La Cieca
Comme des garçons
Metrosexual maestro Phillipe Jordan, currently gracing our Gotham at the helm of the Met’s Le nozze di Figaro, has been named for the next music director of the Opéra National de Paris, effective with the 2009-10 season. His appointment was announced Wednesday evening at a meeting of the company’s board of directors, according to PlaybillArts. […]
Don’t let’s ask for the moon
La Cieca performs a dramatic reading from The Greatest Opera Novel Ever Written — and that’s merely a curtain-raiser to the second act of Verdi’s Ernani, starring Anita Cerquetti, Mario del Monaco, Ettore Bastianini and Boris Christoff, under the baton of that icon of gaiety Dimitri Mitropoulos. Well, what are you waiting for? Go directly […]
Chi vi frena in tal momento?
La Cieca notices there are only a few tickets remaining to the Met’s October 25 Lucia, featuring, as if she has to tell you, Stephen Costello‘s role debut as Edgardo. Don’t waste any more time, cher public.
Hunkentenor manqué
In the words of the immortal Leonard Pinth-Garnell, “Monumentally ill-advised!” UPDATE: The video has, perhaps unsurprisingly, been removed from YouTube. There are a few stills, however, on the tenor’s website. By the way, if you think the costume looks familiar, that’s because you’ve seen it before.
She gets too hungry for dinner at eight
La Cieca’s spy backstage at the Met burbles about the most interesting spectacle so far at the new Macbeth: “Maria Guleghina’s rehearsal garb! One day she sported a green spaghetti-strap midriff top (that’s right, she wore a belly shirt), with a sequined crown across her tits.”
Noise candy
Worlds collide, or maybe converge, when Alex Ross (right) the New Yorker‘s classical music go-to guy sits down with Doree Shafrir (not pictured), gawker gossip girl emeritus, for a confab about life, love, Ugly Betty and, of course the long-awaited The Rest is Noise, skedded to drop October 16. Look for the interview in the […]
Someone else does the heavy lifting for a change
La Cieca introduces a new feature on parterre.com, the guest review. First up to bat is longtime print zine stalwart Little Stevie, who saw Lucia di Lammermoor last night. Take this as you will: based on this evenings performance the new Met Lucia is pretty bad. The acclaimed Ms. Zimmerman simply doesn’t know how to […]
We’ll need no castles in Spain
Autumn in New York means many things to many people. To some, it’s glittering crowds and shimmering clouds in canyons of steel; others reflect upon upon jaded roués and gay divorcées who lunch at the Ritz. To singers it’s the height of the allergy and cancellation season. But to us, the most echt of all […]
Maestrogate
La Cieca is pleased to note that her little soupçon about the maestro’s errant email has now made it as far as the New York Daily News. True, it’s way down at the bottom of the Gatecrasher page (“Don’t Shoot the Messenger”), but, after all, classical music isn’t exactly “Pedro and Stifler want to par-tay […]
Pat of butter
La Cieca only knows what she has heard so far on Sirius (i.e., through “Che tua madre”), but, my dears, Patricia Racette is such an improvement over last season’s Butterfly! Your doyenne will definitely make another visit to Minghella-land this season. So, who caught the prima in the house? What’s your take? And, those of […]
Hunkentenor des jours passés
One of La Cieca’s dear colleagues (a Signor Maldè) forwarded some interesting information about this early but definitive example of the hunkentenor. The name of the gentleman (the tenor, that is, not the informant) was Eddy Ruhl, and he is perhaps best known for his recording of Cavaradossi in the notorious Vassilka Petrova Tosca. A […]
Don’t come knocking!
Admittedly, this item is ancient history, but here goes. Which curious, sexed-up Met hunks invaded a star dressing room and immediately got their original instruments a whole lot closer than an octave apart?
Serial monogamy
La Cieca has just heard that Marcello Giordani goes on tonight (i.e., two hours from now) as Roméo at the Met, jumping in for Joseph Kaiser who presumably is ill. That brings the total number of lovers for Anna Netrebko‘s Juliette to three after only four nights of the 10-performance run. By the end of […]
The names he used to call me!
Aided and abetted by Noel Coward, the scintillating Mary Martin crosses over into operatic territory.
"Hunkentenor" makes broadcast debut
UPDATE: And now, my dears, we’ve even reached the AP! (How long before we’re on the UP and every other damn P?) La Cieca’s young, young, young friend Maury D’anatto writes: “Too funny, La Cieca: did you coin hunkentenor? Because there was just this intermission interview with Joseph Kaiser that went somewhat off the rails […]
I cc what you did there
Which world-class maestro is about ready to throw himself off of the roof since he accidentally cced a private email exchange to his entire list of contacts — including Mrs. Maestro? The exchange was eventually forwarded to La Cieca, who redacted some of the details for the sake of privacy, and now presents it for […]
Retail therapy
In her ongoing efforts to monetize parterre.com, La Cieca has now partnered in a new and unusual way… with amazon.com, that is. The idea is that your doyenne selects products she thinks you, the cher public, will like; these items are then advertised on the site. Whatever purchases you make after click-through will result in […]
Tous les trois réunis
Cecilia takes “the Bartolettes” out for a night on the town. Now, to be perfectly honest, La Cieca must admit that the above photo is an obvious fake. It’s easy to see how in fact it’s a composite of two other photos, as seen below:
Whatever happened to Marwdew Czgowchwz?
Ever since everyone’s favorite apocryphal diva (with the possible minority exception of Lena Geyer), the oracular Oltrano herself, Marwdew Czgowchwz, vanished across the ocean at a time (time out of mind) that was somehow both 1956 and 1975 and yet neither, La Cieca, like all the rest of you, has reread her first copy of […]
I mulini di Signa li lascio al cara … Nicoletta Mantovani!
How sad that Luciano Pavarotti‘s final role should be Buoso Donati!
You Shouldn’t Be Dancing
Ah, yes, of course La Cieca remembers the 1970s, or bits and pieces of it, anyway. Your doyenne fondly recalls that everyone spent that whole decade coked up and ‘luded out, and she’s in no position to condemn anyone. But even the hedonistic, anything-goes ’70s Zeitgeist cannot explain the following video; specifically, why Franco Bonisolli […]
Opera Queens
A composer I know, a neighbor,once dropped the electrifying newsthat the great Anna Moffo has sung his songs,and telephones him every New Year’s. Whenever I see him on the street,scurrying along with music scoresclutched to his chest,I stop him to askif Miss Moffo, as I,in my utter adoration, like to call her,has phoned him yetto […]
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).
