Winter camp
By
La Cieca
The hallmark of Camp is the spirit of extravagance. Camp taste turns its back on the good-bad axis of ordinary aesthetic judgment. Camp doesn’t reverse things. It doesn’t argue that the good is bad, or the bad is good. What it does is to offer for art (and life) a different — a supplementary — set of standards. (Susan Sontag, Notes on Camp) La Cieca extravagantly presents her very favorite camp opera, Salome, starring Leonie Rysanek in a live performance from Vienna in 1972. It’s the latest “Unnatural Act of Opera.”
La Cieca
James Jorden (who wrote under the names "La Cieca" and "Our Own JJ") was the founder and editor of parterre box. During his 20 year career as an opera critic he wrote for the New York Times, Opera, Gay City News, Opera Now, Musical America and the New York Post. He also raised his voice in punditry on National Public Radio. From time to time he directed opera, including three unsuccessful productions of Don Giovanni. He also contributed a regular column on opera for the New York Observer. James died in October 2023.
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People: Leonie Rysanek, Susan Sontag
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Works: Salome
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Places & Organizations: Vienna State Opera
