On this, the occasion of her 37th birthday [see below], La Cieca is happy to repeat the story of how she came to be born (as first told in the pages of parterre box, issue #28. Read more »
The tutelary goddess of parterre.com performs a few phrases of La bohème — in 2010.
La Cieca is delighted to note that two of the best-remembered and most-coveted “Live from the Met” telecasts have at last been made available on DVD. Otello (25 September 1978) and Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci (5 April 1978) are now available at the Met Opera Shop and online at www.metoperashop.org, “as well as through other outlets.”
La Cieca’s cher public will be happy to know that both these releases may be purchased at amazon.com:
Otello really is a gem, with Jon Vickers in excellent form (a stray high note or two notwithstanding), a superb balance of passion and intelligence. The vocal and physical dignity he brings to the role firmly places the work on the plane of high tragedy. The Desdemona is (as you all know) Renata Scotto, in a part that is not a natural fit vocally — her timbre is narrow and steely where one would want a more plush sound. But to hear her phrasing a line like “Oh! come è dolce il mormorare insieme” or “Guarda le prime lagrime” is to remember just how specific and committed an artist she always was. (More, including previews, after the jump.) Read more »
La Cieca continues her salute to the diamond birthday of Renata Scotto with a new episode of Unnatural Acts of Opera. The podcast features the first act of La sonnambula as performed at the Teatro la Fenice on May 26, 1961. La sonnambula, act 1 Renata Scotto (Amina), Alfredo Kraus (Elivino), Ivo Vinco (Rodolfo), Rosa Laghezza (Lisa), Marisa Zotti (Teresa). Teatro La Fenice, Venezia, Nello Santi, conductor.
Excerpt from Madama Butterfly, 18 October 1974, San Francisco, CA. Cio-Cio-San: Renata Scotto; Suzuki: Judith Forst.
As commenter paddypig points out, something fishy seems to be going on with the Puccini 150th Anniversary Gala presented by Dicapo Opera Theatre, scheduled for this Monday night. As of this evening, the company’s website still advertises “Daniela Dessi, Fabio Armiliato, Francisco Casanova, Aprile Millo, Francesca Patané and others” even though certainly Millo is not appearing (she says she never agreed) and, per paddypig, all singers’ names have disappeared from the advertising for the gala on the Jazz at Lincoln Center site except for Renata Scotto as hostess. So what’s the deal with the sudden shift in personnel: snow emergency [...]
Three-time World’s Best-selling Canadian Female Recording Artist of the Year Céline Dion apparently has not come to her senses in the eight months that have passed since her Las Vegas farewell. As La Cieca warned you last year, the québécoise canary is planning a crossover into the cinema, specifically a biopic in which she, Céline Dion, will portray her idol Maria Callas.Â
The legendary “Tokyo Traviata,” one of the most often pirated opera videos, has finally been released in an authorized version by VAI. Featuring the golden-age cast of Renata Scotto, Jose Carreras and Sesto Bruscantini, the DVD boasts beautifully restored video and broadcast-quality audio — by far the cleanest version of this telecast La Cieca has ever seen. Here’s a sample from this performance of September 19, 1973: [kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/hWTfL1HAMOs" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /] The DVD, which includes subtitles in English, French, Italian, Spanish and (embedded) Japanese, is available through all the usual sources including amazon.com.
Cher Public