Our editor
James returns to his roots as a stage director with
Così fan tutte later this month. (Cosi was the first
opera he ever directed all the way back in, well, the Reagan era.) The
opening performance is Thursday, March 17 at 8:00 p.m. at the Dorothy
Jones Theater at Singers Forum, located at 49 West 24th Street (4th
Floor). Tickets for this performance are $10, $5 for students/seniors.
(Phone 212-366-0541.)
A second performance returns to a familiar venue, La Belle
Epoque at 827 Broadway (between 12th and 13th Streets) on Sunday March 20
at 7:00 p.m. Dinner will be served beginning at 5:00 p.m. For this
performance there is a $20 cover and $20 food/drink minimum. Call (212)
254-6436 for reservations.
Featured in this [Working Title] Opera production are
Kathleen Berger (Fiordiligi), Kristin
Dauphinais (Dorabella), Amelia Watkins
(Despina), Jorge Garza (Ferrando), Dennis
Blackwell (Guglielmo), and Chad Armstrong
(Don Alfonso). Musical direction is by Eric
Malson.
March 3: Have you noticed
lately that
a certain magnificent soprano
looks like she's just swallowed a canary? Word on the street is
that she's making a change of scene, crossing the bridge from performer to impresario
of one of America's grandest opera companies. If this is indeed
the case, here's hoping this metamorphosis will be the crowning glory of
her career!
February 22: In response to a very official-looking email from the Business and Legal Affairs department of the Universal Music Group, La Cieca reluctantly must now reveal that the mp3 she mischievously identified as "a track from Renee Fleming's new jazz album" is in fact nothing of the kind. The clip was meant as a travesty of Fleming's attempts at jazz. Believe me, it was the farthest thing from my mind that anyone who reads La Cieca could have such a tin ear as to think the breathy cooing on this clip could possibly have anything to do with "The Beautiful Voice." To recap: for the irony-impaired among you, this clip is not the real Renee Fleming: click here.
February 8: La Cieca has just been informed that the legendary team of superagents Bruce Zemsky and Alan Green have packed their bags and moved out of CAMI, presumably to start up their own management firm. Zemsky and Green handled artists ranging from Marcelo Alvarez to Mariana Zvetkova; no word yet on how many of
the dozens of Z/G artists will jump ship along with the duo.
February 7: Finalmente! That David Gockley story La Cieca's been blabbing about all this time has at long last been confirmed. Yes, indeed, Gockley will be be the new head honcho of San Francisco Opera. Those of you who have been holding your breath since December 16 can finally exhale and read the details in the Houston Chronicle or, if you prefer, Gockley's inaugural interview with Joshua Kosman in the San Francisco Chronicle.
February 6: In the current Gay City
News, our editor James reviews Dido and Aeneas as
performed by New York Chamber Opera.
La Cieca's new Web radio show presents "Orgoglio
di Bellezza" -- a Valentine's Day program of
great operatic love stories including:
Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, as performed
in 1976 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Jose
Carreras is Nemorino, Yasuko Hayashi is
Adina, Thomas Allen is Belcore, and Sir
Geraint Evans is Dr. Dulcamara.
Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini, a live performance
from New York in 1973, with Placido Domingo and
Raina Kabaivanska in the leading roles.
Eve Queler is the conductor.
Puccini's La fanciulla del West, a live radio
performance from 1961, with Renata Tebaldi as
Minnie, Daniele Barioni as Dick Johnson, and
Giangiacomo Guelfi as Sheriff Jack Rance.
Arturo Basile is the conductor.
Wagner's Tannhaeuser from the 1961 Bayreuth
Festival. Wolfgang Windgassen is heard in the
title role, with Victoria de los Angeles as
Elisabeth and Grace Bumbry as Venus.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is Wolfram and the Landgraf is
sung by Josef Greindl. Wolfgang
Sawallisch is the conductor.
Verdi's La traviata, featuring Anna
Moffo. She is joined by Renato Cioni
and Mario Sereni in this live 1964 performance
from La Scala, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
.
Plus love duets from Otello, Tristan und
Isolde, Andrea Chenier, Manon, and
L'incoronazione di Poppea.
To listen, just click here .
February 3: This is getting ridiculous, folks.
La Cieca, sitting here in New York, reported four days ago that
David Gockley had accepted an offer to helm San
Francisco Opera. And now she hears that Gockley broke the news to
his Houston Grand Opera staff "days ago." And
still no announcement from the city by the bay! What their press
office waiting for, a slow news day?
January 31: Breaking News! According to a
source at San Francisco Opera, David Gockley has
accepted the company's offer to serve as their new General
Manager -- exactly as rumored and then predicted here in
La Cieca's column!
January 18: New York Chamber Opera
(in collaboration with La Gran Scena Opera Co. di New York)
presents an updated, politically-charged version of Purcell's
Dido and Aeneas this week, directed by Ira
Siff and conducted by the Met's Lucy
Arner. Performances run January 20-24 at the beautiful,
intimate Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th
Street. For reservations, phone (212) 864-5400 (major credit
cards accepted) or go to www.symphonyspace.org.
January 16: You heard it here first. In
fact, you heard it here a month ago --
and now the "other" media are finally picking up on the
operatic story of the year. According to the Houston
Chronicle, David Gockley is mulling an offer from San Francisco "to lead that city's legendary but troubled opera company." (Back to top of La Cieca )
La Cieca was delighted to read the enthusiastic reviews for
Deborah Voigt' s first Marschallin in
Berlin. The Berliner Morgenpost,
first commenting on the rumored "40 kilos" Voigt has
lost over the past year or so, raved, "She sings the
Marschallin in her bold high-dramatic voice, like Isolde out for
a stroll in the Prater, but without sacrificing fine detail or
clarity of text. Her diction is clear and idiomatic, and her
phrasing is tender. Her large-scale operatic gestures redefine
this Rosenkavalier production in a more traditional
mode. This Marschallin is an undisputed success." And
the Tagesspiel praised the soprano for
the "grandeur" and "seductiveness" of her
intepretation.
December 20: Which
diva, star of a new production that was one of the Met's
hottest tickets of recent years, has refused to repeat her role
in a future season because she can't stand the
staging? We'll hear her sing a different title role
instead.
December 16: The
whirlwind of speculation over the next career move of
Matthew Epstein (summarized below) continues. A usually
reliable source informs La Cieca that, no, Matthew is
not going to run San Francisco Opera; rather, he'll take
on a prestigious position with Sony. The SFO gig (our source
continues) will almost certainly go to David
Gockley. So who gets Houston, then? Stay tuned. (Back to top of La Cieca )
Our editor James reviews the Met's
Rodelinda, plus Nelly Miricioiu in
Vespri Siciliani, in the latest issue of Gay City News.
December 15: Once Matthew Epstein has
left Chicago (as reported this morning at musicalamerica.com),
you can be sure he'll have better things to do than rest on
his laurels. La Cieca hears that Matthew has his eye on San
Francisco Opera, succeeding Pamela Rosenberg there. But
the competition for this post is fierce: front runners include
Charles MacKay of St. Louis and Christopher Hahn of
Pittsburgh. And yet another prospective intendant has recently
thrown her hat in the ring: none other than Carol Vaness
is ready to be "directa" of SFO.
November 4: Our editor James is
interviewed about the film Callas Forever on NPR's Morning Edition.
November 22: Let the dancing in the streets
begin! Jonathan Miller, who has spent the last two decades
multitasking between creating pretentiously dull opera
productions and whingeing about the stupidity of opera and opera
singers, has at long last decided to call it quits. Following a
sure-to-be-listless staging of La Clemenza di Tito in
April 2005, the self-described "angry and bitter"
polymath will devote his remaining years to fabricating
junk-metal sculpture. You'll find more details (and more
whingeing) in this article in The Guardian.
The perfect stocking-stuffer for the 2004 holiday
season is a new CD on the Homophone label, "The Muse
Surmounted." The disc is a sampler of the art of
"twelve women singers of a certain class, including
Florence Foster Jenkins and her rivals," according to
producer Gregor Benko. He's also the author of the
Waldo Lydecker-style program notes, revealing oodles of
scandalous and previously-unknown (by me, anyway) secrets of such
beloved divas as Mari Lynn, Vassilka Petrov, Olive
Middleton, plus an artiste new to me, Tryphosa
Bates-Batcheller, who more than belongs in this august
company. Enough already, you need this CD. Go to The
Muse Surmounted Homepage and order your copy today!
November 2: The remarkable Donald
Collup has produced an amazing documentary called
“Never Before,” detailing the early years of the
career of Astrid Varnay. Donald will offer the premiere
screening of this film at The Vocal Record Collector’s
Society on Friday, November 12 at 520 Park Avenue at 8:00 PM. The
documentary includes commentary by la Varnay (recorded last year)
on such varied topics as her vocal training, her theory of
acting, and her surprise Met debut, plus candid comments on
colleagues ranging from Ljuba Welitsch to Teresa
Stratas.
Highlighting this presentation is a collection of
examples of Varnay’s singing culled from live performances
1941-1955. For more information on "Never Before," go
to
Donald’s web site.
November 1: Whispers have been heard that
that a certain Italianate diva has been putting off (perhaps
until too late) the study of a much-anticipated new role. Does
she realize she’s gambling with her career? That SRO
audience may be shouting "Bravo" to a different singer
entirely!
October 29:La Cieca has risen from her long
slumber long enough to overhear the name of Joe
Volpe's successor at the Met. It's Peter Gelb
of Sony Classical fame, who will take over the reins in August
2006 upon Volpe's retirement.
Hearing Daniel Oren mangle Boheme at
the Met last week, our editor James remarked,
"After this, that guy will be lucky if he can get arrested
in this town." And, what do you know, the old skinhead got
it right! According to New York's ABC 7 Eyewitness News this
morning: ".... a famed opera conductor was arrested last
night at the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center just moments
after leaving the stage, charged with failure to pay child
support. Daniel Oren had just finished conducting a performance
of La Boheme when cops from the 20th precinct greeted him for the
encore. The 49-year-old maestro faces a Manhattan family court
judge a little later today." In a breathtaking exclusive, La
Cieca has obtained a
photo of the aftermath of the arrest.
