la cieca ci guarda

Cher public, if you’re anything like La Cieca (pictured), you won’t have any time for lounging about in your silk pyjamas this week because the opera schedule is such a glamorous whirlwind one scarcely has time to breathe!

on November 04, 2011 at 11:19 AM

La Cieca is not sure if this is a casting announcement or the result of a particularly silly round of Mad Libs: Plácido Domingo will add yet another notch to his repertoire, the title role of Der Fliegende Holländer, in a production at the Arena di Verona in the summer of 2013, with Daniel Barenboim…

on September 08, 2011 at 6:55 PM

This just in from La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Michael Riedel: it looks like the “new” Porgy and Bess isn’t coming into New York. Says the NYP gossipmonger: “…while [Audra] McDonald wins Tonys, her name doesn’t sell tickets. I’m told the producers are likely to fold the show after its Boston run.”

on September 02, 2011 at 6:36 PM

After what surely ranked as among the busiest (and silliest) pre-season ditherings ever, that scene everyone was so worried about, La Cieca is informed, is back where it belongs. The decision to restore the aria was made this afternoon, and the reason? Well, let’s just say the “purely dramaturgical” will always be trumped by the…

on August 31, 2011 at 4:21 PM

Twentieth century opera just can’t get a break in Dallas, it seems. La Cieca has just heard that the company, which 86ed Katya Kabanova from their 2011 schedule, has just canceled Salome (slated to star Deborah Voigt) from fall 2013 plans.

on August 23, 2011 at 2:16 PM

La Cieca hears that parterre fave David Daniels will get all eponymous and stuff for a world premiere opera entitled Oscar, based on the life of Oscar Wilde, for Santa Fe Opera in 2013, with Opera Company of Philadelphia to follow.  The work is to boast music by Theodore Morrison and a libretto and stage…

on August 10, 2011 at 11:50 AM

An internet leak, quickly plugged but too late, reveals Opera Orchestra of New York’s 2011-12 projected season. On Tuesday, November 8, Angela Gheorghiu and Jonas Kaufmann will grace Carnegie Hall with Adriana Lecouvreur. Then, on Sunday, January 29, Ian Storey and Elisabete Matos headline Rienzi, presumably maestro Queler’s sole appearance of the season. The final…

on July 03, 2011 at 3:43 PM

What’s the diminuitive of “Normina?” Well, you’d better start coining the word, because Cecilia Bartoli is recording Bellini’s Norma, with John Osborn, Sumi Jo and Michele Pertusi; leading the Orchestra La Scintilla will be, well, Bartoli mostly, but nominally in charge will be Giovanni Antonini.

on June 04, 2011 at 8:56 PM

Sean Michael Gross, Director of Marketing and Special Projects for 21C Media Group, who is in charge of public and press relations (in North America) for Anna Netrebko, has informed La Cieca that the rumor-magnet diva “‘is not pregnant.”

on May 17, 2011 at 7:41 PM

La Cieca hears that tenor Yonghoon Lee will sing the title role of Verdi’s Don Carlo during the Met’s tour to Japan, replacing Jonas Kaufmann who will be sick or something. (Photo: Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera)

on May 12, 2011 at 10:53 AM

La Cieca hears that the top spot in Marketing and Communications just opened up today at an opera house that is becoming known for its revolving-door staffing policies.

on May 09, 2011 at 3:22 PM

UPDATE: La Cieca has just heard from Ernesto Palacio, manager for Elina Garanca, who confirms that the mezzo-soprano is pregnant. EARLIER: The news has just broken that Elina Garanca “is expecting a baby at the end of October…. Garanca and her British-born husband, conductor Karel Mark Chichon, had informed their friends of the good news…

on May 06, 2011 at 12:56 PM

UPDATE: The Met’s press office states, “At the beginning of Act III (‘The Ride of the Valkyries’ scene) of last evening’s performance of Die Walküre, one of the planks that comprise the set descended to the stage floor rather than stopping opposite the stage apron. As a result, the artist singing Siegrune, mezzo-soprano Eve Gigliotti,…

on April 29, 2011 at 8:30 AM

La Cieca hears that soprano Angela Meade has been named the winner of the 2011 Richard Tucker Award. (Photo: Marty Sohl, Metropolitan Opera)

on April 26, 2011 at 7:38 AM