Robbed blind
Which internationally famous but vocally shaky diva may soon find her career waning if her upcoming appearance in one of her signature roles gets nixed?
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.
Chat: Nabucco
Listen and discuss, cher public, as the Met broadcasts Nabucco.
Together again for the first time
From Unnatural Acts of Opera, a duo concert with Shirley Verrett and Grace Bumbry at Carnegie Hall.
And I pity any girl who isn’t she tonight
Soprano Pretty Yende (soon to be a Met Rosina) guests on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show at 11:35 this evening.
Chat: Roméo et Juliette
Start your New Year’s Eve out right with a nice passionate chat on the subject of Roméo et Juliette.
Chat: L’Italiana in Algeri
Today’s matinee broadcast features a Met performance from earlier in the season. Chat about it here beginning at 1:00 PM.
Ja, sah er Baden ahn der Ruf
La Cieca’s nomination for Song of the Year 2016: an elaborate but hideously tasteless unintentional joke.
Balls
“We do not go to opera to see stories similar to those we would see in movies.”
Chat: Hansel and Gretel
Welcome, parterrians, to your Christmas Eve chat beginning at 1:00 PM.
Ed Rosen
Legendary opera fan and producer of opera recordings Ed Rosen has died.
Brevity is the soul of wit
Tonight’s chat features the enshortened English language version of The Magic Flute the Met has put forth as their annual Christmas entertainment for the kiddies.
Money can’t buy me amor
The chairman of the Presidential Inaugural Committee took to the cable waves this morning to reassure the American people that Andrea Bocelli did not, repeat not, turn down the President-elect’s offer to sing at the January 20 event.
Chat: Salome
Welcome to La Casa della Cieca for the matinee of Salome starting at the Met at 1:00 pm on Saturday, cher public. Please be sure to read the notice after the jump.
But you don’t really care for music, Du ja?
“Hallelujah” will kick off this year’s annual holiday concert in The Imperial City, presumably sung by the event’s headliners, Vesselina Kasarova and Angela Denoke.
Wave theory
Scribe/saxophonist Will Robin (not pictured) surveys some of the many women who are making opera these days.
Trifecta of horror
Jackie Evancho! Andrea Bocelli! Donald Trump! I mean, what else do you want, a Zuni fetish doll eviscerating Karen Black?
Wo ist Salome?
Kirsten Chambers will make her Met debut in the title role of this evening’s performance of Strauss’s Salome, replacing Patricia Racette, who is ill.
Noblesse her heart
“Being a wife, being a mother, entertaining in the summer, doing the pheasant shoots in the winter.”
Sulla tua testa vigili la mia benedizion
President-elect Donald Trump has approached crooner Andrea Bocelli to sing at his inauguration.
One can feel nostalgia for places one has never seen
Composer Lisa Bielawa’s Vireo: The Spiritual Biography of a Witch’s Accuser will feature world-renowned opera star Deborah Voigt singing “The Queen of Sweden.”
Chat: L’amour de loin
Near, far, wherever you are, you can enjoy today’s 1:00 PM Met broadcast of L’Amour de Loin.
Soprano fegato
“It appears that 12.5 million Italians watched the liver relay of the original version of Madam Butterfly from La Scala,” claims Norman Lebrecht, which is perfectly accurate except that there was no organ meat involved in the telecast.