La place des étoiles
Starting in less than half an hour, “Le Concert de Paris.”
Questo e Quello
All in the family
Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leizmetzerin delves into the seedy personal lives of royalty (especially queens) with this performance of Semiramide from San Francisco.
Lorin Maazel 1930-2014
The prolific American conductor and composer died earlier today in Virginia.
The Night They Raided Rimsky’s
Opera-lovers who attend too much modern opera may find that it feels like duty.
Notes on camp
Zofia Posmysz spent two years as a prisoner in Auschwitz—and she’s still alive and standing pretty tall, in New York for the Lincoln Center Festival God bless her.
Ambitious spirit
Never let it be said that La Cieca does not pamper her cher public. After the jump, and exclusively on the web, listen to the role debut of Anna Netrebko in Verdi’s Macbeth.
O sommo Carlo!
In celebration of the 90th anniversary of the birth of Carlo Bergonzi, our friends at Opera Depot are offering discounts on their entire catalog of the legendary tenor’s performances.
Portrait of a lady
There’s hands-on and then there’s hands-on, and the latter was definitely in play in the lobby of the Kaye Playhouse just before Thursday night’s performance of La traviata by the Martina Arroyo Foundation’s Prelude to Performance program.
È questo l’antico fascino che m’accieca!
If Facebook is to be believed, Anna Netrebko and “Azerbaijani tenor Yusif Eyvazov (age 37)” are engaged.
Mad woman
Mike Richter, via CD-ROM, takes us back to the golden age of concert opera in New York City with Il pirata starring Montserrat Caballé.
A little list
In response to repeated urging by La Cieca, Our Own Dawn Fatale has contributed a “to do” list for the benefit of Met management, assuming the company makes it out of this summer alive.
As if Massenet’s ghost forbade the opera
“How the Dying Composer’s Sentimental Whim Was Invoked by Lucy Arbell, the English Prima Donna, to Forbid Mary Garden to Sing the Title Role in Cleopatra.”
Altar ego
An uplifting way to start the week from Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin: a performance of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide under the baton of Riccardo Muti.
Pan labyrinth
Welcome to Parterre Puzzle Corner #2. But first, the solution to last week’s challenge.
P.S. I glove you
La Cieca would never kid you, cher public: it’s that time of the week when we discuss off-topic and general interest subjects.
Happy Birthday USA!
What better way to celebrate the birthday of the USA than with a fusillade of coloratura fireworks, garnered from the YouTube page of our lovely friend Coloraturafan?
And she’s shining like the brightest star
So, if the opening of the Met season is canceled, Anna Netrebko can always find work as a replacement Yitzhak on Broadway.
The voice of the pundit
Our Own Dawn Fatale (artist’s conception) will take to the airwaves of Bloomberg Radio this evening at 9:00 pm to discuss the Met’s current woes.
She declares witheringly
“Dress size is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.”
How can they see with sequins in their eyes?
Worried about the future of opera in America? Don’t be!
O Mäzene!
It’s been too long, cher public, since La Cieca last lauded the true unsung heroes of parterre box: our advertisers.
Rédempteur à toute vitesse
This week, Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leizmetzerin presents what is perhaps the briefest Bühnenweihfestspiel on record.
“For my first encore…”
La Cieca admits she has nothing prepared, so you, the cher public, will have to keep yourselves amused with discussion of off-topic and general interest subjects.
The dark is light enough
Our Own Coloraturafan salutes the summer festival season with a compilation of Ladies Macbeth singing “La luce langue.”
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).