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  • Camille: Cerquetti-Farrelli simo—similarly, I had repeated problems logging in to reply to your clear and careful... 11:41 AM
  • luvtennis: The last few minutes or Manhatten are among my most favorite in all of moviedom. As an eternal... 11:34 AM
  • luvtennis: CF: I did not mean the voices were the least bit alike – except in one regard. Both singers have... 11:31 AM
  • marshiemarkII: Chickie, don’t know what the hatred for Dessay is about, by these shores, but I went to the... 11:30 AM
  • LittleMasterMiles: The Karajan recording is also available to download from Amazon or iTunes, and streaming from... 11:19 AM
  • antikitschychick: OMFG I can’t wait to see this!! Its still not playing in my area yet but as soon as it... 11:11 AM
  • CerquettiFarrell: Personally, I think that Caballe’s Adalgisa is one of the highlights of her career on... 10:46 AM
  • CerquettiFarrell: Gardiner loathes Wagner and has said so many many times. Quote from a Gramophone interview,... 10:43 AM

Once Moravian, with feeling

New Yorkers hungry for an appearance by Karita Mattila (absent from the Met this season) will want to take a look at the Bayerische Staatsoper’s live webcast of Jenufa on Saturday afternoon. The diva is joined by Gabriele Schnaut and Stefan Margita for the Janacek tragedy, beginning at 1:00 PM EST.

Scent of mystery

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.” Details are, naturally, after the jump. Read more »

Miss Mattila is ageless

mattila_fever_thumbLa Cieca has managed to nab a few moments of video of tonight’s performance of Vec Makropulos from San Francisco, proving that Karita Mattila is indeed today’s ideal interpreter of the role of Emilia Marty. [Video]

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Second chance?

Okay, so here’s that Luc Bondy production of Tosca again, this time as seen at the Bayerische Staatsoper earlier this summer, with the “original cast” of Karita Mattila and the singer who did all the rehearsals in New York until the last week, Juha Uusitalo. They rehearsed again for the co-production in Munich for festival performances and a telecast.

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Alla cantata ancor manca la diva

Patricia Racette will sing the title role in Puccini’s Tosca on April 14, 17, 20, and 24 matinee, replacing Karita Mattila, “who is ill” — this just in from the Met’s press office.

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Math is hard

Here’s our dear Karita Mattila (left), currently occupied playing Émilie du Châtelet in the eponymous new opera by Kaija Saariaho.

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Grey lady meets dark lady

A video glimpse of the new Tosca, from the New York Times. The wig needs some major cleaning up.

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Met Tosca: a first glimpse!

Don’t ask La Cieca how she obtained these photos of the Met’s new Tosca production, because if she told you, she’d have to kill you. Suffice it to say that admirers of Karita Mattila will not be disappointed! 

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