Ma, falle gli occhi azzuri!
Another treasure from Mike Richter‘s trove: the only studio recording of Dorothy Kirsten‘s celebrated Tosca.
Questo e Quello
Old testament
La Cieca hears that the Ravinia Festival in 2014 will do a novel take on Strauss’s Salome, setting the work in Milan’s celebrated “Casa di Riposo per Musicisti Giuseppe Verdi.”
Two ladies in the shade…
The simple fable at the heart of Die Frau ohne Schatten shouldn’t be difficult to parse, but Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s libretto juggles its vaguely Jungian, vaguely Arabian Nights symbolitry as if with intent to mystify and bewilder.
Light reading
“Opera isn’t all about the music: On the most basic level, it’s a grotesquely expensive form of entertainment.”
Stormy, husky, brawling, Mary of the Big Shoulders
“Behold her now with her sleeves rolled up to her dimpled elbows, forewoman of the great Chicago voice factory, state bouncer and maker of contracts!”
Evviva Las Vegas
Where else would you be this evening at 7:55, cher public, but in La Casa della Cieca whilst the season premiere of Rigoletto emanates from the Met?
Melts in your mouth
The cher public are invited to quit stuffing their faces and get back to the business at hand: discussing off-topic and general interest subjects.
Sweatin’ with the passive-aggressive
“Pilates is my preferred form of torture.”
Diabolical variations
Whenever I encounter Eric Owens, he’s plotting to conquer the universe.
Why Rupert Christiansen is the wrong commentator about gay rights protesters
The veteran British critic click-whored…
Canard als Gast
This week’s canard is contributed in by the artistic director of Gotham Chamber Opera, Neal Goren.
“Die Frau,” nicht ohne chattin’
Where else would you be this evening at 7:25, cher public, but in La Casa della Cieca whilst Die Frau Ohne Schatten emanates from the Met?
Brotherly love
Again dipping into the rich archive of live recordings remastered and made available by the late Mike Richter, we find this selection from his early disc “Odd Opera 2.”
An audience with La Cieca
La Cieca is happy to announce a meet-and-greet gathering for New York City area parterre readers on November 24 starting at 2:30 pm at Symphony Space. The focal event of the afternoon will be a screening of Les Vêpres Siciliennes from the Royal Opera House at 3:00 pm, with socializing (pictured, above) to occur during […]
Semi: Colon
The abrupt withdrawal of Katharina Wagner from an abridged seven-hour Ring cycle she was to direct at the Teatro Colon last year prompted no shortage of scorn and Schadenfreude.
Melba not pleased at rivalry in opera
“The uncharitable suggestion is made that the Australian diva has taken umbrage at Oscar Hammerstein’s enthusiasm over Mary Garden…”
Blind leap
Which much-disliked diva at the Met will be replaced for the 2017 New Year’s Eve gala, repaid thus after only eight seasons on the roster?
An open letter to Sarah Billinghurst
Before you depart the Met at the end of this season, Ms. Billinghurst, you have the chance to do some good for both the Met audience and James Levine.
Save the date!
La Cieca asks all members of the cher public in the New York City area to pencil in 3:00 pm on Sunday, November 24 as combination meet-and-greet of the parterriani and viewing of the HD film of Les Vêpres siciliennes at Symphony Space.
Stay! Plotz!
La Cieca expects a capacity audience for this week’s discussion of off-topic and general interest subjects.
X, Y and Anna
What better way for the world’s leading opera diva to celebrate Halloween than to dress up as “Slutty Zombie Circa 1972 Elizabeth Taylor?”
Slow curtain
La Cieca has just been informed that Deborah Voigt‘s engagement as Leonore in Fidelio at Liège has quietly disappeared from her website.
Gesamtcanardwerk
“An ‘opera production’ is defined as a collection of sets and costumes plus a list of instructions of movements from one part of the stage to another.”
Das glückliche Ungeheuer
What better way to welcome Halloween than with that scariest of all operas, Salome, in a performance culled from one of Mike Richter‘s magnificent CD-ROMs?
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).