The annual Richard Tucker gala came and went at Avery Fisher Hall with the usual quota of gaffes, wardrobe malfunctions, no-shows, too-much-shows, substitutions and surprise guests (well, guest). And sandwiched between the routine, the egocentric and the just plain dull were moments of true dementia, the moments that we melomanes live and die for. Most […]
Guess who stole the show last night at the Richard Tucker gala? [ABC News]
Truth is more brutal than fiction. Particularly when the truth is the story of Colonel Floyd James Thompson, whose nine years in captivity in Vietnam made him America’s longest-held prisoner of war. It’s perfect material for a chamber opera: an epic war story focused on the intimacy of a single excruciating life. It seems to […]
The Austrian dramatic soprano was born November 14, 1926.
In the words of La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Mrs. Malaprop, “We will not anticipate the past, our retrospection will now be all to the future.” And that’s where our chat will be as well, if dear Betsy has anything to do with it.
I used to think that recital albums, greatest hits albums, and concert albums were just products of a singer’s vanity—or conductor—and that they terribly lacked imagination or preparation or dramatic heft. “Greatest Hits” albums frequently suffer from this affliction, as it is, more often than not, just a mish-mash of what this soprano or that […]
Our Own JJ delves into the mysteries of time travel—as it relates to opera production, of course. [Musical America]
“Great at push-ups and pull-ups? Do you put your friends to shame at the gym? Come show us what you’ve got! San Francisco Opera announces a public casting call seeking athletic men with specific skills to appear in an upcoming Company production in Fall 2011.” [San Francisco Opera]
No, the above image is not from Sunday’s upcoming First Ever East Coast Parterre Meet and Greet, but rather dear Mr. Hogarth’s take on “The Rake’s Progress.” A more modern treatment of theme of the dissolute punished (the Stravinsky opera, La Cieca means) will be yours to enjoy via the magic of webcasting tomorrow night […]
Don Pasquale is one of those operas that make listeners feel very happy and gay, who, after seeing it, live happily ever after and gayer than before. It’s about a whore who needs to get laid, with an eye on the young (once and still bottom) hunk versus the older (once top, yes you guessed […]
“What do you call a sex comedy that’s neither funny nor sexy? At the Met on Tuesday night, you’d have called it Cosi Fan Tutte.” [New York Post]
La Cieca has managed to nab a few moments of video of tonight’s performance of Vec Makropulos from San Francisco, proving that Karita Mattila is indeed today’s ideal interpreter of the role of Emilia Marty. [Video]
“Carmen, a passionate, headstrong gypsy and one of the best-known characters in opera, is famously enigmatic, but Ms. Garanca takes that quality almost to the point of anonymity. It can often seem not that she’s a bad actress but that she’s not quite sure what acting is.” Zealous Zachary Woolfe mulls The Garanca Paradox.
Reminder, all: the First Ever East Coast Parterre Meet and Greet is coming soon: Sunday November 14, to be exact. Here’s a reminder of the complete details, and, as an added enticement, there’s some video (apparently sent back from the future; I don’t pretend to understand the technology) of La Cieca’s participation in the festivities—after […]
The dark and dreary imagery from last week’s Regie quiz stumped more than a few of the cher public, until finally Manou made a hestitant guess: “Kat’a Kabanova?”—which was in, fact, correct. (The production is by Andrea Breth for La Monnaie.) La Cieca trusts this week’s photos will lead to a similarly entertaining range of […]
On behalf of (left to right) Miah Persson, Pavol Breslik, Isabel Leonard and Nathan Gunn, your doyenne invites the cher public to gather at La Cieca’s Dream House for a chat during the prima of the Met’s Così fan tutte this evening beginning at 8:00 pm. Details after the jump.
“Following up on its brassy season opener, Bernstein’s A Quiet Place, New York City Opera is charming audiences with Intermezzo, a comedy inspired by a real-life episode in the life of the opera’s composer, Richard Strauss.” [New York Post]
This review was not going to be primarily about Shirley Verrett. She is not a singer I am all that familiar with and when I was sent this DVD of Tosca to review a week ago, I focused more on the director of the production, baritone-turned-producer Tito Gobbi, than on the singers. But sometimes life […]
According to Our Own JJ, there was skating on the ramparts of Seville last Thursday night. [New York Post]
When handing out the goodies, the gods weren’t stingy with Shirley Verrett. Few opera singers were as prodigiously gifted as Verrett: the perfect amalgam of Kunst and Stimm housed in a frame of voluptuous allure. In addition to an instrument of stunning natural beauty and easy range, Verrett displayed superior musicianship, dramatic intelligence and searing […]
The spectacular dramatic soprano was born 74 years ago today in Pontnewynydd, Wales. She is seen below in one of her less familiar (though no less effective) roles, Hanna in Die Lustige Witwe.
“…Don José stabs Carmen in the gripping finale.” [NYT]
Betsy (pictured) writes: Some people say I dress too gay, But ev’ry day, I feel so gay; And when I’m gay, I dress that way, Is something wrong with that?
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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