Billy in the doldrums Billy in the doldrums

This Billy Budd would have worked better with a stronger set of singers.

on May 06, 2012 at 11:45 PM
Teen dream Teen dream

Some days you can feel like a hero just getting out of bed in the morning.

on April 13, 2012 at 1:00 AM
Starless night Starless night

An understudy saved the show at the Met’s La Traviata Friday night, but no star was born.

on April 08, 2012 at 11:14 PM
The party’s over The party’s over

When the hard-partying heroine of Massenet’s Manon hits bottom, she literally lands in the gutter.

on March 27, 2012 at 10:38 PM
Boy meets ghoul Boy meets ghoul

Now New York City Opera has given us a “Così Fan Tutte” starring the undead.

on March 19, 2012 at 11:11 PM
Lady of the Fake Lady of the Fake

When Verdi’s Macbeth returned to the Met Thursday night, miscasting doomed the revival as surely as any witch’s curse.

on March 19, 2012 at 8:13 AM
Sensational Sensational

Juan Diego Flórez made an untraditional Nemorino, his small but diamond-bright tenor unlike the luscious lyric voice usually heard in this part.”

on March 07, 2012 at 7:12 AM
Dark victory Dark victory

“In a season of high-profile duds like Don Giovanni and the Ring, the Met has found a winner in a dark horse, Mussorgsky’s moody Khovanshchina.”

on February 28, 2012 at 10:55 PM
Rain on the Rufus Rain on the Rufus

“With Anjelica Huston, Parker Posey and Yoko Ono dotting the crowd at BAM Sunday afternoon, the New York City Opera’s premiere of Prima Donna offered more diva presence offstage than on.”

on February 21, 2012 at 12:28 AM
She’s fallen and she can’t get up She’s fallen and she can’t get up

“New York City Opera performed La Traviata at BAM Sunday afternoon. That’s who, what, where and when. But this was a performance without a ‘why’.”

on February 14, 2012 at 7:40 AM
Stop! or my mom will percuss Stop! or my mom will percuss

“No tenors, no arias, no orchestra pit, no plot. Can You, My Mother really be called an opera?”

on February 13, 2012 at 8:12 AM

Our Own JJ gets into the traditional holiday mood, journalist style, by cobbling together a listicle of last-minute shopping options. [New York Post]

on December 22, 2011 at 11:25 AM

“In an unlikely venue—a converted gymnasium off Avenue B—one of New York’s newest opera companies is keeping musical tradition alive.” [New York Post]

on December 19, 2011 at 10:18 AM

“An atomic explosion kicked off the last act of Gounod’s Faust Tuesday at the Met, but the production as a whole was more dud than bomb.” [New York Post]

on November 30, 2011 at 1:54 PM

“Rumors were that an ‘Occupy’-something group would disrupt Wednesday night’s US premiere of Kommilitonen! But the Juilliard Opera performance went off without offstage fireworks, and proved to be a well-crafted and moving meditation on student activism.” [New York Post] (Photo: Nan Melville)

on November 18, 2011 at 12:33 AM

Open your eyes, sleepyheads! In the news this morning, our own JJ raves about Satyagraha at the Met (“a masterpiece of musical and visual art”); the ever-articulate Nico Muhly takes aim at the Met’s production values (“Mercedes Bass or Anne Ziff paid for the opera. What do you think is going to happen?”); and NYCO’s…

on November 07, 2011 at 10:23 AM

“It’s the understudy’s job to save the show, and that’s just what Jay Hunter Morris did Thursday at the Met in the daunting title role of Wagner’s Siegfried.” [New York Post]

on October 28, 2011 at 1:32 PM

“An eagerly awaited production of Mozart’s masterpiece Don Giovanni —staged by Tony winner Michael Grandage (Red)—limped into the Met Thursday dead on arrival.”  [New York Post]

on October 18, 2011 at 8:23 AM

“Her catfight with another princess over the emperor’s crown might have been an outtake from The Real Housewives of Babylon.” [New York Post] (Photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera)

on October 04, 2011 at 9:59 AM

“Queen Anna is dead — long live Queen Anna! The late royal lady is Anna Bolena in Donizetti’s 1830 opera, based on the final days of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII. The new monarch — ruling not over England but the Met — is Anna Netrebko, whose radiant performance at the company’s opening…

on September 27, 2011 at 4:11 PM

Well, actually, it appears Michael Riedel was misinformed. (Alert the media!) The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess is, in fact, coming to Broadway. [New York Times]

on September 14, 2011 at 5:25 PM

This just in from La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Michael Riedel: it looks like the “new” Porgy and Bess isn’t coming into New York. Says the NYP gossipmonger: “…while [Audra] McDonald wins Tonys, her name doesn’t sell tickets. I’m told the producers are likely to fold the show after its Boston run.”

on September 02, 2011 at 6:36 PM

La Cieca (left) is delighted to congratulate dear Alex Ross (right), whose little column The Rest is Noise has been named #1 among Classical Music blogs, according to blogrank.  In other family news, Our Own JJ (not pictured) reviews Caramoor’s Guillaume Tell in today’s New York Post.

on July 11, 2011 at 11:03 AM

“Subtract the magic and the flute from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and you’d think there’d be nothing. But an adaptation of this opera at the Lincoln Center Festival on Wednesday conjured a quiet enchantment.” [New York Post]

on July 07, 2011 at 9:49 AM