It happened in Boston
UPDATE: It’s official. EARLIER: La Cieca hears from a generally reliable source that James Levine has resigned from his post as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Expect an official announcement later today.
Questo e Quello
Star, crossed
UPDATE: This just in from the Met press office: “Hei-Kyung Hong will sing the role of Juliette in Roméo et Juliette for performances from March 3 through March 22 this season, replacing Angela Gheorghiu, who is ill. The role of Juliette for the Saturday, March 26 performance is TBA.” EARLIER: Angela Gheorghiu has just announced […]
Blonde item
“It’s just that it seems rather perverse to have cast such opulent voices and then given them not much to sing…. the role of Anna Nicole would not stretch Danielle de Niese.” Loyal parterrian Jondrytay (not pictured) looked in on the Royal Opera’s Anna Nicole and shared this thoughts on his blog Not So Wunderbar.
Witch way out
The definitive evidence that the Met was far too wildly optimistic when scheduling Armida.
Levine cancels BSO
James Levine has just canceled his remaining engagements for the season with the Boston Symphony, including a tour to Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. The canceled dates run through March 19; Levine’s next performance at the Met is scheduled for March 30. [WBUR]
Sappia il duce il cazzo orrendo
Which divo—who’s not known for a sizable instrument—has suddenly sported a massive bulge that has onlookers wondering “are you padding your part, or are you just glad to be back at the Met?”
Dinged victory
La Cieca realized suddenly yesterday she had two contests to get up to date, so she organized her crack panel of experts (or is that “her panel of crack experts?”) to adjudicate, decide, confer, converse and otherwise hobnob with our brother wizards. The upshot of which is: we have two winners!
From the House of Atreus
The team that made the Met’s 2009 production of From the House of the Dead one of the undisputed highlights of the Peter Gelb era will return five years from now to create a Richard Strauss tragedy. According to Helsingin Sanomat, director Patrice Chéreau and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will collaborate on a new production of […]
Cardillac: arresting!
[UPDATE: Now with photos!] Before Opera Boston’s performance of Cardillac at the Majestic Theater on Sunday afternoon, a woman warned the people in her row that she might have to leave early. A man insisted to her that “the last seven minutes” were not to be missed.
Blind item cannot hit the mark
Which diva is poised on the brink of omitting a whole aria after already transposing another? Or are we living in a dream to think she’ll show up at all?
“Little,” Joyce
I’ve had this DVD sitting in my apartment for literally months – mea culpa, La – and I finally got around to watching Mark Adamo’s opera Little Women last weekend. Commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera, the piece received almost unanimous critical and popular acclaim when it premiered in 1998. This DVD was recorded for […]
A water, bird talk
Our own JJ “sits down” (figuratively speaking) with Robert Lepage to “talk” (also figuratively speaking) about his production of The Nightingale and Other Short Fables, opening tomorrow night at BAM. [New York Post]
Too many cooks spoil the Regie
This week it was operalover9001 (so many of you!) who managed to narrow down the repertoire to a handful of titles, of which The Rape of Lucretia turned out to be accurate. After all, how many operas are there that feature Nathan Gunn taking a massage in leather pants? (I said how many are there, […]
Iphigénie en conversation
The cher public’s final chat for the month of February concerns Iphigénie en Tauride, as heard beginning at 1:00 pm.
In and out
Maestro James Levine continued his (unfortunate, and surely painful) recent pattern of canceling an average of one performance a week last night when he dropped out of the Boston’s Symphony’s performance of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony.
Happy Birthday Renata Scotto
La Cieca thought she could omit birthday greetings for la Scotto this year since there was a big mention of the diva earlier this week, but the emails, IMs and, for all La Cieca knows, telegrams have been pouring in all day demanding a salute. And far be it from La Cieca to refuse the […]
More o’ Leonora
Since you so adroitly identified the voice of the mystery Leonora as Anja Harteros, La Cieca thought you might like to hear the soprano in the complete Act 4, Scene 1 of Il trovatore.
Multitasking
As if wowing a capacity crowd at his Met debut recital were not enough, protean performer Andrea Bocelli has branched out into an entirely new field as a wardrobe stylist. He’s pictured here with satisfied clients Angela Gheorghiu and Renée Fleming.
Our weapons are useless
“With a career spanning half a century, Placido Domingo continues to be firmly against leaving the stage, where presently he is triumphing in his role as Oreste in the production of Iphigenie en Tauride that is being performed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.” [Fox News]
It Came from Beyond the Ramparts of Seville
The first opera film to be presented in 3D, Carmen , shows up on screens worldwide (and in New York City, too) on March 3. And some lucky member of the cher public will have the opportunity to view this milestone in cinematic opera, as the guest of La Cieca! Details after the jump.
E tu nol sai?
A mysterious lady in the shadows of Castellor! Who might she be?
The Bland Witch Project
The premiere of Mary Zimmerman’s production of Giacomo Gioachino Rossini’s Armida was arguably the most controversial event of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2009-2010 season. The performances represented Armida’s first run at the Metropolitan Opera and had been commissioned at the behest of mega-diva Renée Fleming. The soprano had scored a triumph in concert presentations of the […]
Scotto talks
Parterre’s tutelary diva shares espresso and cookies with parterre’s fave scribe Zachary Woolfe in preparation for the gala Met Legends event honoring her next Sunday.
Light and Sweet
In an angst-ridden conversation many years ago about new music, a friend of mine asserted that he didn’t care whether something was new as long as it was good. That conversation came to mind after seeing Christof Bergman’s opera buffa Piazza Navona on Sunday afternoon, in a production by Opera Manhattan Repertory Theatre.
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).