The end of glasnost? The end of glasnost?

When Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the mantle of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985, a palpable change was felt in the air, from Novosibirsk to East Berlin. Words like glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) began to replace the gradually outmoded Leninist philosophies that had become warped under Stalin and Andropov.

on May 22, 2012 at 12:31 PM

“’I’ve almost come to the conclusion that this Mr. Hitler isn’t a Christian,’ muses merry murderess Abby Brewster early in the first act of Arsenic and Old Lace, and to tell the truth I’m beginning to think I’m almost as far behind the curve as she was. Recent new productions at the Met suggest strongly…

on November 04, 2011 at 4:25 PM

When Peter Gelb really wants an artist at the Met, he pulls out all the stops. La Cieca hears that Bryn Terfel, on his way back to New York after a brief visit with his family back in Wales, arrived at the airport in the UK this morning only to discover he left his passport…

on September 08, 2010 at 9:11 PM

Finally, the background to the story that rocked the operatic world earlier this summer. Peter Stein withdrew from the Met’s Boris Godunov “because he felt offended by his treatment at the United States Consulate in Berlin when he applied for a work visa and by a lack of sympathy from Peter Gelb, the Met’s general…

on September 03, 2010 at 7:56 PM

Once again it takes an out-of-towner to write sensibly about Peter Gelb and the Met, though the “out of town” here refers only to geography: Anne Midgette is at heart and soul a New York newshen. [The Classical Beat]

on July 01, 2010 at 9:53 AM

The good news is that the Met reduced its operating deficit for 2008-2009 to $1.3 million, down from $12.2 million a year earlier. The bad news is the company’s assets fell by $72.6 million (down to $422.7 million) primarily because of investment losses. In other news, the Met paid James Levine a bit more than…

on June 17, 2010 at 10:00 AM

Intern JJ here, ready to go with live coverage of the Met’s 2010-2011 press announcement, which will begin in about 30 minutes. See you there, cher public! Latest coverage begins after the jump.  

on February 22, 2010 at 1:31 PM

The arts journalist La Cieca would like be when she grows up, Zachary Woolfe, continues his analysis of Peter Gelb‘s Met tenure — now all the more interesting since Joe Volpe has returned to the fold. [Observer]

on February 09, 2010 at 11:45 PM

Okay, La Cieca has sifted all the evidence thus far, and she has done Pravda-style scrutiny of what was said and what was left unsaid (particularly by Peter Gelb) in the most recent New York Times analysis of the issue, and ignoring the most recent Jeremiads from Rome on account of the fact that pretty…

on December 29, 2009 at 1:41 PM

Wow! That Daniel J. Wakin story appearing in tomorrow’s Times has everything but the bloodhounds snappin’ at Luc Bondy‘s rear end!

on December 21, 2009 at 11:43 PM

“The Metropolitan Opera’s Grand Revitalization Act” on the PBS NewsHour.

on December 07, 2009 at 11:22 PM

The Met’s new production of Janacek’s From the House of the Dead sets high standards for the company, but as an indicator of the Gelb Era, it may be too good to be true.

on November 18, 2009 at 12:14 AM

Is it just me, or does this seem like using From the House of the Dead as a club to beat a dead horse?

on November 14, 2009 at 8:09 PM

Our Own JJ interviews the Met’s general manager Peter Gelb in today’s New York Post.

on November 12, 2009 at 7:27 AM

La Cieca sat in on the “Cognitive Theater” discussion tonight at the New York Public Library, and the main impression she came away with is that Patrice Chéreau is a very quiet, soft-spoken man who happens to be a genius. (She was expecting something more fiery, but like many of the great divas, it seems…

on October 08, 2009 at 11:12 PM

The subject of the controversy: that most insidious and invasive attack on American culture since fluoridation or women’s suffrage, operatic stage direction. The conspirators: the ilk of Peter Gelb, Patrice Chéreau, Luc Bondy and Bartlett Sher, “instigated” by Paul Holdengräber. The meeting place: that hotbed of radical thought the New York Public Library (Fifth Avenue at…

on October 07, 2009 at 12:27 PM

Where else? [NYT]

on September 22, 2009 at 11:58 PM

Zachary Woolfe asks the musical question, “Who is this Peter Gelb anyway?” [NY Observer]

on September 09, 2009 at 11:35 AM

So, cher public, those of you who are buying tickets for the Met today. What’s the experience like?

on August 16, 2009 at 1:41 PM

Angela Gheorghiu, not to be outdone by Anna Netrebko‘s cancellation of Violetta in 2010, has just announced that she will not sing Carmen in 2009. According to the Romanian diva’s website, “With deep regret Angela Gheorghiu has to announce that she has to withdraw just from the new production of CARMEN at the MET later…

on August 12, 2009 at 7:50 AM

Anna Netrebko will not sing Violetta in New York during the 2010-2011 season, La Cieca has learned. The long-expected La traviata (as discussed on Met Futures and elsewhere) was to be a version of the Willy Decker production the soprano did at Salzburg in 2005. According to an interview the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Netrebko has…

on August 09, 2009 at 11:54 AM

“The Met now presents works by directors like Luc Bondy or Patrice Chereau – the people who worked in Europe 20 years ago and whose work was derided from afar.” Once she gets past the librettese (“derided from afar?”) La Cieca thinks she will like this Nikolaus Bachler. [Deutsche Welle]

on July 23, 2009 at 3:56 PM

The fucking genius of Peter Gelb just opened a new and heretofore unexpected orifice.  Encouraged by the success of the Met’s HD movie broadcasts, The National Theatre in London earlier this evening telecast its production of Phèdre starring Helen Mirren into 300 cinemas around the world. Photo by Catherine Ashmore. [One Cold Hand – NYC]

on June 25, 2009 at 11:21 PM

Twice the negativity from La Cieca apparently works out to something positive, or at least an affirmation of the status quo. Which is to say, according to a source fairly close to the Met, the Robert Lepage production of the Ring is still on. The less than rapturous reception last week at the presentation to…

on May 08, 2009 at 7:32 PM