Everybody rise! Rise! Rise! Everybody rise! Rise! Rise!

Two rising young sopranos will make their Met debuts earlier than originally scheduled when they share the role of Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto later this fall, replacing Aleksandra Kurzak, who has withdrawn due to pregnancy.

on September 30, 2013 at 3:08 PM
We all lead such elaborate lives We all lead such elaborate lives

LA SCALA DE MILAN propose à Roberto une nouvelle production d’AIDA sous la Direction de Lorin MAAZEL ainsi qu’une nouvelle collaboration pour le futur.

on September 05, 2013 at 11:18 AM
Soon their duet will become a trio Soon their duet will become a trio

La Cieca hears that congratulations are in order to Aleksandra Kurzak and Roberto Alagna, who are expecting their first baby in February.

on August 07, 2013 at 10:54 AM
Donc, c’est ce qu’elle appelle “faire la connaissance de Mme Haines” Donc, c’est ce qu’elle appelle “faire la connaissance de Mme Haines”

Some interesting programming in Avignon next season.

on July 30, 2013 at 12:08 PM
Teen spirit Teen spirit

La Cieca thought it would be amusing to do a bit of speculation about what’s to come as we approach the middle of the decade.

on March 11, 2013 at 5:56 PM
Come un bel dì di gennaio Come un bel dì di gennaio

I’ve always had a certain affection for Roberto Alagna.

on January 06, 2013 at 11:34 PM
I am missing the winter now I am missing the winter now

One quick way to warm up: Watching tenor heartthrob Roberto Alagna.

on January 03, 2013 at 11:48 PM
Wingless victory Wingless victory

Of particular visual interest in last weekend’s Lohengrin (though not perhaps so tantalizing as Jonas Kaufmann‘s aristocratic bare feet, pictured above) is the very obvious change in the staging that was made between the antegenerale (in which Anja Harteros sang Elsa) and the telecast opening night.

on December 12, 2012 at 2:08 AM
Half full Half full

Opera Orchestra of New York has announced their 2012-2013 season of only two performances.

on November 15, 2012 at 6:29 PM
Our retrospection will now be all to the future Our retrospection will now be all to the future

La Cieca predicts you won’t be seeing any puritans at the Met next season, except of course for the ones who slouch around during intermission hissing, “You call that a trill?”

on October 22, 2012 at 2:18 PM
Red sauce Red sauce

La Cieca has put her little grey cells to work and deduced that Opera Orchestra of New York will present two performances next season…

on August 08, 2012 at 9:51 PM

At tonight’s Faust performance, two events of note: René Pape, upon his re-entrance after the Jewel Song, ad-libbed the spoken line “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” The performance, a broadcast, was the basso’s final one of this production.) After this moment of comedy, drama followed at the curtain calls.

on December 29, 2011 at 12:06 AM

In what is without doubt the final chapter of their on-again, off-again romance, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna are on again, she says.

on October 05, 2011 at 11:48 AM

The interpretation of Carmen by Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca has been much debated, many finding her cold and remote, others admiring her subtly smoldering quality.  A new Deutsche Grammophon DVD documenting the Met’s January 16, 2010 performances offers us an opportunity to examine the gypsy in close-up.  This is certainly not the lusty, passionate, mercurial Carmen…

on November 29, 2010 at 10:02 AM

“…whenever he was joined by the baritone Simon Keenlyside, who sang Rodrigo, the Marquis of Posa and Carlo’s devoted friend, Mr. Alagna opened up in every way.” Well, wouldn’t you? [NYT]

on November 23, 2010 at 11:01 AM

After a rather long afternoon at the Met, a member of the cher public writes: “The Don Carlo final dress was worth catching.” Our spy has more to say after the jump.

on November 19, 2010 at 6:19 PM

In 1890 Cavalleria rusticana had taken the whole world by storm and in the next decade or so, hordes of composers, willing or unwillingly, jumped on the Verismo bandwagon.  La navarraise (1894) is generally considered Jules Massenet’s homage to the genre, and for a long time the two works were often performed together.   Emma Calvé,…

on October 27, 2010 at 10:11 AM

Roberto Alagna, star of tonight’s pair of one-acters by Opera Orchestra of New York, discusses divorce and desserts with Our Own JJ. [New York Post]

on October 25, 2010 at 8:20 AM

Roberto Alagna dips his toe into the avant-garde, participating in Calixto Bieito‘s controversial production of Carmen at Teatro del Liceo de Barcelona. [El País]

on September 29, 2010 at 12:26 PM

Opera Orchestra of New York will jump-start its new incarnation in 2010-11 with a double bill of La Navarraise (Roberto Alagna, Elina Garanca) and Cavalleria rusticana (Alagna again, with Maria Guleghina and Mignon Dunn[!!!]), conducted by Music Director Designate Alberto Veronesi at Carnegie Hall on October 25.  Eve Queler returns to the podium for L’Africaine…

on June 24, 2010 at 1:59 PM

Angela Gheorghiu will not sing Carmen at the Met this season. Says the diva: “To make so important a debut as Carmen, I want to be as prepared dramatically as I am musically. Therefore, I will postpone my role debut until a later date when I can work intensely with the Richard Eyre production.” Kate…

on February 05, 2010 at 3:23 PM

According to an Angela Gheorghiu fansite (and what more reliable source could La Cieca ask?), the raven-tressed diva stated in an interview on Romanian television that she and current husband Roberto Alagna have no current plans to change their current matrimonial status.

on December 13, 2009 at 12:37 PM

The indisputable star of the new Naxos DVD of Franco Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac, filmed at the Palau de les Arts ‘Reina Sofia’ in Valencia and directed by Michal Znaniecki, is, as in all other stage, operatic and film adaptations of the Cyrano story, the enormous prosthetic nose worn by the title character. The nose…

on December 09, 2009 at 2:28 PM

So, I was asking my friends with Met Opera insider connections about the new Hoffmann production directed by Bartlett Sher. Seemingly conceived under an unlucky star, this production first lost two of its four heroines when Anna Netrebko decided not sing Olympia and Giulietta but kept Antonia and also Stella, leaving the dramaturgy somewhat lopsided.

on November 30, 2009 at 6:31 PM