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Cher Public

  • Bill: Willym – the critics say 5 hours – apparently Bartoli sang all 8 of Cleopatra’s arias and... 1:55 PM
  • willym: oedipe couldnt find a reply for your post – but yes the theme and the choice is interesting. As much... 1:47 PM
  • armerjacquino: Dutoit. 1:41 PM
  • armerjacquino: Just the WALKURE and the FIDELIO film I think. Not a huge problem because I have the Vienna FIDELIO... 1:40 PM
  • Betsy_Ann_Bobolink: Just out of curiosity, Camille, why are you telling me not to eat bananas? Seems an odd sort... 1:27 PM
  • Ilka Saro: Tu sei giaaaaaaallo. Come un moooooooorto! 1:27 PM
  • Cocky Kurwenal: I don’t think I have any Vickers either. Though aren’t you depriving yourself a whole... 1:22 PM
  • oedipe: The best thing about next year’s Whitsun Festival is its interesting and controversial theme... 1:19 PM

You, Midgette

top_ten__waynes_world_Adroit, awesome, autononomous Anne Midgette nominates her Top 10 Classical and Opera Releases of 2010 over at Soundcheck, and, La Cieca thinks to herself, why should Anne have all the fun? What are your favorite opera CDs and DVDs of the year, cher public? (Here are a few reviews to jog your memory.)

October song

stock_crashReaders of parterre.com are, La Cieca calculates, about six weeks ahead of the curve, so your doyenne figures you are ready to hear what will likely be a major scoop in the New York Times a few days prior to Halloween. It’s about the technical rehearsals for the Met’s season opener Das Rheingold, and what is heard from backstage is not encouraging.   Read more »

Second Rance

Lucio Gallo‘s name has quietly been substituted for that of Juha Uusitalo in the Met’s 2010-2011 performances of La fanciulla del West. Read more »

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Medium rare

La Cieca hears that a highlight of the 2010-2011 New York City Opera season will be the local premiere of Seance on a Wet Afternoon, the Stephen Schwartz tuner to star Lauren Flanigan.

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triumph of the willy

Here’s a glimpse of Marina Poplavskaya in the Willy Decker production of La traviata, coming to the Met in 2010. [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/cJSjDBSnnUw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

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the desert song

Our Own Sra. Flora del Rio, benevolent rhinemaiden of the Rio Grande, shimmered into a press conference at  Santa Fe this morning and quickly shimmered out, there being but modest news to report on SFeO Season 2010. However, Flora sent this grist for your mills: Madama Butterfly, The Magic Flute, The Tales of Hoffmann, Life is a Dream and Albert Herring.  

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on festive occasions

“I’m also confident that both the long-overdue New York premiere of Daniel Catán’s sumptuous Florencia en el Amazonas and Spike Lee’s fiery new staging of The Gospel at Colonus—a retelling of the Sophocles in the form of a gospel church service—will continue to bring new visions to our audiences and new audiences to our vision.  And how intrigued we’ll be to hear the Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös’ take on Tony Kushner’s most American of plays, Angels in America!” New York City Opera’s incoming general and artistic director announces some very intriguing plans for the company’s “revamped” 2010 summer festival season [...]

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let george do it

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 King Roger during NYCO’s 2010-11 season.

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