Since it’s put on in lavish productions at the biggest houses, sung by the biggest stars, since it wrings such a rich sound out of such a small band, and since the musical, formal and literary ambitions of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s great meta-opera are so very grand, it might be easy to […]
La Cieca (absent, trying to find out what the hell is taking so long with those marrons glacés) invites the cher public (pictured) to while away the week of August 22 talking of this, that, and nothing at all.
Our Doyenne demonstrated her omniscience once again by sending me a DVD of Rimsky Korsakov’s Le Coq d’Or (Zolotoy Petushok) to review. I’m with musicologist Richard Taruskin who stated that Rimsky Korsakov was “perhaps the most underrated composer of all time” (and I’m sure his editor insisted on including the “perhaps”).
A live webcast of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw from Glyndebourne may divert the parterrians this afternoon. The event commences at 12:45, with a place to discuss the proceedings at La Casa della Cieca.
Since an early appearance as Schaunard in Baz Luhrmann’s Broadway La bohème, barihunk Daniel Okulitch has been steadily building a substantial career. Along with noteworthy performances as Don Giovanni in New York and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro in Los Angeles, much of his career has been centered on contemporary work. He has leading […]
Though Brad Wilber‘s lamented site is no more, opera gossip refuses to die. For example, La Cieca has just heard that for an upcoming opening night at the Metropolitan Opera a beloved and (that word again!) charismatic tenor will return to the house after a six season absence. So now you know more or less […]
Friend of the Box Zachary Woolfe follows up his provocative NYT article on charisma with an invitation to discuss this elusive quality with his cher public, a group of which La Cieca is sure you parterriani represent a significant subset. Let yourselves be heard!
“Der Tenor Jonas Kaufmann… Im FOCUS-Online-Interview spricht er über Politik, Yoga und die Gründe, warum Sänger kein Sixpack haben.”
Joyce DiDonato enjoys the rare cachet of having three studio-recorded operas released in the past three years while other famous divas must be content with “just” DVDs. Although two of Renée Fleming’s Violettas have found their way onto video in less than five years (why??), “the people’s diva” has only recorded one studio opera in […]
Jummy Jonas Kaufmann and awe-inspiring Anna Netrebko team for the great duet from Manon, as heard last night at the Waldbühne Berlin.
Classical music writer and opera critic Robert Levine has written a very pleasant new book, Weep, Shudder, Die, A Guide to Loving Opera, published by HarperCollins Books. Levine sets up the book’s premise early in his introduction: “Could singing… make one, as the composer Vincenzo Bellini said, ‘weep, shudder, die’ and at the same time […]
This just in: Lyric Opera of Chicago and the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) have reached a tentative contract agreement for the coming season. All performances will proceed as planned.
With their quick rise to fame, the cast of MTV reality show “Jersey Shore” has cashed in on a number of endorsement deals, including weight loss supplements, alcohol and bronzer. But here’s a first. Manhattan culture retailer The Metropolitan Opera is offering to pay Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino not to attend its performances.
Revealed: James Levine has had two back surgeries since the spring, but is described (by Tom Levine) as “very, very positive and very, very optimistic.” [NYT]
Handel’s Orlando is one of three operas Handel based on episodes from Ariosto’s best-selling sixteenth-century epic, Orlando Furioso. The story was, in 1733, well known throughout the Mediterranean world, and everyone set it to music—Vivaldi’s and Haydn’s settings have enjoyed recent revivals, and the libretto Handel set had originally been devised for Domenico Scarlatti. Intricate […]
The controversy over the demise of Brad Wilber‘s Met Futures site goes mainstream, thanks to (who else?) Zachary Woolfe.
La Cieca was cced the following letter sent by a “long-time patron of NYCO” in response to “the recently received Subscription Renewal Brochure.” She has withheld the patron’s name by request.
La Cieca invites the cher public to comment, speculate, complain and natter on any and all off-topic subjects during the week of August 15.
Here’s your discussion thread for this morning/afternoon’s webcast of Lohengrin from Bayreuth, cher public. La Cieca herself is grabbing a bite of lunch and will join you later!
“It’s difficult to push a boulder up a hill, recognizing that we’ll never get there,” says George Steel, adding, “If I have to take tomatoes from here to there, I can live with that.” For a translation of that poetic flight of fancy, La Cieca has resorted to Josephine Baker, after the jump.
La Cieca (not pictured) dons her “early adopter” hat once again as she prepares to watch the live telecast of Lohengrin from the Bayreuth Festival on Sunday. It’s an online pay-per-view event (a ticket is €14.90), though the presenters promise it can alternatively be watched “on demand at a time of your own choice between […]
This just landed in La Cieca’s inbox: “We regret to inform you that Lyric Opera of Chicago season is in peril. Yesterday Lyric advised us that if we do not accept their one year demand for a two week reduction of employment, an elimination of wage parity with the orchestra, and an additional 5.2 % […]
Those of you who feel like an idiot for missing the previous blind item (about how the Met has managed to wriggle out of a contract and say “good day!” to a disastrous co-production) should now spring to attention and clear your minds for a clue about the identity of the director scheduled for his […]
La Cieca just stumbled across this casting call for “puppeteers.”
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).
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