“Esoteric music staged by an operatic outsider paid off for the New York City Opera on Friday night with Monodramas, a program of three single-character operas.”  [New York Post]

on March 27, 2011 at 11:21 PM

La Cieca knows little of the ways and means of gala-giving, so you tell her: what does it mean when NYCO’s Spring Gala is already available for half price on “luxury discount” website Gilt Groupe?

on February 11, 2011 at 1:15 PM

La Cieca was bcc:ed on this response from a member of the cher public to a request from the New York City Opera. With the permisssion of the author, she is publishing the note here for your discussion.

on November 18, 2010 at 2:56 PM

“A few critics hosannaed ‘Thanks be to Great God Lenny for smooching us once more with his plump, moist genius,’ but the majority echoed Cecil B. DeMille’s tactful reaction to Norma Desmond’s bizarre comeback screenplay, “There are some good things in it…’”  Our Own JJ reflects on Christopher Alden‘s direction of A Quiet Place at…

on November 04, 2010 at 4:57 PM

Although billed as “I Love Lucy the opera”, New York City Opera’s production of Richard Strauss’s conversation-piece Intermezzo offers far more emotional depth than the much-loved 1950s sitcom. Yet ironically, in key moments it lacks the necessary heart which Lucy had in spades. 

on November 02, 2010 at 11:17 AM

“There’s a lot of Bernstein in many of the characters. [In François] there’s that fantasy of bisexuality or a gay man suddenly turning straight.” [Time Out New York]

on October 19, 2010 at 3:00 PM

La Cieca has heard that, not to be outdone by Peter Gelb‘s discovery of hot young directors like Luc Bondy and Patrice Chéreau, NYCO’s George Steel is boldly leaping forward into the 20th century by signing up Peter Sellars for a series of productions. In other music news, everyone down at Danceteria is just wild…

on June 08, 2010 at 12:07 PM

“The New York City Opera, which just reported a $19.9 million deficit in 2008-09, paid Gerard Mortier $400,000 for his stint as part-time general-manager in-waiting.” [Bloomberg News]

on May 20, 2010 at 1:40 PM

“Nobody dies in Partenope, Handel’s 1730 opera that ends in contentment and reconciliation. For the audience at the New York City Opera’s production Saturday night, the finale also hinted at hope for the troubled company’s future.”  [NYP]

on April 06, 2010 at 8:10 AM

New York City Opera has announced its 2010-2011 season, and it looks like La Cieca’s precognitions were about 90% correct. (Please, hold your applause.)

on March 09, 2010 at 11:17 AM

New York City Opera’s latest mailing invites the gays to “Learn to French!”

on March 02, 2010 at 11:16 PM

Hey, remember how New York City Opera threw this big gala last fall to salute the billionaire teabagger, Astroturfer and enemy of Net Neutrality David H. Koch? Now, La Cieca is sure that in the intervening months you have been asking yourself, “What could NYCO possibly do to top this ill-advised exaltation of someone who…

on February 22, 2010 at 10:25 PM

La Cieca hears that a highlight of the 2010-2011 New York City Opera season will be the local premiere of Seance on a Wet Afternoon, the Stephen Schwartz tuner to star Lauren Flanigan.

on January 28, 2010 at 7:32 PM

The maniacal laughter of incorrigible NYCO nemesis Manuela Hoelterhoff continues to echo through the halls of Castle Bloomberg this morning, as yet another of the executive editor’s gang of henchscribes gloats over yesterday’s announcement of a curtailed season at the company that dared to snub Francesca Zambello. Poor paltry fools!

on January 07, 2010 at 11:57 AM

“There are thousands of papers, stretching back over hundreds of years, affecting Belle Reve as, piece by piece, our improvident grandfathers and father and uncles and brothers exchanged the land for their epic fornications — to put it plainly! The four-letter word deprived us of our plantation, till finally all that was left — and…

on January 06, 2010 at 12:02 PM

Here’s a rare glimpse of those bad old days at the (then) New York State Theater, before tens of millions of dollars were spent installing a sound enhancement system, ripping a sound enhancement system, and finally doing an acoustic overhaul. Note how distant and “small” the voices sounded back in 1976.

on December 20, 2009 at 12:54 AM

The amazing acute hearing of Anthony Tommasini detects an improvement in the acoustic of that place they used to call the New York State Theater, in fact, he’s willing to commit that the sound is “considerably better than it used to be.” Which is pretty fucking impressive, considering that the last time TT heard an…

on December 01, 2009 at 8:36 AM

Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center,  celebrated mastermind of the financial turnarounds of the Royal Opera, American Ballet Theatre the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, has some interesting advice for arts organizations in our current troubled times. His ideas take on a strong resonance, La Cieca thinks, when applied to our big New York opera…

on November 15, 2009 at 1:32 AM

The premiere of Hugo Weisgall’s 1993 Esther at New York City Opera occupied my mind for several days – though maybe not for the best reasons.  As I wrote earlier, it is a work that emanates, belatedly, from what might be called The Twelve-Tone Industrial Complex, that uptown conservatory lobby of the 1950s and 60s, which was…

on November 12, 2009 at 5:16 PM

“Beefcake and hamantaschen may seem an odd menu, but in the New York City Opera’s first season in two years, they somehow make a balanced meal.” [NY Post]

on November 10, 2009 at 7:52 AM

The day after opening the 2009-10 season with Hugo Weisgall’s Esther, New York City opera presented one of the most beloved operas in the entire repertoire, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in a new production by Christopher Alden.

on November 09, 2009 at 8:56 PM

Doubling down on its artistic mission, New York City Opera begins a tenuous season with a turgid Bible drama.

on November 08, 2009 at 7:52 PM

According to the always reliable Zachary Woolfe, among the beans spilled at the NYCO “Koch” Gala last night was the strong suggestion (from no less than Rufus Wainwright himself) that a production of Prima Donna is planned for an upcoming George Steel-planned season. [New York Observer]

on November 06, 2009 at 1:08 PM

“…this stage still has a tendency, it seems, to swallow some of the bloom and resonance of voices…. For both works, the orchestra came through just fine. Less so the voice, though the sound was honest and clear…. the amplification did not make these singers much more audible than those who sang the old-fashioned way….…

on November 06, 2009 at 8:05 AM
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