In the bodice-ripping tradition of HBOShowtime’s The Tudors, DG presents I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Or does La Cieca just think everyone looks like Jonathan Rhys Meyers?

on March 31, 2009 at 3:56 PM

And people say that in olden days singers used more chest! Ha, says La Cieca. Ha!

on March 27, 2009 at 4:46 PM

Sharp-eyed reader Sadie Salome writes: It seems I was the only one spent much of last night’s letter scene peering through her binoculars at Karita Mattila‘s fine acting, because I see no report on your site of last night’s mishap (and if it isn’t on your site, then it obviously hasn’t been reported anywhere!) As you…

on February 19, 2009 at 4:01 PM

Mom of the Moment Anna Netrebko and her weapons-grade bazooms are featured in an interview with the Post’s Barbara Hoffman.

on January 29, 2009 at 12:49 PM

According to BBC News, “Classical star” Katherine Jenkins hopes to “take up” Placido Domingo‘s “offer” to “train” her to be an “opera singer.” “Placido Domingo has offered to train me and I’ll probably go to his house when we both have the time free,” Jenkins explained. “He’s a very generous person and he’s always trying…

on October 03, 2008 at 8:29 PM

Now, never let it be said that La Cieca was in any way opposed to glamour, and you know very well that is a fervent believer in dear Pablo Picasso‘s maxim that “art is a lie that makes us realize truth.” But, on the other hand, there’s this month’s cover of Opera News.

on August 15, 2008 at 3:48 PM

La Cieca has just heard the fascinating report that Cecilia Bartoli is to star in the musical biopic The Maria Guleghina Story, playing “Young Maria.”  In related news, Maria Guleghina has accepted a featured role in The Cecilia Bartoli Story as “Herself” in a sequence based on the making of the musical biopic The Maria…

on May 25, 2008 at 9:29 PM

La Cieca thanks cher Charles for sending this “funniest, most withering description of singers ever written” from James M. Cain’s Mildred Pierce.

on May 09, 2008 at 3:41 PM

La Cieca completes today’s Cleavage Trifecta with the following video discovered on YouTube: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/50nOUj64uNE” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]

on April 14, 2008 at 8:19 PM

Dear Addison DeWitt once said, “You have a point. An idiotic one, but a point.” Actually he didn’t say it to La Cieca, but that’s neither here nor there. Since your doyenne is what you might call pathologically determined to see both sides of every questions, she’s going to reopen the can of worms here…

on April 14, 2008 at 6:19 PM

Now here’s some political news La Cieca can follow with interest: Merkel surprises with daring décolleté at Oslo opera That how The Local described German Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s appearance as a special guest at Saturday night’s gala celebrating the opening of Den Norske Opera’s new auditorium. It seems Die Kanzlerin racked up a double handful…

on April 14, 2008 at 2:45 PM

Better to say “greatest misses,” La Cieca thinks, though even that phrase is flawed by a nearly Hollandaise level of inaccuracy. The errors and gaffes of the flannel-eared Times critic are surely too many and too egregious for one writer to anthologize; certainly they seem to have overwhelmed the Newspaper of Record’s squadrons of copy…

on March 08, 2008 at 2:36 PM

Doesn’t it just figure that this story would break only a few minutes after La Cieca  used the perfect headline on another story? Oh, well, anyway, Montsi will be fascinated! (via Defamer)

on February 11, 2008 at 7:14 PM

Okay, La Cieca knows a bit about fashion and even a smidge about clothing construction (you should hear her dishing the godets during Project Runway) but she must admit she can’t figure out what the hell Anna Netrebko is wearing here. Did she just take a dip in the pool? Was she performing a nude…

on February 11, 2008 at 5:08 PM

Longtime readers of parterre box will recall the series of articles entitled “Ou va la jeune andouille” by enigmatic Enzo Bordello on the subject of the youthful fan’s experiences at New Orleans Opera. One of the most infamous of all NOO events, though, was one Enzo did not experience in person: I was not allowed…

on December 18, 2007 at 11:57 AM

La Cieca was franky overwhelmed by both the volume and the quality of the “Season Brochure” contest entries, so she’s decided to ask you, her cher public, to help decide the winner. In this and four succeeding posts, she will present five finalists. Later today, she will post a ballot so you, the cher public,…

on December 04, 2007 at 12:22 PM

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “The male toilets of Australia’s most famous landmark, the Sydney Opera House, has been listed among hot spots for a hook up point for men cruising sex with other men.” Jane Eaglen is going to teach young people how to sing. “By the time her stepfather Herodes starts sucking…

on October 31, 2006 at 12:12 AM
Bosom buddies Bosom buddies

Elegantly bescarved divas Grace Bumbry and Shirley Verrett (in alphabetical order) “rehearse” scenes from Aida and Norma in preparation for their historic 1983 duo concert.  

on June 16, 2006 at 1:54 PM

You know, it’s one thing to flounce around dusting the floor of a church with your silken train, the meantime flaunting your bosom to the Blessed Virgin, but it’s another thing altogether to take a heartfelt hymn like “Amazing Grace” and transform it into cheap soundtrack music. Can’t someone stop this woman?

on October 01, 2005 at 1:55 AM

You could say last night at the Met was a typical Aprile Millo performance, if that expression were not essentially an oxymoron. “Typical” and “Millo” really don’t intersect in this dimension (maybe somewhere on a spiritual plane? But I digress.) Let’s just say that, what happens at a Millo night, happened last night, which is…

on May 20, 2005 at 4:48 PM