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  • Feldmarschallin: The new Siegfried which opens on Pfinstsonntag at BSO. Funny that Lance Ryan sounds Eastern... 2:56 AM
  • MontyNostry: … and does Stemme’s voice really have a “bright sheen”? Oh, I’d... 2:55 AM
  • MrGuy1804: You are right on the money. I was not terribly impressed with any of the singing. There were a few... 12:29 AM
  • Camille: That was fun, thanks! I had completely forgotten Eastern Airlines, the Wings of Man. With a name like... 12:22 AM
  • Henry Holland: Thanks! Too bad they didn’t do Der Zwerg instead of the (wonderful) Puccini. The LA Opera... 12:09 AM
  • Camille: Thanks Blue, for the review. Lord, what are “earthy colorings”? 12:06 AM
  • Gualtier M: Here is Carmelita Pope in the actual 70′s era Pam commercial at 2:36 in: httpv://www.you... 12:03 AM
  • CruzSF: kashania, please tell us more about these performances. Who? How presented? And don’t neglect the... 12:03 AM

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victoire!

by | 11:21 pm | Jun 5, 2008

The polls are closed and the results are in: the winner of this year’s Unnatural Acts of Opera Summer Festival is French Grand Opera. To kick off the festival we have that most grand of all grand operas, Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots.

Les Huguenots, Act One

Raoul de Nangis – Marcello Giordani
Valentine – Annalisa Raspaglosi
Marguerite di Valois – Diana Damrau
Le Comte de Saint-Bris – Frode Olsen
Nevers – Zeljko Lucic
Urbain – Sara Alegretta
Marcel – Soon-Won Kang
De Cosse – Jacek Pazola
Maurevert – Simon Bailey
Tavannes – Peter Marsh
Frankfurter Museumsorchester; Conductor: Guido Johanes Rumstadt.

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chaco a son gout

by | 11:21 am | May 6, 2008

I thought that it would be fun to tell you about a little concert last Sunday here in Montréal, with Renée Fleming, Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato and Matthew Polenzani. It was actually the first time that I have heard any of them in the flesh, so I was most curious to see if the voices in the house would be as I had imagined in the head.

To get one thing out of the way first; I am not a fan of Ms. Fleming. I find her a vulgar musician – and so there it is. Her voice on this day was responsive and full, up to (but not including high D’s – which were attained with a seemingly different technique and with the grace of God.)

First up was DiDonato (“lauréate du prix Beverly Sills 2007 du Metropolitan Opera de New York”) who gave a highly ornamented “Una voca poco fa.” It was fine as it went, but the hooker-from-an-old-western lace up corset thingy she was wearing was more entertaining yet. The voice was by no means large but it was round and agile. And despite the vocal tinsel all over the place, she had a good idea of how to make this sound like music.  Read more »

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Da steht der Moob und da steh’ ich

by | 8:08 pm | Apr 27, 2008

Until recently, soprano Diana Damrau was unaware of reports of steroid abuse in the 18th century seraglio. (Photo by Ken Howard, Metropolitan Opera.)

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‘fille’ a song coming on

by | 5:32 pm | Apr 18, 2008

[Our Own Gualtier Maldè reports from this afternoon's dress rehearsal of La Fille du Régiment] The Met has another hit on its hands — though not a totally new one, this production and cast already having triumphed at Covent Garden and the Vienna Staatsoper. Laurent Pelly (who vies with Davide Alagna and Mark Streshinsky as cutest director working in opera today) has put together a show whose ensemble works better (thanks to the superb cast) than the problematic individual production pieces. The setting is moved forward to sometime in the early twentieth century – probably World War I era. This [...]

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season scorecard

by | 11:29 am | Mar 4, 2008

Cher public, the Met is expected to unveil the specifics of their 2008-2009 season later today. While we’re waiting for all the luscious and/or gory details, La Cieca thought it might be fun to do a quick recap of the season as is is predicted on Brad Wilber‘s MetManiac site. Brad (who historically is spot-on to the point of clairvoyance in his predictions) surmises that the next season at the Met will feature six new productions: 

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blood wedding

by | 1:27 pm | Feb 29, 2008

La Cieca hears from several authoritative sources that Diana Damrau will sing the autumn revival of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Met, replacing the gravid Anna Netrebko.

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the top 20

by | 12:07 pm | Feb 19, 2008

La Cieca is happy to report that you, cher public, have made the Amazon Associates Program a rousing success, generating considerable income for the improvement and expansion of parterre.com. Over the past four months, you have purchased literally hundreds of items, of which the most popular can be seen right after the jump:

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Middle aged blues

by | 5:59 pm | Dec 26, 2005

Peter Gelb‘s new broom continues to sweep at the Met. Perhaps to make room for the Gheorghiu/Netrebko/Damrau generation, the incoming General Manager is buying out contracts. Two Met artists in particular are targeted, and, oddly enough, these two ladies have quite a bit in common. Both are 40-something light lyric sopranos, and they have three names (each, La Cieca means.) Oh, and did we mention the red hair? In the latest shipment from Berkshire, La Cieca has found a dazzler of a DVD: Lucrezia Borgia (Encore DVD 2087) from Milan, 2003, starring Mariella Devia, Marcello Alvarez, Daniela Barcellona and (Encore [...]

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