So Christine Brewer has fired her agent at IMG for, the soprano says, “multi-booking” her next spring for The Sound of Music at Lyric Opera of Chicago and a concert gig with the St. Louis Symphony. This smells fishy to me.

Why would Brewer sign the contract with LOC and allow her name to be announced as far back as July 29 if she knew she had a St. Louis engagement already during the April-May Sound of Music period—as announced in a press release from February of 2012? Brewer doesn’t have the busiest schedule, after all.

The upshot of all this, though, is that for all her protests that St. Louis is very dear and important to her, Brewer is not singing with the Symphony there this season; she’s doing the LOC gig instead. I just don’t quite see why this is all the manager’s fault—except that everything that goes wrong in a singer’s career is the manager’s fault, by default. [via Slipped Disc]

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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