parterre box

This is the end. James Levine has just canceled all engagements between now and October, except for the two remaining peformances of Die Walküre at the Met May 9 and 14.  Fabio Luisi will take over the Carnegie Hall concert with Natalie Dessay on May 16 and Levine’s duties on the Japan tour, conducting Don Carlo and La Bohème. The statement from the Met, which follows the jump, optimistically predicts that after “taking the summer off to rest and recuperate from his ongoing back condition,” the maestro will return to the podium for the new production of Don Giovanni opening [...]

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UPDATE: La Cieca has just heard from Ernesto Palacio, manager for Elina Garanca, who confirms that the mezzo-soprano is pregnant. EARLIER: The news has just broken that Elina Garanca “is expecting a baby at the end of October…. Garanca and her British-born husband, conductor Karel Mark Chichon, had informed their friends of the good news in a letter.” With the mezzo reportedly due in October, who’s going to sing Giovanna Seymour at the Met? [AFP]

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*O, meine Götter! This just in from the Met’s press office: “Derrick Inouye will conduct this evening’s performance of Die Walküre, replacing James Levine, who is ill.” Earlier this week Levine appeared at a 40th Anniversary Gala fundraiser on Sunday evening and conducted Walküre on Monday night. He also was interviewed yesterday by Terry Gross for NPR’s “Fresh Air” series.

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La Cieca has just learned that Bryn Terfel will sing the role of Scarpia for this evening’s performance of Tosca,replacing James Morris, who is ill and withdrew early this afternoon. Terfel, who is of course in the city rehearsing the Met’s new production of Die Walküre, was in the audience for this afternoon’s performance of Wozzeck, where Met management found him during a scene change. According to the Met’s press office, he “immediately agreed to sing the role and left the Met for his apartment with a score of Tosca in hand  to prepare for tonight’s performance.”

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La Cieca has heard from a reliable source that two Met divas have already privately announced they “are not taking their young children to Japan and are not going themselves.”

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