Every time La Cieca says she’s through once and for all reading Norman Lebrecht, that middlebrow minstrel of the maestro myth soars to new heights of noisomeness. This time (yet again) it’s about how utterly callous those silly opera singers are for canceling (imagine!) when they’re too sick to sing. Read more »
Martin Bernheimer, who was wise long before most of the rest of us were on solid food, writes what is likely to be remembered as the definitive essay on the Donald Rosenberg/Plain Dealer situation.
The premiere of a new production of Lohengrin at Bayreuth is obviously this week’s hot topic. La Cieca suggests we continue on this thread thd discussion that began elsewhere on parterre.com and is also raging over at opera-l. (La Cieca invites the cher public and visitors to post links from other sites as well where the Neuenfels Lohengrin is discussed.) Read more »
"Why is the needlessly naked executioner so coy about showing us his wobbly bits?" [The Telegraph]
See, La Cieca thinks Brian Kellow is asking for trouble when, in the second paragraph of his analysis of last March's Slatkinshchina, he admits, "I did not attend the March 29 opening-night performance of La Traviata, nor did I listen to it on Sirius Radio." Read more »
"Marianne Cornetti's Amneris.... gives the audience a heart attack every time she opens her mouth, possessing an ability to literally drown out the orchestra." La Cieca has a new favourite opera critic, and his name is Jamie Tabberer.
Forget all the others. You need to read this review of The Nose. [New York Observer]
"Unlike Ms. Garanca, Ponselle was among the many Carmens who have tried some real dancing." Why is La Cieca not surprised that one of the few intelligent and detailed surveys of the dramatic element of the Met's new Carmen should be written by a dance critic? [NYT]
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