And I’m not throwing away my gold!
I sat through the Met’s Ring twice, and it never occurred to me that any thought had gone into it at all.
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.
Cape fear
Anna Netrebko and a ten-kilo evening cloak perform “In questa reggia,” complete and live!
Bavarian idol
Finally the postponed Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg takes to the web today.
It was a euphoria beyond anything she’d ever felt on the stage!
“But mostly they were intoxicated with each other.”
Rubble man
Jarrett Ott performs the Kenneth Fuchs monodrama Falling Man tonight at the at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
Incomplete artwork
“He towered over the listless supporting cast like Daniel Day-Lewis guest-starring in a marionette show.”
Split at the ‘seems’
“Elvira, for whom Mozart reserved his gentlest, most compassionate music…”
And now a word from our sponsors
A big “thank you” to the lovely advertisers who help keep parterre.com afloat.
The Philadelphia Story
La Cieca thought you, the cher public, might enjoy the return of some classic episodes of Unnatural Acts of Opera.
If you want to send a message, don’t use the ‘Telegraph’
Not Verdi but Elton John. Oops!
O patria, quanto mi costi!
“The antagonistic themes of Aida seem to have spilled into the wings after a student production of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera was cancelled amid a row over suggestions of ‘cultural appropriation’.”
Chat: L’Italiana in Algeri
In tonight’s performance of L’Italiana in Algeri, surely any shipwrecks will be confined to the plot.
Thursday’s child
Theater Basel offers its first livestream ever, of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s rarely performed Donnerstag aus Licht.
Poet manqué
“Jonas Kaufmann est contraint de se retirer de la production des Contes d’Hoffmann à l’Opéra Bastille.”
Così fan typos
“In this offbeat production, Guglielmo and Ferrando disguise themselves as Van Johnson and Van Heflin, respectively.”
Chat: Tristan und Isolde
As afternoon fades into evening, confide in each other, cher public, in La Casa della Cieca.
Heck, I’d even play the maid to be in a Schauspiel
“Elektra. Staatsoper in Schiller Theater. 23 October 2016. . . . DIE VERTRAUTE/DIE AUFSEHERIN Cheryl Studer“
Der Sommer schauert still seinem Ende entgegen
The first “La Casa della Cieca” chat of the 2016-2017 season features Diana Damrau.
Same old, same old
“Just as every downtown shopping street in every major American city now features the same familiar retailers’ names, New York City Opera has no particular artistic identity different from, say, Opera Carolina.”
September song
“Paul Appleby will sing the role of Don Ottavio in this season’s September and October performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, replacing Rolando Villazón, who has withdrawn due to illness.”
Somewhere that’s Greene
“International opera superstar Anna Netrebko comes to The Greene Space for an exclusive interview and performance.”
Turban legend
In the October 2016 issue of Cosmopolitan, lissome Laverne Cox pays tribute to some of her personal idols , including Tina Turner, Josephine Baker and, in a particularly breathtaking bit of visual transformation, the first African-American prima donna of the Metropolitan Opera.
“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard!”
La Cieca is delighted to note that the Royal Opera, Covent Garden has decided to follow the successful lead of so many American opera companies.