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.
A reader sends this screenshot from his amazon.com account:
UPDATE: We have a winner! Francesco guesses all 12 divas correctly at 2:09 AM today, narrowly defeating Pedro, who achieved another perfect score only three hours later. Congratulations to both gentlemen. The rest of you may continue to play just for fun, and La Cieca will post the solution to the quiz on Friday. The…
La Cieca has just heard that Nancy Fabiola Herrera will sing the title role of Carmen tonight at the Met, replacing the ailing Olga Borodina.
La Cieca is happy to report that you, cher public, have made the Amazon Associates Program a rousing success, generating considerable income for the improvement and expansion of parterre.com. Over the past four months, you have purchased literally hundreds of items, of which the most popular can be seen right after the jump:
In contrast to some of our former Regie subjects, this production certainly appears to be set realistically in period. So it should be child’s play for you, cher public, to name the opera. (As always, if you know this production, hold your tongue while others guess!)
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No doubt about it, Stephanie Blythe needs to get another picture taken for the New York Times. (It was unflattering enough the first time around.) On the other hand, it’s nice to have a general manager who says things like “I worship the ground Stephanie Blythe walks on,” and (ever adept at providing a mini-scoop)…
On February 9, Eva Marton joined the very select sorority of sopranos who have sung all three leading female roles in Elektra when she made her role debut as Klytämnestra at Liceu in Barcelona. (Come to think of it, there are only two other members of that club, Dame Gwyneth Jones and Leonie Rysanek!) La…
Well, it says so right there on Page Six, you know it must be true: Michael Stipe injures his leg in a go-carting accident, The Duchess of York is accused of destroying the Brazilian coastline, and THE hipster intelligentsia flocked to Brooklyn Tuesday night to catch Patrick Stewart in Macbeth at BAM’s opening gala. Mikhail…
The author, now viewed as an early feminist, based the plot on her own difficult experience with postpartum depression, which was then diagnosed as a nervous disorder curable only by a long period of bed rest, over-feeding and withdrawal from the world of family and friends. The character in the opera ends up going mad…
Here’s an amusing soupcon from the Bay Area Reporter (where the late lamented Tiger Hashimoto once held sway). In his “Out There” column, Roberto Friedman rips the lid off a mini-scandal at the GayVN Awards. Apparently the nominating committee for this group honoring excellence in the gay porn industry were not listening with their “soul…
La Cieca shouldn’t make fun of amazon.com, because, after all, amazon.com is a major sponsor of this site. But still, even a Benevolent Corporate Overlord goofs every now and again. You probably know that for most CDs amazon sells, the web site offers a section of brief audio previews of each track. Very handy, especially…
… well, not tonight, actually, but on Saturday afternoon, when La Cieca once more will convene the faithful for a live chat on the topic of the Met broadcast of Manon Lescaut. Now, honestly cher public, how was La Cieca to resist? You’ve already read Our Own JJ‘s reaction to the performances of Karita Mattila…
“Even though Puccini’s first successful opera is called Manon Lescaut, the eponymous party girl is not the real protagonist of the work. By far a more interesting character — and the recipient of Puccini’s most grateful music — is her lover Des Grieux.” Our Own JJ reviews the Met’s revival of Manon Lescaut in the current…
To you, cher public, from your doyenne, via Eleanor Steber. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/9UvBwKHsk8U” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
As La Cieca scours the web in search of new candidates for the Regiequiz, she sometimes is simply stopped in her tracks by a Konzept so new, so unusual and so innovative that your doyenne cannot help but shift her paradigm. Such a production is this Aida in (of all conservative places) Vienna.
Our own JJ‘s little scribblings over at Gay City News are now indexed on a handy page here at parterre.com.
La Cieca muses at some length on the audience’s relationship with the audience, but then Diana Soviero demonstrates the point in only a few seconds of singing in the third act of Faust. (Neil Shicoff and Samuel Ramey aren’t exactly slouching either in this 1986 performance.) Faust (Gounod) Act 3
Actually, La Cieca is not surprised at all that Aprile Millo is a fan of Amy Winehouse.
La Cieca urges you in the cher public to register on parterre.com. After the simple registration process, you should remain logged in to the site indefinitely, or anyway until you deliberately log out (see the “meta” section of the menu bar to the left). The advantage of registering is that you will not need to key…
Another “Return of Villazón” sound clip from Ed Rosen‘s Premiere Opera Podcast, featuring Rolando Villazón and Sophie Koch in this extended scene from Act 3 of Werther. (Performance on January 28 in Vienna.) Werther
La Cieca, being a very girly sort of girl, is not so good at math, so she is asking you, cher public, to help her with this diffy word problem. So, pick up your Number 2 pencils, and begin. According to the New York Times, when you add all these things together: ….burly presence, effortless power and…
A new page via WordPress for Unnatural Acts of Opera, as well as archive pages you can reach through the sidebar menu (look to your left, darling!)
Such a fame whore is La Cieca that she delights in seeing any mainstream media mention of herself even when the item in question a) is less than complimentary and b) doesn’t even mention her by name. But she has little doubt to whom David Patrick Stearns refers when he writes: The odds – and…
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
