Angela Gheorghiu will sing Mimì at the Met’s last performance of Boheme this season tomorrow afternoon, replacing Anna Netrebko who is ill. Angie’s in town (already?) in preparation for her performances in La traviata beginning March 29.
La Cieca has obtained a snippet of the Met’s upcoming HD simulcast of Thomas’ Hamlet. Do not reveal to anyone the source of this clip!
I have to confess that I overheard that line during the intermission of the Met’s new production of Amboise Thomas’s seldom-performed Hamlet based on Shakespeare’s oft-performed play. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
The cher public are invited to suggest captions for this less than flattering photo by Sara Krulwich, which appeared originally in the New York Times.
“After all that, it would be gratifying to declare Petersen’s debut a ‘star is born’ moment. But… she was pretty much a nonstarter, her Ophélie hovering on the cusp of inaudibility in midrange and shrill on the highest notes.” [NYP]
David Gockley has accepted Elina Garanca‘s withdrawal for “personal reasons” from San Francisco after discovering a “series of European concerts has been recently announced on Ms. Garanca’s website during the Werther performance schedule.” [La Cieca earlier reported this story as Gockley’s giving “the boot” to Garanca, which was not accurate.]
The wait is over, cher public, and your doyenne’s blue-ribbon panel has selected the perkiest procrastinator of the pack, jatm2063 for his account of a delayed encounter with Sylvia Sass. Congratulations, jatm!
Serious “opera singer” Katherine Jenkins says her greatest wish is to sing Carmen or Cherubino at La Scala.
La Cieca (not pictured) has been asked to spread the word that the Opera-L list is down due to the power outages in New Jersey where it is hosted. The latest information is that it is hoped to be up sometime Wednesday. UPDATE: Opera-L is now operational again.
La Cieca is delighted to begin a new series on parterre.com dedicated to the fretting, brooding and dithering of the Wazier of the Worriers, Anthony Tommasini. Our first examples (of many) follow the jump.
Many happy returns to Antonietta Stella, who turned 81 today!
Although she has made headlines on this side of the Atlantic largely because of her recent dismissal by Franco Zeffirelli from a Roman production of La traviata on the grounds of “physical inadequacy,” Daniela Dessì is a topflight star in Europe. In her native Italy she is arguably the most popular soprano currently active. Over […]
La Cieca has decided she is going insert the the following line into her official biography (names and pronouns varied as necessary):
Today’s Met broadcast is The Nose. Our habitual chat begins at 12:30 pm, and the details are after the jump.
… as the saying goes. A German opera singer is accused of murdering her husband Hermann, then hiring a body double to sign over to her his properties, stocks, bonds, cash and life insurance policy. [The Telegraph]
She without whom La Cieca would not cast a shadow, Renée Fleming, has a newly revamped website!
Per the Met’s press office, “Jane Archibald will make her Met debut as Ophélie in the Met’s new production of Thomas’s Hamlet, singing the role on April 5 and 9.”
La Cieca would like to give the cher public a little nudge in the way of a reminder that the procrastination competition will be closed at midnight tonight. So what are you waiting for? (Remember, only comments to the original posting will be considered!)
As La Cieca indicated previously, Francesca Zambello (center) is going to add the notch of General and Artistic Director of Glimmerglass Opera to her already bulging belt. [NYT]
La Cieca is informed that tomorrow’s final dress rehearsal of Hamlet is as closed as closed can be: covers, Met staff and a few handpicked guests of Peter Gelb are the only humans to be allowed in the auditorium as the Thomas is teched. It’s natural enough, since — as we all know — the […]
Bravo Monsieur (or Madame) 79CXR for your guess in the most recent Regie quiz. The work depicted is indeed Béatrice et Benedict, in a production for the Opéra Comique directed by Dan Jemmett. The staging, La Cieca regrets to say, was not taken in with pleasure; critiques are headlined everything from “The enterprise overall does […]
Forget all the others. You need to read this review of The Nose. [New York Observer]
If you feel like discussing the Sirius broadcast of Antony and Cleopatra, here’s the place.
New York City Opera has announced its 2010-2011 season, and it looks like La Cieca’s precognitions were about 90% correct. (Please, hold your applause.)
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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