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Gender-bending diseuse Zarah Leander crosses over into opera to sing “Che farò senza Euridice” in this scene the 1938 film Heimat. It may be noted that the sub-contralto Leander chooses a lower key for this aria than the written C major David Daniels will sing tomorrow night! For more about the iconic Zarah, see Ben…
By La Cieca
The doyen of operatic stage direction has done it again! (Or, to be strictly accurate, he has done it for about the twentieth time, but who’s counting?) Thrill to the brilliantly innovative new production of La traviata Franco Zeffirelli just unveiled at the Rome Opera! Oh, if only we could have a production of Traviata…
By La Cieca
Sempiternal Montserrat Caballe, erstwhile Verdian, bel canto specialist, Straussian, lyric soprano, coloratura soprano, dramatic soprano and pop singer, reinvents herself once more as character comedienne. Presenting La Superba as La Duchesse de Krakenthorpe in La Fille du regiment.
By La Cieca
Anna Moffo in a non-operatic facet of her career, as leading lady in the Italian film Una storia d’amore (released in the United States as Love Me, Baby, Love Me!) In this melodrama, La Moffo seems to be playing the “Lana Turner” role, a sexy matron involved with a good-for-nothing pretty boy gigolo.
By La Cieca
Our editor JJ‘s busy week included a review of the Met’s Aegyptische Helena in Gay City News, and that panel La Cieca has been yammering about all week. As his presentation on the topic “Opera and Technology,” JJ introduced this little documentary about your own La Cieca.
By La Cieca
La Cieca has just been informed that soprano Mary Dunleavy will participate in tonight’s panel discussion “Opera and Technology” at The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University. No word on whether La Dunleavy replaces or supplements the previously announced Lucy Shelton. Our own JJ will be there of course, along with…
By La Cieca
That most versatile of all golden-age divas, Lilli Lehmann, must be looking down from Paradise right now with a peculiarly puzzled expression on her face, for at last she has a rival. Meet Ingrid Höfer, an artist with a “mission to sing.” Mme. Höfer’s discography reveals that her range runs the gamut from Traditional folk…
By La Cieca
