Questo popoloso deserto che appellano Gerusalemme
See those little blue circles? Do you know what they represent? The answer is after the jump.
Questo e Quello
We are listening
UPDATE: The Traviata chat is beginning in preparation for the 8:00 start time of tonight’s performance.
Agnes Botoxa
This Greek mezzo-soprano, born 1944 [!] is seen at a concert last month [!!!]. For this kind of quality work, we all need to start saving our money, cher public.
A minute and a huff
La Cieca presents an open letter from a parterre box reader.
Triumphal, arch
“Nobody dies in Partenope, Handel’s 1730 opera that ends in contentment and reconciliation. For the audience at the New York City Opera’s production Saturday night, the finale also hinted at hope for the troubled company’s future.” [NYP]
Eyes wide shut
You may think La Cieca is full of beans when she tells you that a maestro private-jetted in to New York today for a rehearsal and then jetted back again, with no plan to return to our metropolis until the day of the prima.
Cake’s stand
“…in Parsifal, instead of digging out the chapters from Metaphysics for Dummies (which is what basically everyone does, except Herheim!), [Calixto Bieito] made it a perfectly plausible story, close to us, to our lifestyles…
A drop of eau de Cologne
Saturday evening Kiri te Kanawa sang the first of her final two Marschallins at the Cologne Opera House. The reason for this rather unexpected return to one of her signature parts seems to have been a sentimental one:
Chic peek?
UPDATE:The Met press office this afternoon [!] has broken the news:
Coote, ya know.
[San Francisco Chronicle]: I’m certainly not the first person to observe how convincing you are in male roles. Would I be correct in thinking that the line outside your dressing room after these performances is rather, um, interesting?
In your regie bonnet
Either the directors are running out of ideas, or else the cher public is just getting too smart. Once again, the first guess was the right guess: the opera in last week’s Regie quiz was indeed Un ballo in maschera. (And you, SF Guy, need to get to bed earlier!) After the jump, La Cieca’s […]
Alla chat che si appresta meco, o schiava, assisterai!
La Cieca (pictured) is delighted to host an afternoon Aïda chat for you, the cher public — all of whom she imagines as having something of the grave dignity and multiple chins of dear Sir Cedric Hardwicke.
Where the elite meet
La Cieca recalls the words of her old, old, old friend Eve Harrington: “In good conscience, I must give credit where credit is due.” And far be it for La Cieca to begrudge her cher public something so freely given by Little Miss Evil.
La Cieca’s favorite couple of sentences from that Vanity Fair piece, and why
“Volpe, who is 69, wants to set the record straight, now that Peter Gelb is being held up as the architect of a new, dynamic Met: with enough money, he too could have been creative. ‘Peter spends money in ways I never could,’ Volpe told me. ‘If I had Mercedes Bass and I could have […]
Opera chat line makes the big time
“A report was posted soon after on Parterre.com, an opera blog, that Mr. Slatkin had been removed from further performances.” [NYT]
Off the beat
La Cieca has just heard that Leonard Slatkin has been removed from further performances of Traviata at the Met.
Bright despair
On this beautiful spring morning, La Cieca is delighted to announce to her cher public that she has uncovered yet another exclusive scoop. For you listening enjoyment on this last day of March, we present the next single to drop from the most talked-about operatic disc since Karita Mattila‘s!
Alla cantata ancor manca la diva
Patricia Racette will sing the title role in Puccini’s Tosca on April 14, 17, 20, and 24 matinee, replacing Karita Mattila, “who is ill” — this just in from the Met’s press office.
Dies alles – hab ich nur geträumt?
This production, though obvious Regie fodder, looks far too interesting to wait for our regular Sunday night quiz! Video after the jump.
Get out your handkerchiefs
“Angela Gheorghiu‘s triumph in La Traviata Monday night at the Met was a searing reminder of why we go to opera in the first place.” [NY Post] Photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera
Confection on a Dance Floor
La Cieca breathlessly offers you a sneak preview of one of this spring’s most eagerly awaited CDs.
Across a crowded plaza
Recently denasaled bass-baritone Paulo Szot returns to South Pacific at the Vivian Beaumont tomorrow. [Broadwayworld.com]
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).