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.
Our Own JJ takes on an old frame (Der Rosenkavalier) and a new (Eugene Onegin) in his latest review for the New York Observer.
Our weekly find from the Mike Richter collection: Le nozze di Figaro from the Bayerische Staatsoper with a geniunely A-list cast.
As the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of parterre box continue, La Cieca (left) introduces a new feature: each week, a vintage issue of parterre box, the queer opera zine, scanned into PDF format for handy download!
Twenty years ago, a sad and lonely gay man sat down with a pair of scissors and a glue stick and said, “I think I’ll make a magazine.”
Today would have been the 90th birthday of the quintessential prima donna.
“There’s no hiding it. I find some passages of Wagner insufferably tedious.”
As we wait for Tuesday’s festivities, cher public, let’s pass the time with conversation about off-topic and general interest subjects.
Why Rufus Wainwright is turning a Roman emperor into a cock…
“Nicholas Hytner‘s ENO production of Xerxes, unveiled on the 300th anniversary of Handel’s birth and packed with visual conceits, might be seen as marking the beginning of the modern Handel renaissance on stage.”
Jane Archibald will sing the role of Adele in all 14 performances of the new production of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus at the Met this season.
Among the many reasons La Cieca has to be thankful: the legacy of Mike Richter on his CD-ROMs.
“She said also her costume would probably be ‘a blaze of jewels,’ patterned after the image of a Madonna she saw in Rome last year…”
Soprano Anna Netrebko and bass-baritone Erwin Schrott have amicably ended their relationship after six years because of their “demanding schedules and the resulting constant time apart.”
What looks to be a very provocative production of Die Frau ohne Schatten (directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski) is the next STAATSOPER.TV presentation from the Bayerische Staatsoper.
It’s that time of year, cher public, when we give thanks for our off-topic and general interest discussions.
Attendees of tomorrow’s parterre meet and greet (pictured) are reminded that Our Own JJ will be available in the Bar Thalia area of Symphony Space beginning at 2:00 for ticket pickup.
La Cieca invites all the cher public to participate in tonight’s chat session at La Casa della Cieca during the Met’s season premiere of Der Rosenkavalier, beginning at 6:55 pm.
“It’s often said that Verdi wrote [Violetta’s] music with three different voices in mind: a light, leggero soprano for the first act, a lyric voice for the second and a dramatic for the third.”
An auction of the meager remains of the bankrupt New York City Opera’s property musical instruments, some bits of scenery and costumes is scheduled for December 12.
Our weekly peek into the Mike Richter treasure trove yields a live recording from his “Operas of Richard Strauss” CD-ROM, Die Frau ohne Schatten from the Bayerische Staatsoper on July 16, 1988.
La Cieca is putting the final touches on Sunday afternoon’s meet-greet-and-Vêpres event.
Berliners anxious about casting of the Staatsoper’s new staging of Il trovatore since Aleksandrs Antonenko canceled can breathe a sigh of relief, since tenor Gaston Rivero (pictured) will jump in as Manrico.
Says the Met press office, “Erin Morley will sing the role of Sophie in all performances of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier this season…”
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
