la cieca ci guarda

A source close to the Met whispers to La Cieca that Maria Guleghina will step into the TBA performances of Macbeth in January 2008 including the HD transmission on the 12th. Your doyenne also hears that la Guleghina has been approached to take over the May performances of the Verdi thriller, currently announced for Andrea…

on September 11, 2007 at 8:20 AM

Fans of red-haired three-named sopranos d’un certain âge will rejoice to hear that at least a couple of the mainstays of the Volpe Era have been asked back to the Met under the Gelb Aegis. (And after all that naughty gossip about firings and buyings-out! Who ever heard of such a thing?) Anyway, not to…

on September 07, 2007 at 11:53 AM

Which stage director fled a rehearsal in tears last week after the prima donna’s metamorphosis into a screaming harpy?

on September 04, 2007 at 11:00 AM

A Faithful Reader writes: “Went to the closing performance of Deuce today and during one quiet moment I thought I heard a familiar snore. Sure enough, as I was leaving, there was Lois, wakened by the ovation . . . . “I’m sure she was headed back to get autographs as she was looking in…

on August 20, 2007 at 11:48 AM

UPDATE: A source at Opera Colorado informs La Cieca that there is in fact no exodus currently in progress from the company’s costume shop. La Cieca apologizes for the confusion. Earlier, La Cieca reported that her “mile-high informant” whispered that “Colorado Opera’s entire costume department just quit in a huff. Or was fired in a…

on August 17, 2007 at 6:20 PM

A little bird high in the rarefied air of the Rockies informs La Cieca that James Robinson “will be named come September as the new Artistic Director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, a post held until this Spring by the late and laudable Colin Graham.” Robinson is perhaps best remembered here in New York…

on August 16, 2007 at 10:39 AM

Roberto Alagna will jump — no, not into the swimming pool, but rather into the first two performances (September 25 and 29) of the Met’s fall revival of Roméo et Juliette, replacing Rolando Villazón who has withdrawn due to illness. The Met’s press office officially announced Villazón’s cancellation today, though regular parterre.com readers knew all…

on August 14, 2007 at 3:12 PM

As La Cieca whispered earlier this week, Rolando Villazón is going to cancel at least the fall portion of his Met Roméo engagement. This morning PlaybillArts.com says the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting a statement from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra that the tenor is “ill and has been instructed by his doctor to cancel all performances…

on August 10, 2007 at 7:58 AM

La Cieca hears that Rolando Villazón, who recently canceled his Salzburg Festival appearances citing “long-term illness” (“einer längerfristigen Erkrankung”), may pull out of the Met’s fall revival of Roméo et Juliette as well. The tenor is scheduled for five performances of the Gounod opera between September 25 and October 11, followed by another four in…

on August 08, 2007 at 12:31 PM

Iconic Ira Siff temporarily puts aside performing and his busy teaching schedule this summer to direct Cosi fan tutte with the Tanglewood Music Center young artists, in collaboration with Maestro James Levine. The Mozart comedy runs August 11-14. La Cieca further hears whispers that due to the overwhelmingly positive response to Ira’s guest appearances on…

on July 02, 2007 at 10:17 AM

La Cieca hears that Natalie Dessay has walked out of the current Liceu production of Manon, leaving Inva Mula to sing the company’s new production of the Massenet opera. (Given the tight stagione scheduling, though, surely they will need another soprano to alternate.) Our insider whispers that la Dessay found Rolando Villazon (Des Grieux) something…

on June 26, 2007 at 11:07 AM

La Cieca hears that Justin Davidson, classical music critic at Newsday for the past decade, is moving over to New York magazine, where he will take over reviewing duties from the departing Peter G. Davis. Davidson’s gig will also include writing about architecture.

on June 19, 2007 at 4:26 PM

La Cieca hears that Ruth Ann Swenson has withdrawn from her autumn performances of Agrippina at the New York City Opera. This just in… “replacing” Swenson will be none other than the legendary Nelly Miricioiu! The Romanian diva assoluta is seen here in a 2003 performance of Anna Bolena.

on May 30, 2007 at 2:21 PM

A Met insider whispers that new chorus director Donald Palumbo, recently praised to the skies for his “tireless” efforts on Orfeo, may not want to stay tired for long. According to our source, “warning of vocal deterioration” letters have already been drafted to be sent to several members of the Met regular chorus, especially in…

on May 10, 2007 at 12:35 PM

The Met’s press office just sent this out: New York, NY (May 8, 2007) – Bizet’s Carmen with Russian mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina in the title role will be revived during the Met’s 2007-08 season, replacing the previously announced performances of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. The change in repertory is due to the decision by Argentine…

on May 08, 2007 at 3:58 PM

La Cieca hears that the Met will scrap next season’s revival of Les Contes d’Hoffman (scheduled for February-March 2008) in favor of Carmen. A well-informed source suggests that the switch will be done at the behest of tenor Marcelo Álvarez, who would have sung the title role in the Offenbach but will now perform his…

on May 03, 2007 at 2:07 PM

La Cieca is totally in awe of the insightful (and totally enjoyable) reporting her baby sister OperaChic is doing on the most recent Angela Gheorghiu scandale. In what La Cieca chooses to regard as an early 50th anniversary hommage to one of the most infamous moments in the career of Maria Callas, la Gheorghiu has,…

on April 25, 2007 at 6:30 PM

Our editor JJ chats with the lovely and talented Mona de Crinis in an interview for the Palm Springs Bottom Line, a publication whose title contains so many double entendres La Cieca lost count. Thrill yet once again to the saga of parterre box, the little zine that could, and JJ, the editor who would.…

on April 23, 2007 at 12:59 PM

La Cieca hears that the Met’s new production of Il trittico will return in 2010, starring Patricia Racette as the three heroines.

on April 21, 2007 at 6:50 PM

La Cieca has heard from two independent sources who attended today’s dress rehearsal of Il trittico at the Met, and the word they both use to describe the show is “wonderful.” Production values are lavish yet true to the works, the singing is never less than “very fine” and the orchestra under Maestro Levine sounds…

on April 17, 2007 at 10:53 PM

La Cieca has just heard that the 2007 Richard Tucker Award winner is tenor Brandon Jovanovich, pictured here at a concert given recently in honor of long-time Tucker colleague Eleanor Steber. Career Grant winners for 2007 are Meredith Arwady, contralto; Jason Collins, tenor; and Stephen Costello, tenor. La Cieca regrets to inform you that she…

on April 12, 2007 at 12:14 PM

DRAMA on the front page of today’s NYT Arts section! Ruth Ann Swenson comes out swinging at the Met for “snubbing” her in favor of younger and less zaftig artists. Her current run of Cleopatras in Giulio Cesare is her final contact with the Met*, apparently the end to a 20-season career there spanning over…

on April 05, 2007 at 10:42 AM

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.

on March 24, 2007 at 11:09 AM

Now that we all know what’s what for the Met’s 2007-2008 season, surely it’s time to start speculating about what comes after, right? Well, La Cieca has been in touch with her stable of reliable sources, and what she has heard is more than a little intriguing. N.B. All this is as heard, of course,…

on March 05, 2007 at 12:36 PM