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.
La Cieca hears that a highlight of the 2010-2011 New York City Opera season will be the local premiere of Seance on a Wet Afternoon, the Stephen Schwartz tuner to star Lauren Flanigan.
Join La Cieca tonight for a chat saluting the Met farewell (and 2,928th performance) of character tenor Charles Anthony.
Legendary diva Raina Kabaivanska, who announced her farewell to opera her two years ago as the Countess in Queen of Spades, has changed her mind. The soprano has accepted the leading role in Nino Rota‘s opera buffa La scuola di guida (The Driving School), as a woman who falls in love with her driving instructor.…
At the Met, Viktoria Vizin will sing the title role in Bizet’s Carmen tonight, replacing Olga Borodina, who is announced as “ill.”
1. Webcast technology has been refined enormously in the barely two years since the pioneering (and frustrating) effort at streaming a performance of Il Sant’Alessio. The embeddable (!) player didn’t skip once that I could see, and the sound was consistent. Neither, obviously, was exactly HD quality, but the experience felt quite seamless.
The beloved composer would have been 254 years old today had he not died such a long time ago. La Cieca invites her cher public to share publicly favorite YouTube clips, and those of you who have personal reminiscences of W.A.M. are invited to get them off your chest sooner rather than later, what with…
No, Ann Murray will not perform the role of the Marquise de Berkenfield at the Met, as announced previously when Felicity Palmer withdrew from the role. With Jean Rigby and Rebecca de Pont Davies booked up years in advance, the Met will muddle through somehow with Meredith Arwady, who hails from a place implausibly called…
Coming up at 2:30, the webcast of Werther from the Opéra Bastille featuring Jonas Kaufmann. [ARTE Live Web]
Alberto Veronesi has been appointed Music Director of Opera Orchestra of New York, effective in the 2011-12 season. He will succeed OONY founder Eve Queler, who will become Conductor Laureate once Veronesi’s initial five-year tenure begins.
A confab with our redoubtable Internets Guru Nick Scholl just now resulted in two innovations. First, for those of you who want a quick and handy way to keep up with recent comments, there is now a comments feed button in the left navigation bar just beneath the display of the most recent mots from…
“Although they work in different genres, both Plácido Domingo and Elaine Stritch continue to impress and inspire with their dedication to stretching their talents in new directions.” If only Charles Isherwood could somehow have found a way to mention Israel, he’d have created the platonic ideal of a Times arts story. [NYT]
“Oh God! Oh justice dear to God! Oh light of the sun!” La Divina discusses her cinematic debut.
Our Own Ercole Farnese exercised his sharp eye for detail almost before La Cieca got the most recent Regie quiz posted: within 25 minutes he identified the work in question as Norma. We have video of the controversial Peter Mussbach staging after the jump.
UPDATE: Dessay has “just now” confirmed she will go on for tonight’s performance, which begins in about 15 minutes.
La Cieca has heard a few complaints that the “threaded” comments format (you know, “2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.2.1,” etc.) can be difficult to untangle for occasional visitors. While we’re not quite up to unthreading the comments, we do want to keep the cher public happy. So what do you think about the following options for…
A drag queen friend of La Cieca’s — long before she was La Cieca — used to have an expression she to describe the terminally inept. The queen would say, “That guy could screw up a blowjob.” By which she meant, of course, receiving a blowjob, i.e., just sitting there, or standing there or whatever.
On this upcoming otherwise dreary Tuesday afternoon, La Cieca hopes the cher public will all be figuratively glued to their PCs and Macs for a live web telecast of Werther from the Opéra-Bastille.
In Zurich, the 20th century has apparently never ended. Opening on Thursday, a “revival” of Nabucco conducted by Nello Santi, directed by Jonathan Miller, and starring Maria Guleghina (Abigaille), Juan Pons (Nabucco) and Carlo Colombara (Zaccaria). Unfortunately, budget constraints prevent us from hearing the Fenena of Agnes Baltsa…
Could there be any more “parterre” a way to spend a Saturday afternoon than listening to a broadcast from half a century ago of what must surely rank among the queerest operas ever written? Don’t bother to answer that, it’s a rhetorical question, and while we’re on the subject, you do not know how to…
Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky offer an object lesson in the traditional old school performance practice of “lurch and flail” operatic acting.
“In two Verdi operas per formed less than a week apart, legendary tenor Plácido Domingo revealed that, as a conductor, he makes an OK baritone.” Our Own JJ reviews Simon Boccanegra and Stiffelio at the Met. [NYP]
Spring must be near, because the little birds are beginning to sing! After the jump, some very specific specifics about the 2010-2011 Metropolitan Opera schedule.
Long may you multitask!
“Opera singer” Katherine Jenkins canceled her appearance at last night’s National Television Awards due to (wait for it!) a “chest infection.” [digital spy]
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
