A milestone of sorts is reached today at parterre.com: La Cieca and her team of experts have posted 7,000 articles on this WordPress-powered site since May 2005, when the hot operatic gossip of the day concerned Matthew Epstein and the art of the strip-tease. (La Cieca should emphasize that these were two unrelated stories.)  

During that same time, you, the cher public, have enriched the site with 369,137 comments.

And do keep in mind, cher public, that La Cieca’s column, then rather archly entitled “Questo e quello,” appeared online as early as 1997, when, as you can probably figure out for yourselves, she didn’t like much of anything then either.

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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