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.
Well, NachtundTraume buzzed in first with all eight names in the correct order for the “Mon coeur” quiz. Since this week’s Regie seems already to be a wash as a guessing game, La Cieca will try to keep you entertained with yet another performance of the celebrated selection from Samson et Dalila. Can you identify…
By La Cieca
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You can’t get anything past Our Own tannengrin, who almost immediately identified Simon Boccanegra as the subject of the most recent Regie quiz.Â
By La Cieca
After decades of acclaim both as a People’s Artist and as an international monstre sacré, what is left for a diva but to join in that hip-hop all the youngsters are doing these days? [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/BgC0jQq_AXI” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
By La Cieca
Eight Dalilas, courtesy of Our Own Sanford. Can you identify them? Mon coeur contest
By La Cieca
La Cieca hears that the “all 20th century” concept of the first Gerard Mortier season at NYCO may be subject to modification. According to an impeccably reliable source, the first season will include a rarely-seen French Grand Opera and an evening centered around pieces of Verdi done with a double chorus – one all African-American,…
By La Cieca
Let us put away gloomy thoughts for a while and enjoy the singing, acting, dancing and costume-changing skills of inimitable Anna Moffo. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/DfM4GxzNYWc” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
By La Cieca
Well, cher public, La Cieca thinks it’s safe to say that April 19, 2007 will stand in history as Andrea Gruber‘s Metropolitan Opera farewell. The soprano’s dates for Cavalleria Rusticana, her only appearances scheduled for the 2008-2009 season, have now been reassigned to Waltraud Meier and Ildikó Komlósi.
By La Cieca
That deucedly clever Bridget Jones was the first to guess the correct title for our previous Regie puzzler: Cavalli’s La Calisto it was! So now let’s all put on our thinking caps and decide which opera this might be: A REMINDER: if you have seen this production, please don’t blurt it out: the point of…
By La Cieca
Lego Opera returns with an adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen, courtesy of the gifted regisseur BarkingBartok. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/5p9lzLLT4A8″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
By La Cieca
A “lost” selection from a 1972 gala. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/2fBoaPF7F6U” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
By La Cieca
Can it be that in mid-July we are already thinking about the last days of summer? Well, La Cieca is, especially since she’s just found out that Robert Wilson‘s Byrd Hoffman Watermill Foundation will offer the unlikely duo of Rufus Wainwright and Jessye Norman in a concert entitled “Last Song of Summer” on August 30.…
By La Cieca
At long last, scent-lovers who want a perfume container that looks like the powder room chez Alberto Vilar will get their wish. The packaging for “La Voce Renée Fleming” has been unveiled!
By La Cieca
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/3mmpcdNNMos” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Thackeray Gnomey has already pointed out this video in the comments, but La Cieca feels with all her heart that it deserves a featured place on this site. Among the subtler pleasures of this cavalcade of visual filth: the expression of stoic acceptance on the face of Waltraud Meier.…
By La Cieca
British composer Keith Burstein, who ran up legal costs of £67,000 defending a test-case libel action, has been told he must declare bankruptcy if he wants to continue pursuing the case in a higher court. The libel complaint stems from critic Veronica Lee‘s review of Burstein’s opera, Manifest Destiny, performed at the Edinburgh Festival in August…
By La Cieca
But what could be a more perfect salute to Bastille Day than this celebrated 1989 video of Jessye Norman festooned in the Tricouleur and belting out “La Marseillaise?” Â [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/1QQ2k3UpHwQ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
By La Cieca
Cher public, you very nearly let La Cieca down with your guesses on last week’s Regie quiz. Until neiln007 rode to the last-minute rescue, nobody recognized Les Troyens among the white pantsuits and grand pianos. (The production, by the way, is from Stuttgart and directed by Joachim Schlömer.) And now, let’s take a look at…
By La Cieca
As if the aural presence of The Beautiful Voice were not enough to justify five-figure ticket prices, the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night on Monday, September 22 will feature four couture creations to bedeck Renée Fleming in her gala program. Fashion legends John Galliano, Christian Lacroix, and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel will design costumes for the star soprano’s…
By La Cieca
Glimpsed (left to right) after the Sunday performance of “Viva la Diva”: dancer Ralph Coppola, eponymous diva Dorothy Bishop, audience member
By La Cieca
According to boston.com, James Levine will miss the remainder of the season at Tanglewood in order to have a kidney removed. The maestro will require about six weeks of recuperation after the surgery. The Tanglewood season will continue as planned, with guest conductors taking over Levine’s eight scheduled dates.
By La Cieca
Glamazonian Grace Bumbry reveals her secret origin. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/9F-ewNUS6rU” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] More Bumbry palaver and some staged excerpts of her greatest roles (but aren’t they all?) may be found on Coloraturafan2‘s YouTube site.
By La Cieca
