Fortune’s fool
Have you heard the most recent update on the Franco Zeffirelli outburst earlier this week at the Rome Opera?
scandale
La Scala Upper West
Everything I need to know about Bizet I learned at a Judy Chicago exhibit in 1996. Brutality against women is pervasive, and society is culpable by permitting it. Such grievances were aired at the expense of the composer’s chef d’oeuvre Carmen yesterday at La Scala’s Gala opening, viewed dal vivo at Symphony Space on 95th and Broadway.
Secret Squirrel
La Cieca is happy to note that Our Own Squirrel will be on-site at Symphony Space this afternoon with live breaking coverage of the triumphs and/or scandales associated with the prima of Carmen from La Scala, as seen on HD. Coverage starts here at parterre.com at 11:45 AM.
The Metropolitan Opera, Live in PG-13
Condescending to opera lovers across America — and cheating both Bartlett Sher and Squirrel out of the simple joys of partial nudity — the Met has decided to censor the December 19th High Def broadcast of Les Contes d’Hoffmann!
Skylight at the end of the tunnel?
In the wake of a New York Times exposé of Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theatre’s welter of “demonstrations, petitions, mass resignations of performers, subscriber revolt and Facebook vitriol interpreted by management as violent threats,” Playbill News reports this morning that Eric Dillner, the “vilified” managing director of the company, has resigned. According to a story this […]
scream city
Your dithery doyenne sometimes gets so bogged down in local drama such as the continuing story that is NYCO that she overlooks the occasional outlying scandale. Such is the case with what she will henceforth call The Mishegas in Milwaukee. This brouhaha over the direction of the Skylight Opera has (per La Cieca’s informant) escalated […]
img artists chair pleads guilty
IMG Artists Chairman Barrett Wissman has pleaded guilty to securities fraud, according to today’s New York Times. Wissman purchased IMG Artists from IMG in 2003 for $7.5 million. IMG Artists’ list of international clients has included Itzhak Perlman, Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, Thomas Hampson, James Galway, KODO, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Murray Perahia, Antonio […]
more of the infante filianoti
These videos showed up first on Opera Chic but were posted by babyfairy.
god bless us, every one who actually showed up
Followers of the cultural scene on the Left Coast will be interested to see that Michael Capasso (of Dicapo gala notoriety) is apparently involved in the production of A Christmas Carol at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. Although the graphic promises “John Goodman, Jane Leeves, Jane Seymour, with Christopher Lloyd . . . and […]
snow job?
As commenter paddypig points out, something fishy seems to be going on with the Puccini 150th Anniversary Gala presented by Dicapo Opera Theatre, scheduled for this Monday night. As of this evening, the company’s website still advertises “Daniela Dessi, Fabio Armiliato, Francisco Casanova, Aprile Millo, Francesca Patané and others” even though certainly Millo is not […]
a me roberti e il giudice del fischio
Extended clips of the La Scala Don Carlo as telecast on Sunday night — after the jump.
anyone can whistle
Glimpses of last night’s Don Carlo prima at La Scala:
duetto buffo per uno gatti
Maestro Daniele Gatti enters the pit at La Scala for the second act of Don Carlo.
don deal
La Cieca has just heard that as of this afternoon, La Scala has dismissed Giuseppe Filianoti from their opening night new production of Don Carlos (scheduled for a worldwide telecast Sunday) and replaced him for the entire run of performances with American tenor Stuart Neill. Per La Cieca’s source, at the Thursday open dress rehearsal […]
twilight of the god?
Artistic adminstrators at the Met and around the world are gnashing their teeth and tearing their hair this afternoon at Bryn Terfel‘s bombshell announcement that he will retire from opera “within three years.” The biggest local impact will be felt in the Met’s glossy new Ring cycle, in which (according to Brad Wilber) Terfel was slated […]
shabby little shocker
Not Tosca, of course, cher public — La Cieca could never say that about her dear, dear Tosca. But it does seem both shabby and shocking that the combined forces of The New York Philharmonic and Charles Zachary Bornstein, the Philharmonic’s Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence would not at the very least ask for a retake of […]
mice at the opera!
La Cieca has to say that the funniest health code violation story she’s read in, well, days and days is the AP item entitled “NYC Health Department: Mice at Met Opera.” The hilarity begins in the very lede of the piece, which reads On-stage villains aren’t the only vermin at the Metropolitan Opera. Just as […]
“angela told chicago to go f*ck themselves,” alagna remarks
“She asked one time, they said no. She asked a second time – no. At the third time she said Vafanculo [literally, “go f*** yourselfâ€]. You know how many times you sing La Bohème without rehearsal in the world? Roberto “Oil on Troubled Waters” Alagna continues his unique relationship with the media in an interview […]
broken img
Musical America reports this morning that Jeffrey Vanderveen has resigned from his post as Senior Vice President/Director, Vocal Divison at IMG Artists. At IMG Vanderveen repped such superstars as Anna Netrebko, Thomas Hampson, Sam Ramey and Denyce Graves. [via wqxr.com]
nadir and nadirer
YET ANOTHER UPDATE: March 9, 3:30 PM: After only 30 hours and on only the third try (or perhaps fourth, depending on how often you refresh the page), the New York Times has managed to report accurately the personnel and repertoire of a single selection at a concert that took place three days ago:Â
O brother where art thou
An Italian TV report on the already infamous all-Alagna-all-the-time Orphée. Now, David Alagna may not be one of the world’s great stage directors, but he certainly is among the cutest!
Tomorrow is another day
Just a little over 24 hours from now, Rolando Villazón is scheduled to return to the operatic stage following an absence of nearly six months. He is announced for a revival of Werther at the Vienna State Opera tomorrow night, January 5, beginning at 19.30 (1:30 EST). Followup plans for the tenor this month include […]
Le Scandale, 2007 edition
Cher public, La Cieca meant to turn in early tonight, but she got one of those bees in her bonnet. This particular specimen of Apis mellifera is the “debacle” (as La Cieca has been astonished to see it termed) of Anna Netrebko‘s Juliette last Saturday afternoon. Such harsh criticism La Cieca has rarely heard since […]
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
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).
