Questo e Quello
In what will probably stand in history as her most wrong-headed judgment call ever, on December 24 La Cieca concluded that George Steel would not accept an offer from the New York City Opera. Your doyenne cited two reasons for her position: first, that the job wouldn’t have much in the way of art to…
La Cieca wants to give a quick “shout-out” (as the youngsters say, they tell me) to “critic, novelist and record-store clerk” Daniel Stephen Johnson, who on top of all that is not only one of our newest and nicest commenters, but a smart and sassy blogger in his own right. He writes somewhat in the…
“George is actually the perfect person for City Opera in this chapter of its institutional life, said the house’s chairwoman, Susan L. Baker. [via NYT] Also: La Cieca hears that Two-Face is already en route to New York City, where he will meet with his new underlings at 11:00 AM Thursday.
In a startling double-reverse action, the board of the New York City Opera has chosen George Steel as the company’s new General Director. The formal announcement of Steel’s appointment made moments ago (as, need one say, La Cieca predicted) in the New York Times. Steel, whose 14-week incumbency as General Manager of Dallas Opera has…
La Cieca is hearing grumbles (second and third hand, but the hands are mostly reliable ones) that the current skeleton staff of the New York City Opera are being kept in the dark by the company’s board about future plans. In particular, La Cieca hears that one detail that will obviously be revealed in the…
So, what’s stranger than Pola Negri singing the “Hojotoho?” Well, La Cieca is sure she couldn’t say, but she is willing to venture a guess that the answer just might involve Billie Burke, Adolphe Menjou, June Havoc, and an apartment decorated in psychedelic wallpaper. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/eWOU6PmkgXA” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
La Cieca realizes that you, cher public, are getting as antsy and downright annoyed at the machinations chez NYCO (oh, that’s right, they don’t have a “chez,” do they?) Anyway, as bemoneyed matrons on the NYCO board ravage the Upper West Side whilst hurling millions at each other, La Cieca thought she should put it…
All hail justanothertenor, who correctly identified La forza del destino as our previous regie puzzler. Now, who cares to try his or her skill at on following mise en scene?Â
As has happened at least once before, cher public, La Cieca went out on a limb and made a wrong prediction. Thank goodness in this case she only went with a blind item — so at least she hasn’t a whole egg on her face.
Musical guests scheduled to appear at “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial” include Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder. [via Gawker]
Pre-gentrification New York landmark Amato Opera will close its doors in May, at the end of its 61st season. Tony Amato gave the news to his company before Saturday night’s performance of “The Merry Widow.” The Bowery building housing the minscule stage and auditorium has been sold to a developer. [via NYT]
La Cieca hears (merci, mon ami Pedro!) that New York City Opera have hammered out a solution to their General Director problem, finding a candidate with far more than journeyman experience who is probably by now ready for a change of scene.
Quote the line (and the title of the Noel Coward play in which it is spoken) by that perfectly describes La rondine.
J’ai un ami, JJ, qui m’a raconté cette mise en scène de La rondine dans Gay City News.
La Cieca returns, “rested” after her long absence, for an all-new edition of Unnatural Acts of Opera. The theme for 2009 is “The Greatest Pirates,” and, assisted by the many suggestions of the cher public, La Cieca has selected a prime specimen of live dementia for her first offering of 2009. The New Unnatural Acts…
UPDATE: A quick preview of tonight’s (this afternoon’s, actually) spectacular radio broadcast of I puritani from the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. First, a hint of some of the “new” musical ideas in this edition of Puritani. This is the final cabaletta of the opera, performed (as it was apparently originally intended) as a duet for…
The long-awaited return of the “Jambon d’Or,” featuring bass-baritone (?) Liudas Mikalauskas. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/TNW8wOQ6hq8″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Celebrated fact-mangler Norman Lebrecht is at it again. Did you know that the Metropolitan Opera has in its repertoire a production of Der Rosenkavalier directed by Jonathan Miller? This interview includes a statement by Dr. Miller insisting his current La boheme (inspired by “the photoÂgraphic world of Brassaï, Cartier-Bresson and Kertezsz,” dontcha know) will be the…
More light entertainment from the First Annual Pitchy Awards: the prancing panniers of Max Emanuel Cencic. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/5awkNNA7XFM” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
La Cieca managed to capture a couple of minutes of the gala entertainment at the 2009 Pitchy Awards.
Cher public, La Cieca begs you to consider yourself among the little people to be thanked as your doyenne accepts the award for “Best Overall Classical Music Coverage in a Blog or Newspaper” as awarded by artsjournal’s Life’s a Pitch. La Cieca is honored to be recognized among so eclectic a group of honorees as Mark…
A dramaturg, a renowned actress, an Egyptologist, a Shakespeare expert, an art historian, an opera singer, and Samuel Barber’s biographer walk into… well, not a bar, at least to start with. As a warmup for NYCO’s only opera production of the season, Antony and Cleopatra, the company will present “What Becomes a Legend Most,” a…
For Cassandra and others of the cher public who seem to be interested in the topic: here’s some operatic stage direction that’s a little more advanced than we tend to get here in New York. Discuss.
Oh, La Cieca just can’t put anything over on a smartyboots like our own Hans Lick, who guessed within seconds that last week’s Regie quiz was in fact Benvenuto Cellini. Let us hope that even Ironic Hans will be puzzled by this week’s mystery production, after the jump.Â
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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