mortier season beginning in the fall of 2009, Maestro Manahan will conduct performances of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and Britten’s Death in Venice. Manahan is booked as well for Szymanowski’s…
By La Cieca
La Cieca thanks a particularly loyal member of the cher public for pointing out the most recent bit of hard-hitting arts coverage in the Wall Street Journal, as copied and pasted by that hardest of all arts hitters, Terry Teachout. La Cieca says “copied and pasted” because in this piece Teachout manages to blather on…
By La Cieca
New York City Opera has commissioned American composer Charles Wuorinen to write an opera based on “Brokeback Mountain,” a love story about two U.S. ranch-hands that won three Oscars when it was turned into a movie. The opera house’s spokesman Gerard Mortier said in a statement on Sunday that Wuorinen had accepted an invitation to…
By La Cieca
