Headshot of La Cieca

Cher Public

  • Ercole Farnese: Mr. Mack has been way too lenient towards Ms. Voigt. I haven’t seen/heard this DVD, so I... 6:59 AM
  • Feldmarschallin: The new Siegfried which opens on Pfinstsonntag at BSO. Funny that Lance Ryan sounds Eastern... 2:56 AM
  • MontyNostry: … and does Stemme’s voice really have a “bright sheen”? Oh, I’d... 2:55 AM
  • MrGuy1804: You are right on the money. I was not terribly impressed with any of the singing. There were a few... 12:29 AM
  • Camille: That was fun, thanks! I had completely forgotten Eastern Airlines, the Wings of Man. With a name like... 12:22 AM
  • Henry Holland: Thanks! Too bad they didn’t do Der Zwerg instead of the (wonderful) Puccini. The LA Opera... 12:09 AM
  • Camille: Thanks Blue, for the review. Lord, what are “earthy colorings”? 12:06 AM
  • Gualtier M: Here is Carmelita Pope in the actual 70′s era Pam commercial at 2:36 in: httpv://www.you... 12:03 AM

She aches just like a woman, but she breaks just like a little girl

vocal_cords“’Voice’ is a feminine noun is Spanish, and therefore, must be treated with love and attention, like a woman. This is where the secret lies.” [PanArmenian.net]

Iphigénie en arrière-fond

iphigenie“This company premiere features an outstanding cast led by soprano Patricia Racette, ‘the consummate singing actress’ (Chicago Tribune).” [Washington National Opera]

Voilà donc la terrible idée!

domingo_thumbLa Cieca hears that Placido (“Simon Boccanegra is the only baritone role I’m interested in singing”) Domingo is going to expand his repertoire yet again, to Athanaël in Thaïs, sometime in 2012. The role after that, La Cieca hears, will be eponymous, but as of now the title is known to only a few chosen people.

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Domingo ankles DC

Placido Domingo will not renew his Washington National Opera contract when it expires in June 2011. Anne Midgette has the story! [Washington Post]

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“Style, not sincerity, is the vital thing”

Now, don’t you go thinking that Peter Gelb doesn’t listen to his public, which intersects quite steeply, of course, with the cher public.  For instance, just the other day La Cieca and a couple of others were lamenting that opera has lost some of it mad silly gay folie lately. Lo and behold, today it appears that Met is putting together what looks to be the mad silly gay camp highlight of the 2011-2012 season, a baroque pastiche called The Enchanted Island. 

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E pluribus unum

It looks like the Washington National Opera is going to be absorbed by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. [Wall Street Journal]

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Hunch confirmed

“Internationally acclaimed opera singer and arts administrator Plácido Domingo, General Director of Washington National Opera (WNO), will lead a group of his protégés in a concert performance of Verdi’s Rigoletto on August 2, 2010, at Beijing’s Reignwood Theater…. The concert performance marks the first time that Domingo, a legendary tenor who has recently made highly praised forays into the baritone repertoire, will sing the baritone role of Rigoletto. [Washington National Opera]

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Three score and ten?

“I’ve been moving on stage all my life and I can still manage long rehearsal periods, so I feel fine in the right repertoire…. I just don’t want to go further than I should. I suppose there’s a certain limit: I don’t want to be 70 and still singing opera. I don’t think I will still be singing on 21 January 2011, which is my 70th birthday.” So does this mean Plácido Domingo‘s farewell to the operatic stage is only half a year away?  UPDATE: Domingo’s publicist says this is “a quote from quite a while ago I believe. He [...]

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