“The all-male cast… is excellent from top to bottom.”
Yes. Yes, that is what the review of Los Angeles Opera’s Billy Budd actually said.
Questo e Quello
Writers’ block
The last place you’d expect to find opera at all, let alone good, exciting opera, is in still-scrappy Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Mary’s third law of motion
“I have never driven a car because it always seemed to me a tax on one’s nervous system, and my only time for driving was when I was trying to store, rather than expend, energy.”
A sense of occasion
On February 29, 1812 (thanks to Pope Gregory’s calendrical reforms), Gioachino Rossini celebrated his fourth birthday.
The long and winding rodent
Since Jonas Kaufmann is so in the news right now, Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin has selected as this week’s listening treat the tenor’s debut performance at the Bayreuth Festival, a July 25, 2010 performance of Lohengrin.
Limited visibility
La Cieca hopes you, the cher public, will see your way clear to comment on this week’s off-topic and general interest subjects.
Squillo talk
Tenor Michael Fabiano has been named the recipient of the ninth annual Beverly Sills Artist Award for young singers at the Metropolitan Opera.
Getting our canards in a row
“Masterpieces are not there to subvert; they are there to explore.”
Just a cold and lonely lovely work of art
“Joined by the Collegiate Chorale Singers, Leon Botstein and the ASO perform perhaps the most popular German opera ever to have sunk into obscurity!”
Two out of three falls
Veteran diva Maria Guleghina “long married to the baritone Mark Guleghin, has found new happiness with Russia’s Olympic state coach of Greco-Roman wrestling…”
Come aboard, we’re expecting you
“The Metropolitan Opera Guild invites you to join Deborah Voigt on a musical journey to the islands and shores of Croatia and Montenegro.”
Take your Adderall, Wozzeck
“I think a lot of his hallucinations can be compared to ultra-sensitivities and hallucinations of extremely gifted people,” Mr. Hampson said.
Good fencing makes good neighbors
Tonight, Opera Company of Brooklyn celebrates Black Awareness Month with a special presentation featuring the work of Afro-French composer and conductor, Joseph de Boulogne, the Chevalier de Saint-George.
Miss Right
A particularly delectable treat from the Mike Richter trove: Wolfgang Sawallisch conducts a 1985 performance of Arabella at the Bayerische Staatsoper, featuring Lucia Popp and Wolfgang Brendel.
City of dreams
With issue #42a, “City of Dreams,” parterre box the queer opera zine returns at least temporarily to a rational numbering system.
In solitaria stanza
La Cieca alerts the cher public to be on the lookout for discounts and downright giveaways for the upcoming Vittorio Grigolo recital at the Met.
The beautiful glass is empty
“Juliane Banse will make her Met debut as Zdenka in this season’s performances of Strauss’s Arabella, replacing Genia Kühmeier, who has withdrawn for personal reasons.”
Winter wonder man
Life is not fair. There are rules that apply to Jonas Kaufmann, and rules that apply to everyone else.
La “Fille” mal gardée
“Natalie Dessay de retour dans la Fille du Régiment“
Kate Royal, Toby Spence ink 10-year Met deal
“Robert Rattray, who has long experience in artist management, has been appointed the Met’s next assistant general manager for artistic affairs, replacing Sarah Billinghurst, who will retire at the end of this season after two decades at the Met, the company announced Tuesday.”
By La Cieca
“Opera stars clash over our judgment”
“The article was written before Mme. Tetrazzini’s arrival,” continued Miss Garden yesterday.
Ah, je les écoute sans cesse
For your racionative pleasure, cher public, here’s an epistolary quiz in honor of the Met’s new production of Werther: 13 artists share Charlotte’s “Ces lettres! Ces lettres!” scena from Massenet’s opera.
Das waren die Freimaurer! Ich hab’s! Die Freimaurer!
“Unexpected conflicts and complications have occurred in Mr. Hampson’s schedule as he prepares the title role in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Wozzeck.”
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).