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.
In honor of the upcoming Met Opening Night, here’s a singer identification quiz featuring, for a change, music for a tenor: the climactic phrase from Otello’s third act monologue.
“It’s in the ‘Behind the Scenes’ section of the Lady Gaga issue, involving Brian Mitchell, archivist and occasional child wrangler with the Houston Grand Opera.”
Here Danielle de Niese throws an ecdysiastical twist into a medley from The Sound of Music.
“Jonas Kaufmann, the German singer who performed Rule Britannia, looked delighted as he was pelted with lacey undergarments from female fans.”
The clear winner of the “Dinner for Schmuck” competition is DharmaBray‘s succulent menu.
The strange and deeply moving production of La bohème by Stefan Herheim for Den Norske Opera begins at 1:00 PM EDT this afternoon. You can watch it here on parterre, after the jump.
Jonas Kaufmann’s new Puccini album (the new one on Sony, not the repackaged one on Decca) is being previewed by NPR.
Dmitri Hvorostovsky has withdrawn from three performances of Verdi’s Il Trovatore at the Met this season, on October 7, 10, and 17.
In celebration of the impending retirement of San Francisco Opera’s head honcho David Gockley, La Cieca proposed a quick midweek competition, with a first prize of not having dinner with San Francisco Opera’s head honcho David Gockley.
“Those kids in Bushwick have this opera thing figured out.”
What better way to prepare for the exciting impending season than to salute our sponsor for September, Carnegie Hall?
Manuela Hoelterhoff is retiring from Bloomberg News.
Anna Netrebko adds yet another veristic aria to her burgeoning repertoire: “L’altra notte in fondo al mare” from Boito’s Mefistofele.
This video everything: transgender muses, planted hecklers, Offenbach, serendipitous allusions to Caitlyn Jenner, reassigned music and the origin of the world.
“She was literally mobbed by matinee girls of Berlin, and it required the efforts of a dozen policemen to rescue Miss Farrar from her young admirers.”
“But enough about Lou Tellegen,” Miss Farrar snapped.
“What perhaps allowed me to hear past the surface of Cold Mountain was access to a piano-reduction score while the piece was still being written—a copy I discovered in a Dumpster near Higdon’s Philadelphia apartment, discarded only because it was misformatted.”
“To mark the book’s publication, and to manifest the spirit of linguistic improvisation, Koestenbaum will perform piano miniatures (Scriabin, Chopin, Fauré, Milhaud, Poulenc) while incanting spontaneous Sprechstimme-style soliloquies.”
La Cieca is positively brimming with excitement to bring you an exclusive interview with @FakeNLebrecht, connoisseur of sick notes, writer of fiction and obituaries.
“She sounds the note of deep pathos in both action and song convincingly, and last night won the tribute of tears from many eyes.”
“Wolfram von Eschenbach is played by the up and coming German baritone Daniel Schmutzhard.”
Jamie Barton will add a new role to her Met repertory this season when she sings Giovanna Seymour in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena.
The reviews for Geraldine Farrar‘s Metropolitan Opera debut (Opening Night of the 1906-1907 season) could almost have been written by her own mother.
The Metropolitan Opera just announced that Mary Jo Heath, who has worked as a producer and guest host for the company over the past nine seasons, will become the fourth full-time radio host in the company’s history this September.
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
