La Cieca
James Jorden (who writes under the names "La Cieca" and "Our Own JJ") is the founder and editor of parterre box. During his 20 year career as an opera critic he has written for the New York Times, Opera, Gay City News, Opera Now, Musical America and the New York Post. He has also raised his voice in punditry on National Public Radio. From time to time he has directed opera, including three unsuccessful productions of Don Giovanni, a work he hopes to return to someday. Currently he alternates his doyenne duties with writing a weekly column on opera for the New York Observer.
No press release yet, but a couple of cher pubes have written to La Cieca noting that the name of Bruce Ford has disappeared from cast listings of the Met’s Armida, replaced by John Osborn.
By La Cieca
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This just in from the Met press office: “Giovanni Meoni will sing the role of Ezio in Verdi’s Attila on February 27, March 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 19, replacing Carlos Alvarez, who is ill.” (Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera) UPDATED: Note the correction above, i.e., Meoni is currently announced only for the performances to…
By La Cieca
What better way to stay warm (and to avoid falling branches) than to enjoy Our Own JJ in a rare symposium appearance? The bloviation transpires this afternoon, and details are after the jump.
By La Cieca
That Issac Mizrahi production of A Little Night Music for Opera Theater of St. Louis just got even gay gay gay gay gayer with the announcement of legendary diva Siân Phillips in the role of Madame Armfeldt. Also appearing will be notable non-slouches Amy Irving as Desiree and Ron Raines as Fredrik. [OTSL]
By La Cieca
Impresarios from Cornwall to Caithness are delighted to hear today that another traditionally Albion-adminstered opera company has begun the succession process with the search for a new heir-presumptive. Or, in other words, Glimmerglass General and Artistic Director Michael MacLeod is out the door at the end of the 2010 season, and now we just have…
By La Cieca
“Anna Netrebko‘s gorgeous lyric soprano proved an ideal fit for the role of tubercular seamstress Mimi. Like a great wine, her voice is sweet but complex, vivid with overtones. She acted with a calm, fatalistic quality, even in the death scene, where many singers overdo the coughing. Here Netrebko suggested waning strength by gradually letting…
By La Cieca
“It is easy to understand why Mr. Muti admires Mr. Abdrazakov, his young, imposing Attila.” [NYT]
By La Cieca
“On her new album, Dark Hope, opera star Renee Fleming takes a ‘visit to a new, parallel universe.’ … Dark Hope finds ‘The People’s Diva’ covering songs by Muse, Arcade Fire, The Mars Volta, Death Cab For Cutie, Leonard Cohen, Band Of Horses, and more.”
By La Cieca
“After 130 years, you’d think the Met has done everything at least once. But Tuesday was a night full of firsts…” Our own JJ, if by no means as thorough as Johnny Weird, has his own thoughts about the Met’s Attila. [New York Post]
By La Cieca
The tutelary diva of parterre.com is 76 years young today.
By La Cieca
You’ve done it again, cher public: that is, you’ve set a new record here at parterre.com. The busy activity yesterday including the discussion of the Met’s 2010-2011 season led to the highest number of visits on a single day in parterre.com history: 5,857!
By La Cieca
Hey, remember how New York City Opera threw this big gala last fall to salute the billionaire teabagger, Astroturfer and enemy of Net Neutrality David H. Koch? Now, La Cieca is sure that in the intervening months you have been asking yourself, “What could NYCO possibly do to top this ill-advised exaltation of someone who…
By La Cieca
Tomorrow night’s performance of Attila promises to be a visual feast, especially for those of us whose visual aesthetic was crystallized in the 1960s era of gigantic hair, pearlized eyeshadow, liquid eyeliner and sharply tailored sportswear. And Violeta Urmana‘s look is pretty fierce too!
By La Cieca
Above, the cutest press photo released today by the Met. (Juan Diego Flórez in the title role of Rossini’s “Le Comte Ory.” Photo: Micaela Rossato / Metropolitan Opera.) Following the jump: more preview images of the Met’s other six new productions of the 2010-2011 season.
By La Cieca
La Cieca hears that Placido Domingo has withdrawn from Tamerlano at ROH due to ill health and is rumored to be in hospital. Kurt Streit will now sing all performances.
By La Cieca
Per the Met press office, “Giovanni Meoni will make his Met debut singing the role of Ezio in the premiere of Verdi’s Attila, tomorrow evening, replacing Carlos Alvarez, who is ill.”
By La Cieca
You can stop all your wondering about who will play Anna Nicole Smith in the eponymous oeuvre by Mark-Anthony Turnage (The Silver Tassie) and Richard Thomas (Jerry Springer: the Opera), scheduled for a premiere at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden in February 2011. It’s Eva-Maria Westbroek, seen here in the (ahem) Titelpartie of Lady Macbeth…
By La Cieca
“The Met’s been cleaning house of its lavish Franco Zeffirelli productions, mothballing his Tosca and Carmen earlier this season. But his staging of Puccini’s La Boheme remains a keeper, packing a punch 28 years after its premiere.” Our Own JJ goes gaga for Anna in the New York Post.
By La Cieca
Ordinarily La Cieca bestows the Wildean accolade upon a local cher pube. This time, though, she cannot resist praising one of the commentariat at Unpop!, Daniel Stephen Johnson‘s new project over at the New Haven Advocate.
By La Cieca
La Cieca has just heard from a generally reliable source that one of the principal artists has withdrawn from all performances of Attila at the Met. We’ve emailed the company’s press office for confirmation of the rumor.
By La Cieca
It is not perhaps so surprising that even with the cleverest of the cher public participating, nobody jumped in with the right answer for last week’s Regie quiz. After all, the work depicted was Die Blume von Hawaii, the 1931 operetta composed, as you all know, by Paul Abraham to a libretto by Alfred Grünwald,…
By La Cieca
Three seasons of cancellations, a schlocky “reality” show, that haircut, and now… Rolando Villazón has gone full “Dr. Patch.” [Yahoo News]
By La Cieca
Let’s get conversational this afternoon, cher public, for the Met broadcast of Ariadne auf Naxos.
By La Cieca
