The usually competitive cher public did not, for once, leap at the chance to flaunt their knowledge of operatic trivia, hmmm. And so, La Cieca is delighted to name as winner of the Winner Takes It All competition littoraldrift, even though his (her?) answers were only almost completely right.

The final Met performance of Teresa Stratas was, in fact, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny on December 9, 1995, though about the other facts about her career littoraldrift was spot on.

The National Council class with the ready-made Ariadne cast La Cieca was thinking of was that of 1968, when the winners included Jessye Norman, Ruth Welting, William Cochran and Gwendolyn Jones, though the citation of the cast from the “jackpot year” of 1988 was at least as valid.

And, finally, Marilyn Horne and Jerry Hadley did record that duet, but they were not winners of the Auditions of the Air. However, Rise Stevens and Robert Merrill did win that competition and recorded the Berlin duet as well.

But, as the saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes and opera trivia, so congratulations to littoraldrift, who should email La Cieca to receive tickets to the  concert in the intimate ambiance of WQXR’s Greene Space, hosted by Eric Owens on March 11.