La Cieca
You, the cher public, have spoken. By a firm plurality of 31%, you have selected Renata Scotto‘s Lady Macbeth as the “encore” to her Adriana Lecouvreur on the current episode of Unnatural Acts of Opera. Of the 238 ballots cast, the Scottish dame garnered 74 votes. Runners-up were Norma (50 votes) and Elisabetta in Don…
Same character, same opera, different productions. Guesses?
“At High School of Enterprise, Business and Technology on Grand Street Campus in Brooklyn, the show is sold out at nearly 1000 tickets. The school didn’t spare any effort in terms of marketing: there’s a huge color banner for ‘Live in HD’ on the side of the building, facing Bushwick Avenue, with a picture of…
Stephanie Blythe sings Ulrica in the Met’s revival of Un ballo in maschera.
San Francisco Opera is about to hop on the HD bandwagon, promising theater transmissions of six operas a year beginning in March 2008. Unlike the Met’s simulcasts, though, San Francisco’s appear likely to turn a profit almost immediately. The company can produce their telecasts for only about $75,000 per production since earlier this year they…
Magnificent Martha Mödl performs a bit of Mahagonny.
Longtime readers of parterre box will recall the series of articles entitled “Ou va la jeune andouille” by enigmatic Enzo Bordello on the subject of the youthful fan’s experiences at New Orleans Opera. One of the most infamous of all NOO events, though, was one Enzo did not experience in person: I was not allowed…
La Cieca has once more been remiss in her podcasting, so she’s turning to you, cher public, for a little help. Thursday night La Cieca will publish the (overdue) podcast featuring the final act of Adriana Lecouvreur starring the ineffable Renata Scotto. As usual, there will be room for 20-25 minutes of additional music after…
Leocadia Begbick (in the person of Patti Lupone, no less) issues small craft warnings for the Gulf coast. (Just a quick clip from the Mahagonny telecast scheduled for tonight at 9 PM on PBS. Check your local listings, obviously.) And, of course it’s old news by now, but la Lupone will be back on Broadway…
A YouTuber new to La Cieca by the name of Promptersbox, has managed to make available the entire La Scala Tristan und Isolde. Your doyenne is not sure exactly where the intense magic in this performance comes from: Patrice Chéreau, Daniel Barenboim or Waltraud Meier. But magic it is!
When she first saw this photo, La Cieca thought, well, it’s about time we saw an all-bear production of The Lisbon Traviata. But, in point of fact, that delightful Terrance McNally play is not what this picture depicts. So La Cieca puts it to you, cher public What is this opera?
Maite Beaumont created a sensation as Sesto in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s recent Giulio Cesare. She’s seen and heard here as Cherubino.
La Cieca has obtained exclusive video footage of a presentation by Susan L. Baker, chairwoman of the New York City Opera, announcing plans for the company’s 2008-2009 “season.” NYCO’s announcement, dumped into the scarcely-read Saturday Times, would seem to indicate that our speculation of the past couple of weeks was, in fact, accurate.
There hasn’t been much chatter about it, but it seems that Rolando Villazón is emerging from his four-month period of silence. His recently updated website states that the tenor is scheduled for staged performances in Vienna (Manon and Werther) beginning January 5, followed by a series of concerts and a couple of Verdi Requiems in…
Controversial soprano Anna Netrebko has gone on record categorically denying recent rumors that she… is a lesbian? (My dears, La Cieca has been out of the dating pool for a while, but even she wouldn’t mistake Erwin Schrott for a girl!) Well, my dear Sapphic comrades, all La Cieca can say is, you win some,…
The newest member of the gaggle of Gay City News opera critic, Eli Jacobson, critiques recent NYC performances by Opera Grattacielo and Collegiate Chorale.
More Geheimnisregie. What’s the opera? (Hint: it’s not Carmen).
Another review (this one only 340 words) of War and Peace. Martin Bernheimer writing for the Financial Times:
When a monumental 20th century masterpiece is revived at the Met, who better to review it than Anthony Tommasini? Today the Times published TT’s critique of War and Peace, a compact screed of exactly 799 words. And how, you may ask, were those words distributed? Well almost half the review (351 words) was given over…
Purely a rumor at this point, but La Cieca hears that Erwin Schrott and Anna Netrebko are engaged. (To be married. To each other.) UPDATE: A reliable source informs La Cieca: “As far as I know they are very close friends but I have not heard anything about marriage.” So let’s wait and see.
This video indicates some of the underlying reasons for the recent shocking increase in acts of violence against character tenors.
The legendary mezzo-soprano of the Russian Soviet period, Zara Dolukhanova, died last week at the age of 89. Though she excelled in brilliant Rossini roles in the opera house, her greatest success was as a recitalist. Dolukhanova’s broad repertoire included music from arie antiche to Prokofiev and Stravinsky; unusually for Soviet-era singers, she often included…
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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