Red shoe diaries Red shoe diaries

Sonya Yoncheva will make her North American role debut as Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata at the Met this January.

on October 30, 2014 at 11:13 AM
Hello Amanda Hello Amanda

Soprano Amanda Majeski will make her Met debut on the opening night of the 2014-2015 season as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, replacing Marina Poplavksaya “who has withdrawn for health reasons.”

on August 13, 2014 at 1:11 PM
A song at twilight A song at twilight

Yes, you’ve heard it already, but you might as well have an official place to talk about it: Marina Poplavskaya goes on tonight in Les Vêpres siciliennes at the Royal Opera House.

on October 21, 2013 at 12:28 PM
Pop, idled Pop, idled

“Russian soprano Marina Poplavskaya has fallen ill and unfortunately has had to withdraw from singing the role of Hélène in Les Vêpres siciliennes in the final rehearsals and the first three performances in October.”

on October 09, 2013 at 9:13 AM
A Faustian bargain A Faustian bargain

What we have here is the grandest opera never heard.

on August 21, 2013 at 8:00 AM
It is what she would have wanted It is what she would have wanted

Due to wellness, it is with deep contentedness that Marina Poplavskaya will after all sing the role of Alice in Robert le Diable.

on November 13, 2012 at 5:00 PM
Our retrospection will now be all to the future Our retrospection will now be all to the future

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?”

on October 22, 2012 at 2:18 PM

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. 

on May 30, 2011 at 11:28 PM

Willy Decker’s Traviata has garnered praise from critics and audiences alike in the week since its Metropolitan premiere, but (as was to be expected) this praise comes over the complaints of a select few traditionalists, a handful of lonely boos amid the mostly enthusiastic applause. Their objection (as usual) is that Decker’s production betrays the…

on January 08, 2011 at 5:39 PM

The answers of millions of supplicants worldwide (and thousands of Met-goers citywide) have been answered. “[Peter Gelb] said there were no plans to replace Mr. Zeffirelli’s productions of La Bohème and Turandot. [New York Times]

on December 14, 2010 at 6:45 PM

La Cieca (not pictured) hopes to hear reactions from the cher public who attended this afternoon’s HD of Don Carlo, a preview of which follows the jump.

on December 11, 2010 at 2:40 PM

Controversial diva Marina Poplavskaya is the subject of a profile in the current New Yorker that does not include any bloodhounds snappin’ at her rear end, but that’s about the only life experience omitted. Highlights include the soprano’s lugging a trolley full of luggage across 14 lanes of Buenos Aires traffic following a dispute with…

on November 29, 2010 at 3:22 PM

“You see, I don’t play roles. I find color for every role inside of me.” The soprano Marina Poplavskaya likes to talk about how she sees music as colors. She is also given to morbidly poetic formulations like “Let the harmony penetrate you like a silent knife through your heart.” [New York Observer]

on September 28, 2010 at 6:18 PM