What chat?
La Cieca has (all together now) a hunch that the cher public would enjoy discussing this afternoon’s performance of Rigoletto during the Met broadcast beginning at 1:00 pm. Details after the jump.
Questo e Quello
Simon, pure
“Pre-performance applause often signals gratitude for past glories. In this case, it was only a preview of the stomping and cheering following that night’s performance of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra — well-deserved acclaim for a masterpiece of conducting.” So says Our Own JJ in the New York Post.
Koch and bull
NYCO benefactor and all around darling David H. Koch is the subject of an infographic detailing his long and distinguished career and that of his nonoperatic sibling Charles. La Cieca suggests you print out a few copies to take on your next trip to Lincoln Center, though she would not think of advising you to […]
Happy Birthday Charlie Handelman
Best birthday wishes to pirate supreme, premier podcaster and archivist of the musical sublime and ridiculous. (See below.)
Kunstwerk almost gesamt
La Cieca reminds the cher public that today is the final day of the Bühnenweihfestspielkrieg competition, with the first prize a sparking new copy of the complete Ring cycle on DVD! Put on your thinking tarnhelms and comment!
Chat people
Tonight’s Met season premiere of Simon Boccanegra promises to offer far more than mere B-movie thrills. Cher plebe! Cher patrizi! You’re invited to a chat beginning at 8:00 pm!
Girls who are boys who like boys to be girls
The cover of Joyce Di Donato’s third recital disc Diva, Divo immediately tells the listener that either the famed mezzo (along with the Orchestre et Choeur de L’Opera National de Lyon under Kazushi Ono) has decided to release a recording of music from Victor/Victoria, or her new CD will feature her performing arias as male […]
“It ain’t got that swing” defined
La Cieca doesn’t know what to say here, which is absolutely okay in this case because the YouTube after the jump makes all, all clear.
Women behind brooms
“There was little glamour in Anna Netrebko’s first years on the banks of the Neva River. She lived in a notoriously horrible dormitory belonging to the St. Petersburg Conservatory on Ulitsa Doblesti and worked as a floor cleaner at the Mariinsky Theater where she dreamed of performing.” [St. Petersburg Times]
“Help me! Help me!”
Over at the Met they’re dropping like, well, you know. Per the press office: “Marco Armiliato will conduct Puccini’s La Bohème on January 31, February 3, 7, 10, 17, 22, and 25, replacing Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, who has withdrawn for personal reasons.” There’s more!
Werther, original
Decca has released a remarkable performance of Massenet’s great romantic tragedy Werther. Filmed live in January 2010, this performance stands out primarily for the great singing and dramatic vitality of the principals, particularly the remarkable Werther of Jonas Kaufmann. It is rare to hear a tenor voice with this much heft, body and color phrase […]
Una furtiva chiacchiera
Not to scoop Brad Wilber (if such a thing were possible!) but La Cieca has just heard that the much-discussed opening night of the Met’s 2012-13 season has been settled. Starring in a new Bartlett Sher production of L’elisir d’amore will be Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien, with Dulcamara and conductor TBA.
Divas in distress
Resolved: Luc Bondy‘s production of Tosca is the same as Darren Aronofsky‘s Black Swan. Side argument: this season’s revival of Tosca is like the eventual recut of Black Swan for basic cable. (Tosca photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera)
Sunny side up
Opera’s girl next door—if you live on Riverside Drive—Anna Netrebko discusses her many egg recipes and her favorite pajama boutiques in the Sunday Routine column in the New York Times. (Her own John Raitt, in the person of Erwin Schrott, put in a cameo appearance not in pajamas but a tight t-shirt.)
Nothing can stop the fan
Commenter emerita Poison Ivy (now a blogress in her own right) takes on the dark side of fandom over at Poison Ivy’s Wall of Text. Find out what the fan did!
Get your frock on
La Cieca (pictured) invites the cher public (also pictured) to a chat this afternoon at 1:00 PM EST during the Met broadcast of La traviata (likewise pictured). Details follow the jump!
Bondy and discipline
“A show can get better for a long time without ever getting good.” Our own JJ muses on the revised staging of Tosca on view this season at the Met. [Rough and Regie]
A doge’s life
Says the Met press office: “Roberto De Biasio will make his Met debut as Gabriele Adorno in the Thursday, January 20 opening performance of Simon Boccanegra, replacing Ramón Vargas, who is ill. Mr. Vargas is scheduled to sing the remainder of the performances.”
A river in Egypt
After six months of professional silence, Natalie Dessay will return to the stage on Monday in Giulio Cesare at the Palais Garnier. A hint of what the Handel may sound like will be found after the jump.
My God, it’s full of stars!
Ioan Holender was General Manager of the Wiener Staatsoper for nineteen years, the longest anyone has held this post, and the august institution honored him with the gala to end all galas in the final days of his administration. With the goal of commemorating each of the 40 new productions premiered at the Staatsoper during […]
Nothing succeeds like access
Fans of Joyce DiDonato and fairness (and there is considerable overlap between the two groups) will be happy to know that the Metropolitan Opera, as part of a settlement in a civil rights lawsuit, has agreed to increase accessibilty to the opera house, including the installation of additional wheelchair seating. [NYT]
Bühnenweihfestspielkrieg
The Germans have a word for everything except what La Cieca is about to propose, which is why she made up her own Mammutwort for, well, a contest having to do with stage productions, specifically those of Wagner music dramas. (The “consecration” is understood, you see.) The rules and what you can win, after the […]
Stolen blind
La Cieca’s turf has been violated, and by Our Own JJ‘s colleagues (sort of) at the New York Post, to boot! [Page Six]
Tales of the unexpected
“This year may go down as one filled with surprises at the Met, kicking off with an unexpected role for a familiar tenor and a dazzling debut for a budding superstar.” [New York Post] (Photo: Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera)
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).