mayday!
La Cieca has obtained a copy of the NYCO shop letter from AGMA:Â
La Cieca
she’s old fashioned
From a performance on April 26, Anna Netrebko does a few “traditional” things with Violetta’s first act scena. (Piotr Beczala later gets in on the fun as well.) Ah quel amor…
agma “likely” to strike nyco
The American Guild of Musical Artists said in a memo to members that “given the changes that George Steel wants to make in our contract, members are advised that the possibility of a strike against New York City Opera is likely.” At issue is what AGMA characterizes as Steel’s intention to eliminate guarantees of work […]
the metplayer election
Now, cher public, you have the chance to vote which of your nominated performances will be included in the upcoming MetPlayer weekend listening (and viewing party). You may cast your ballot right after the jump.
villazon out for rest of ’09
Rolando Villazón “should be well enough to return to the stage by the end of the year” after having surgery “to remove a cyst on his larynx” according to his concert management. Among the engagements Villazón is expected to cancel are Werther in Vienna and Munich, Nemorino in Los Angeles and Paris, and a new […]
regied refuse
Kudos to tannengrin who identified last week’s Regie puzzler correctly as Nabucco. La Cieca’s heart, though, belongs to Leper Ello, who made a minimally plausible case for Boris Godunov (“The Fool – in drag – laments the future of Russia”). There’s more to lament in this week’s very serious staging.
Kinder, schafft Neues!
In contrast to the high-minded sentiments expressed by the Ring directors recently interviewed by Anne Midgette, here are a few light and lively moments from a youth theater show called Her den Ring produced by the Studiotheater Bayreuth. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/aFm_48PJTHw” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
the nominating committee will come to order
As if we ever “came to order” around here! But anyway, La Cieca is throwing the floor open for a Listening and Viewing Orgy next weekend, when the MetPlayer will offer a three-day free preview. MetPlayer offers streaming of over 200 Met broadcasts and telecasts from 1937 to the present, including 20 in HD. The […]
ring fully penetrated
And now, the last installment of the Met’s broadcast Ring: Götterdämmerung. Listen at noon EDT on Sirius, RealNetworks or your favorite internet radio station. Online: the libretto and the vocal score. Discuss. And don’t forget to check out La Cieca’s Amazon Deal of the Day: Hans Knappertsbusch conducts Der Ring Des Nibelungen (Bayreuth 1956), prices […]
comment du jour
“But, as century XXI progresses, the Web is not some branch of tradutuibak scholarly research.” — Alto
magic to do
Articulate, awe-inspring, alliterative administrator The Man of Steel spoke yesterday to New York One, defining his vision for the mission of the New York City Opera: “Championing new repertoire and discovering old repertoire. And particularly promoting American operas and American opera singers and providing visionary new productions of standard repertoire. So it’s a very clear […]
to boldly go where no doyenne has gone before
As La Cieca intones after the jump (in her newly-found inhuman manner) you can upload a photo (of your favorite diva or divo) and this online gizmo will animate it into a talking Star Trek character. At the end of the animation process, please choose “share” and then “email” so you can send your Trekkified […]
happy birthday youtube!
La Cieca can hardly believe that as recently as four years ago nobody had ever heard of YouTube! To celebrate the site’s fourth anniversary, here’s one of the first clips La Cieca uploaded way back in the winter of 2005. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/ckP4OXzVevI” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Non senti tu nell’aria il profumo che spandex Primavera?
[La Cieca invites the cher public to supply a caption to the above photo. And while you’re at it, anyone care to identify the gentleman at right and what opera this is?]
return of a classic, by request
An all-star “Walkürenritt” from 2003, featuring Alessandra Marc (Gerhilde), Eva Marton (Helmwige), Karan Armstrong (Waltraute), Agnes Baltsa (Schwertleite), Anna Tomowa-Sintow (Ortlinde), Gwyneth Jones (Siegrune/Rossweisse) and Jochen Kowalski (Grimgerde). Golden Girls
siriusly
Is it just me, or does Joseph Calleja sound simply amazing? La Cieca asks: is there a better lyric tenor out there today?
fine al rito
So, guess who’s going to sing Norma? “Sie ist die unbestrittene, strahlende Königin des Koloratur-Mezzofachs: Cecilia Bartoli. In der kommenden Saison wird sie im KONZERTHAUS DORTMUND in einer der bedeutendsten und schwierigsten Partien der gesamten Opernliteratur zu erleben sein: als „Norma“ in Vincenzo Bellinis gleichnamiger Oper. Die musikalische Leitung dieser wichtigen konzertanten Produktion liegt in […]
endowment takes another hit
Bloomberg News (your go-to source for bad news about New York City Opera) today laments that the company has “once again reached deep into its endowment.” According to scribe Zinta Lundborg, that endowment has suffered perhaps irreversible shinkage, dwindling from a massive, bulging $51 million in 2001 to a puny, humiliating $3 million currently. Lundborg suggests […]
the desert song
Our Own Sra. Flora del Rio, benevolent rhinemaiden of the Rio Grande, shimmered into a press conference at Santa Fe this morning and quickly shimmered out, there being but modest news to report on SFeO Season 2010. However, Flora sent this grist for your mills: Madama Butterfly, The Magic Flute, The Tales of Hoffmann, Life […]
primal scribe
Life sometimes does imitate art, or anyway bad art. La Cieca notes in today’s New York Post a story about a wedding interrupted when the bridegroom’s boss suddenly shouted that she had slept with the groom. As any hack librettist will tell you, this is a great excuse for the big third-act concertato.
three-way synergy
The New York Times, the Metropolitan Opera, and Comedy Central! Genius!
knee sollst du mich befragen
A sharp-eyed member of the cher public writes: I attended a performance of Damnation of Faust (with a magnificent Polenzani and Ketelsen) in St. Louis this past Saturday night. When I arrived, there was Christine Brewer in the lobby looking quite well. No cane, no walker, no crutches, no limp, no nothing. I walked up […]
uprising at the koch?
La Cieca hears vague rumors from here and there that there something major is going to happen with New York CIty Opera this week, possibly as early as today. According to an insider over the weekend “wagons [were] circling,” perhaps in reaction to the admission that the company has spent down over 2/3 of its endowment in […]
off the rack regie
It took giocomopuccini only minutes to guess that last time’s Regie puzzler was Bellini’s Norma, though La Cieca is still open to suggestions about what the eggs are supposed to mean. Perhaps these photos will keep you guessing a little longer.Â
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
