Waiting in the wings
The Met’s season-opening production of Eugene Onegin will be directed by Fiona Shaw,
Questo e Quello
No nudes is good news
“Mary Garden has adopted sea massages instead of nude bathing as a means of reducing.”
Camino unreal?
Peter Gelb says Calixto Bieito will direct at the Met.
Lady of the house
How’s about a little light summer chat Tuesday afternoon starting at 2:15 EDT, when parterre fave Danielle de Niese headlines Don Pasquale, webcast live from the Glyndebourne Festival?
And Tony goes to…
La Cieca spies spotted the New York Times‘ Anthony Tommasini at the opening of the Salzburg Meistersinger, which indicates his review should be appearing by tomorrow at the latest.
Pre-curtain
Here’s your opportunity, cher public, to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects the first week of August.
Ladies in the dark
And now, cher public, the vocal identification quiz in excelsis, Leonora’s great Act IV scena from Il trovatore, as sung by 25 sopranos (and five tenors).
Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!
Wagner’s Meistersinger, in a witty, sumptuous performance (thanks to Stefan Herheim and Daniele Gatti, respectively) is now being streamed on 3sat.online, available, so far as La Cieca can tell, wherever the internet reaches.
After the fall
Wendy White is suing the for a 2011 accident on stage during a performance of Faust.
Leveraged canard
“Sing on your vocal interest, not your vocal principal!”
Uh, no, they’re saying “Boo-runnhilde, Boo-runnhilde”
If the Frank Castorf production of the Ring at Bayreuth accomplished nothing else, it will be the popularization in classical music circles of the term “boovation.”
Walk on the Wilde side
After Heart of a Soldier, The Perfect American, The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene, et al., the premiere of Theodore Morrison’s Oscar in Santa Fe last Saturday came as a welcome relief.
Tweet and lowdown
Everyone can go home now, because Twitter has reached its zenith.
Leonard Pinth-Garnell! Thou shouldst be living at this hour
These mainstage programs will be augmented throughout the year by supporting videos, photos and writings that will help to contextualize the works in progress…
Desk set
Stefan Herheim‘s production of Die Meistersinger is set on the surface of Hans Sachs’ writing table!
Donc, c’est ce qu’elle appelle “faire la connaissance de Mme Haines”
Some interesting programming in Avignon next season.
It’s not easy being Greek
Sergey Taneyev, pupil of Tchaikovsky and teacher of Scriabin and Rachmaninov, composed just one opera, Oresteia, premiered in 1895 when he was 39.
Mary Garden as negative space
The singer refuses point blank to discuss the subject.
Belief in a higher power
The behavioral phenomenon of limerence has been described as “an involuntary potentially inspiring state of adoration and attachment to a limerent object involving intrusive and obsessive thoughts, feelings and behaviors from euphoria to despair, contingent on perceived emotional reciprocation.”
Ich sah das Kind
La Cieca hears that Dame Gwyneth Jones has added yet another “role” to hear already vast repertoire, that of grandmother.
A habit with me
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s general director Anthony Freud announced today that two internationally acclaimed opera singers, American sopranos Christine Brewer and Elizabeth Futral, have been cast for the new production and company premiere of The Sound of Music, to be presented next spring.
Two out of two fussbudgets agree…
“Anna Netrebko must state her position on gay rights in Russia”
Hoop dreams
Arrange your crinolines in a flattering pattern, cher public, as you settle in to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects.
Yet here’s a canard
The part of Lady Macbeth is different from any other role Verdi wrote because the composer insisted that the interpreter must have a harsh, ugly voice.
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).