Hotter than hot! Newer than new! Hotter than hot! Newer than new!

Thanks to La Cieca’s extensive network of spies, she is able to present for your perusal, cher public, the proposal for the revival of the New York City Opera presented by the higher bidder for the company.

on February 02, 2015 at 8:32 PM
It’s today! It’s today!

La Cieca’s spy informs her that the Met will announce its 2014-2015 “Wednesday evening.” Watch parterre.com starting at 4:00 pm tomorrow for up-to-the-minute coverage.

on February 12, 2014 at 4:00 PM
Don’t bother with a rewrite Don’t bother with a rewrite

La Cieca’s operative deep in the bowels of the Josie Robertson Plaza has just informed her that the announcement of the Met’s 2014-2015 season is now less than two weeks away.

on January 30, 2014 at 3:25 PM
The lady in question The lady in question

… is Anna Netrebko, performing “Vieni, t’affretta” from Verdi’s Macbeth at tonight’s opening gala at the Mariinsky.

on May 02, 2013 at 6:37 PM
First sip First sip

UPDATE: A video preview of the new Elisir follows the jump.

on September 20, 2012 at 4:30 PM
Suppose they gave a Ring and no one came Suppose they gave a Ring and no one came

For whatever reason (Lack of James Levine? Incompetence of Robert LePage? The economy? Wagner overload?), next season’s Ring cycle at the Met doesn’t seem to be selling.

on August 03, 2012 at 12:40 PM
Recovered girl Recovered girl

Here’s a bit of good news for all you Traviata fans with tickets for tomorrow night’s Met performance or Saturday afternoon’s HD.

on April 09, 2012 at 8:51 PM

After today’s Met dress rehearsal of The Enchanted Island, La Cieca’s spy (pictured) reports: “You would think that if they had the entire Baroque canon to mine, they would’ve chosen music that wasn’t slow, dull, and long.  In Peter Gelb‘s opening remarks, he called it ‘the Met’s Baroque Coming Out party,’ which makes me think this entire endeavor was…

on December 28, 2011 at 10:43 PM

La Cieca has just heard that 800 tickets for the public dress rehearsal of the Met’s new Enchanted Island production will be distributed starting at noon tomorrow. The rehearsal will be Wednesday, December 28 at 10:30am, and naturally your doyenne encourages spies, agents, operatives, sleuths, snoops, spooks and spotters to attend this sneak preview and to…

on December 17, 2011 at 11:19 AM

Barihunk Mariusz Kwiecien injured his handsome back during today’s dress rehearsal of Don Giovanni at the Met and was taken to the hospital, tweets Dan Wakin. As La Cieca writes this, Kwiecien’s cover Dwayne Croft is at the Met rehearsing the opera’s first act swordfight.  

on October 10, 2011 at 3:40 PM

Today is the dress rehearsal/preview of Anna Bolena at the Met, and naturally La Cieca has infiltrated the event with a veritable phalanx of spies. After the jump: all your latest Anna Netrebko related news.

on September 22, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Will the real Odabella please stand up? Will the real Odabella please stand up?

La Cieca’s operative in San Francisco writes: “SFO’s marketing for the upcoming production of Attila has offered a rotating door of Odabellas. Sadly, as of the latest update, I’m fearing the musical chairs may have landed on the least favorable of the announced divas.”

on July 21, 2011 at 11:20 AM

You perhaps will not be completely flabbergasted that La Cieca has a spy following the Met’s Japan tour (pictured). The reports thus far (I mean, once the ragtag band of misfits finally landed in the Land of the Rising Sun) are not particularly scandalous, but, please give our operative time!

on June 10, 2011 at 12:13 PM

La Cieca’s spy reports from the Met: “A promising and delightful final dress of Ariadne yesterday.”

on May 05, 2011 at 11:28 AM

You really didn’t think your doyenne would let a top-secret dress rehearsal at the Met slip away without getting an exclusive on-the-scene report for you, the cher public? Now, did you? Well, if you did, you’re wrong, because La Cieca’s mole (pictured) has filed the following report:

on April 19, 2011 at 11:24 PM

A faithful spy reports from the Met: “Today’s final dress of Wozzeck went very well, to say the least…. The small ‘closed’ audience cheered at the end. Waltraud Meier turned toward the wings when it was time for the maestro to take his curtain calll, but returned to her place without him. Suddenly, there [James…

on April 04, 2011 at 6:33 PM

There were a disproportionate number of young people at the Met today—even younger than me, which is really young. That made me happy and smile while filing in line to enter the auditorium. Hopefully this is the next generation of undying fans and queens about to plunge into a “new” world of opera spearheaded by…

on January 31, 2011 at 4:31 PM

La Cieca’s spy wriggled into last night’s Met dress rehearsal of La traviata and reports: “One has to be careful about making too many judgments or drawing too many conclusions from a rehearsal, but last night’s final dress was indeed very promising.”

on December 29, 2010 at 11:08 AM

After a rather long afternoon at the Met, a member of the cher public writes: “The Don Carlo final dress was worth catching.” Our spy has more to say after the jump.

on November 19, 2010 at 6:19 PM

I saw the final dress rehearsal of Adriana Lecouvreur at the Royal Opera House on Monday this week, and I think I have never seen the place so crowded for such an event. No wonder, for here was a cast you might dream of, in a highly finished piece of work mounted by one of…

on November 18, 2010 at 11:15 AM

Stephen Wadsworth‘s vision of Boris Godunov will be more limited than Peter Stein‘s—at least so far as timing goes. Though the original director’s version would not have run anything near as long as his 12 hour Devils on Governor’s Island last summer, Wadsworth found a way to make the production both lighter in weight and…

on October 02, 2010 at 1:23 PM

The fact: the rainbow bridge worked tonight in Rheingold at the Met, and the effect was “spectacular.” (All right, that last part was an opinion. But, moving on.) The rumor: “everyone” at the Met knew “well in advance” that the rainbow bridge would not be attempted at Monday night’s opening performance.

on September 30, 2010 at 11:49 PM

Is it really true—the rumor La Cieca just now invented out of whole cloth—that René Pape will play Boris Godunov as an eccentric Chanel couturier? Cher public, you’ll have the chance to find out even before opening night of the Met’s new production of the Mussorgsky epic, since the company is making available making 2,000…

on September 30, 2010 at 12:35 PM

La Cieca’s newest and nicest trickster god Fartnose McGoo (pictured) attended a lecture at the Met tonight introducing the new production of Das Rheingold. After the jump, some of his observations.

on September 22, 2010 at 10:16 PM