Our own JJ reflects on a pair of French operas, Roméo et Juliette and L’africaine, neither of which you could exactly call “grand.” [New York Post]

on March 07, 2011 at 8:29 AM

La Cieca is delighted to note that philanthropist Agnes Varis (not pictured, obviously) will subsidize 500 premium seats at Avery Fisher Hall for the Opera Orchestra of New York’s performance of Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine conducted by Music Director Eve Queler on March 2, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.  

on February 08, 2011 at 2:42 PM

In 1890 Cavalleria rusticana had taken the whole world by storm and in the next decade or so, hordes of composers, willing or unwillingly, jumped on the Verismo bandwagon.  La navarraise (1894) is generally considered Jules Massenet’s homage to the genre, and for a long time the two works were often performed together.   Emma Calvé,…

on October 27, 2010 at 10:11 AM

Roberto Alagna, star of tonight’s pair of one-acters by Opera Orchestra of New York, discusses divorce and desserts with Our Own JJ. [New York Post]

on October 25, 2010 at 8:20 AM

Opera Orchestra of New York will jump-start its new incarnation in 2010-11 with a double bill of La Navarraise (Roberto Alagna, Elina Garanca) and Cavalleria rusticana (Alagna again, with Maria Guleghina and Mignon Dunn[!!!]), conducted by Music Director Designate Alberto Veronesi at Carnegie Hall on October 25.  Eve Queler returns to the podium for L’Africaine…

on June 24, 2010 at 1:59 PM

La Cieca hears that Opera Orchestra of New York’s 2010-2011 season will represent a step up from last two years of stopgap recitals as well as a step back from the three-opera seasons of yore.  

on June 12, 2010 at 11:26 PM

Alberto Veronesi has been appointed Music Director of Opera Orchestra of New York, effective in the 2011-12 season. He will succeed OONY founder Eve Queler, who will become Conductor Laureate once Veronesi’s initial five-year tenure begins.

on January 26, 2010 at 1:33 PM

La Cieca has just heard that Opera Orchestra of New York will cancel the remainder of their 2009 season, which was to have consisted of Rienzi on March 19 and Medea on April 21.

on January 28, 2009 at 8:15 AM

La Cieca doesn’t envy OONY’s Eve Queler, who sadly seems to be having her usual hard luck with casting. Word on the street is that Queler spent most of last week trying to find a tenor to replace the ailing(?) Yegishe Manucharyan in The Tsar’s Bride. As of today, the role is still TBA, barely…

on September 11, 2008 at 10:32 PM

Speaking of Broadway, David Merrick once said (if La Cieca recalls correctly) that even though Pearl Bailey played Hello, Dolly! for only one season, the legendary diva managed to squeeze in two seasons’ worth of cancellations. A roughly similar situation may be observed at Opera Orchestra of New York, a company that does only three performances…

on June 16, 2008 at 5:22 PM

In news that La Cieca is pretty sure has fallen far below Jeffrey Vanderveen‘s radar screen, a further casting rumor for next season’s Rienzi at Opera Orchestra of New York has emerged. As if Lauren Flanigan (Irene) were not superstar enough to supply name recognition for the company’s 47th production of the Wagner opus, the…

on May 29, 2008 at 12:21 PM

In what will surely be a highlight of the 2008-2009 musical season here in Gotham, mean, moody, magnificent (and blogorific!) Aprile Millo is set to perform the title role in Cherubini’s Medée with Opera Orchestra of New York under the baton of Eve Queler. Other presentations in the concert company’s repertoire do not perhaps set…

on April 08, 2008 at 11:36 PM