Queen of the Maybe
“I didn’t think anything could be campier than Adriana. But this is nothing but camp. Adriana at least has tunes.”
Questo e Quello
A good blind item is worth repeating
Which singer has turned out to be such a headache that the artistic administration have decided they’d better fly over a replacement?
March adness
As the balmy breezes of March caress the budding trees, so let your ardent clicks, cher public, express your affection for our advertisers.
A tsar is born
Vot tsar’ vash!” Here is your Tsar, the 38-year-old Ukranian bass Alexander Tsymbalyuk.
No, No, Lorgnette
Take a break from your scheming, cher public, to participate in this week’s off-topic and general interest discussion.
Somebody to love
If Jonas Kaufmann isn’t quite a household name yet, it’s only a matter of time.
The use of wond’rin’
With Wednesday’s stellar staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, the New York Philharmonic joyously put the ‘music’ back into the Broadway musical.
The winner takes it all
Here’s a chance for you to win two tickets to hear the winners of this year’s Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in the intimate ambiance of WQXR’s Greene Space.
Ogni cura si doni al diletto?
José Cura will sing the role of Don José in the Friday, March 1 performance of Bizet’s Carmen, replacing Andrew Richards, who is ill.
Pay attention to the man behind the curtain
La Cieca hears that the Met’s 2013-2014 season announcement will be made at approximately 5:00 PM today on the company’s website.
All Sills final
You can tell a lot about someone from their garage sale.
Thrace off
Nearly 30 years after a Handel opera last played there, Carnegie Hall presented The English Concert opening a three-year opera-oratorio project on Sunday afternoon with Radamisto.
Bly spirit
In any narrative, the unmentioned—the unmentionable—will always be more alarming than that which is carefully described.
Rex appeal
Say this about Oedipus: The character’s got staying power.
O fatal “Don”
The Met’s performance of Don Carlo Friday night was a tragedy, but not for the reason Verdi intended.
Durch Mitleid wissend
There is applause at the end of the opera, not none at all.
“Where are my marrons glacés?”
Take a break from eating sweets, cher public, to participate in this week’s discussion of off-topic and general interest subjects.
The Met in 2013-2014, a more copious leak
Following up on last night’s information dump of the (overdue?) Met season announcement for 2013-2014, La Cieca has obtained a somewhat more detailed rundown.
Blood simple
“One of the things I’m gradually learning as I’m coming up my the 20th anniversary of writing about opera for publication is that you have to be wary about making Pronouncements.”
Equal rites
As with all good myths, certainly all the myths at the heart of Wagner’s operas, the juggling of symbols and archetypes and themes in Parsifal opens the piece to a great variety of interpretations.
Seria business
La Salustia was Giovanni Batista Pergolesi’s first opera, composed at the tender age of 21. In structure and storyline it’s a conventional baroque opera seria.
Double digits
Promiscuous — it’s not a pretty word. But when a matron in black underwear cavorts with two dozen naked hunks, what else can you call her?
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).