Questo e Quello
West coast story
I fall on my knees before this new live recording
issued by the San Francisco Symphony.
“Hebrews and Sodomites: Greetings!”
Born on this dayin 1905: film producer Joseph E. Levine (not pictured).
Magda Olivero 1910-2014
The legendary Italian soprano Magda Olivero has died.
All right, God, you have my attention
Norman Lebrecht announces that Deborah Voigt , “one of the leading Brünnhildes of our time,” will join Rufus Wainwright to sing arias from Prima Donna (5) and will then join him in a duet of “If I Loved You” from Carousel and… oh, I just can’t.
Bomb scare
The appeal of Ariadne auf Naxos (for me anyway) is the acknowledgment that underneath it all, opera (and all other forms of “high art”) is really show business.
Venez, cher public! Qui vous arrête?
Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin delves into the very recent past indeed to present Donizetti’s La Favorite in a concert performance starring Elina Garanca and Juan Diego Flórez.
Where no man has gone before
On this day in 1966, the television series Star Trek premiered.
“Specialist subject, the bleeding obvious”
“Jonathan Miller‘s Carmen for Mid Wales Opera has no sexual electricity, complains Rupert Christiansen“
Chopped
La Cieca’s old, old, old friends at Opera Depot (not pictured) are offering 50% off on their entire collection of CDs and MP3s… but only for the next 48 hours!
September 7
On this day in 1921, the first Miss America Pageant was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Female truffle
Even bonbons are not as delicious as the weekly discussion of off-topic and general interest subjects.
Final chapter
None of my previous Elektra experiences prepared me for this stunning, overwhelming performance from the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
Blind meaning
A little bird from the meadow tells La Cieca that there will be a significant cast change announced soon for one of the Met’s 2014 productions.
Outskirts
As One is an opera about a boy growing up to discover that he is a girl.
Contessa, stop the music!
“American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen, who last week won First Prize at the prestigious Operalia competition, will make her Met debut as Countess Almaviva in this December’s performances of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.”
Dancing with the star
After listening to “Stella di Napoli,” her mightily impressive new CD
of rare bel canto arias just released by Erato, I felt many of the old sparks reigniting.
Rich man’s frug
A good performance of a Rossini opera buffa usually bubbles along merrily.
Studio canal
Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin returns with a late 20th century masterpiece, Britten’s Death in Venice.
The page of innocence
Parterrians are advised to gather together their parures, aigrettes and lorngettes and saunter back to their loges, because it’s time for discussion of off-topic and general interest subjects.
New faces
By special requestion of one of your doyenne’s favorite parterriennes, La Casa della Cieca was open tonight for the finals of the 2014 Operalia competition, webcast live from Los Angeles.
Shopping season
After a long summer drought, suddenly new Blu-ray and DVD releases are falling, as it were, from the sky.
The incomplete idiot
Intendant Alexander Pereira halts the merry-go-round briefly to discuss Salzburg and La Scala with Zachary Woolfe of the New York Times.
Lost in space
It’s rare to encounter a video of an opera that has zero redeeming qualities, but I think I might have found it: the latest Arena di Verona La Traviata.
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).