One startling upset catches the eye among the many winners (if that is the word) of the 2013 Parterre Box Awards. Read more »
Now that the Met’s 2013-2014 season has been published and almost immediately discussed to death, La Cieca thought it would be amusing to do a bit of speculation about what lies ahead as we approach the middle of the decade. An assemblage of gossip and guesswork about the 2014-2015 season follows the jump, and won’t it be fun to look back on this post next February when the official announcement is made? Read more »
This self-described “baroque pastiche” is actually quite a remarkable accomplishment by its author and deviser Jeremy Sams (who credits the original idea to none other than Peter Gelb.) The strange combination of plot elements from Shakespeare’s The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream thrown together on Prospero’s island singing the music of Handel, Vivaldi, and Rameau is in itself quite a creative coup. Read more »
True, Joyce DiDonato’s Mary spat out those fighting words in a tangy chest voice, but it was hard to believe she meant them.
It’s easiest to write reviews when there are soaring triumphs and miserable failures.
If you’re the sort who prefers his diva to be an unapproachable sphinx prone to infuriating cancellations while radiating ennui, I suspect that the sunny, hard-working, grateful persona of American mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato will not appeal to you at all.
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?”
La Cieca has been sniffing around her generally reliable (and fragrant) sources, and she thinks she has pieced together a list of the dozen operas to be featured in the 2013-2014 season of “The Met: Live in HD.”
Cher Public