La Cieca’s sources tell her that a planned revival of Faust at the Met in the fall of 2014 has been canceled, because who wants to see that ugly thing again, or else the leading lady didn’t feel like singing it, whichever. Anyway, the situation goes something like this: the company has under contract Anna Netrebko, Joseph Calleja, Artur Rucinski and René Pape for eight performances or so during that time. Your assignment, cher public, is to come up with an opera with plausible roles for at least three, or ideally all four, of these artists. (Photo: Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera)
UPDATE, Tuesday, 7:45 AM: The Met sent out a press release at 1:27 AM New York time today announcing major changes to its roster for the tour of Japan this month. La Cieca has revised the following gossip item (which appeared at 11 PM last night) to reflect the Met’s confirmations. Read more »
Quoth the Met press office: “Piotr Beczala will sing the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto on Thursday, January 27, replacing Joseph Calleja who is ill.”
It’s been rumored, but you know how La Cieca feels about rumors. Anyway, here’s some solid proof that Joseph Calleja has been engaged for the Met’s new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann set for a December 3, 2009 opening.
Is it just me, or does Joseph Calleja sound simply amazing? La Cieca asks: is there a better lyric tenor out there today?
Cher Public