Something to chat about

La Cieca's chat returns Monday night to welcome in the new Met season. Topic of discussion: the evening's prima of the new production of Lucia di Lammermoor, as broadcast on SIRIUS Internet Radio. Please check back on this site after 5:00 pm Monday for a link to the room, which will open at 6:15 pm for the 6:30 start of the opening night performance.

Note that any of you who do not have a current subscription to Sirius can get a trial 3-day pass in time for the Opening Night chat. The event is also broadcast on RealNetworks.

Are any of you cher public attending this Lucia at one of the outdoor simulcasts? If you are, why not bring a laptop along and chat along with the rest of us? It's easy, now that the Lincoln Center plaza has WiFi!

Sheep may safely graze (or maybe not)

There's some bit of information that La Cieca's missing in this story, or maybe it would be obvious to readers in the "This is Wiltshire Network." But here goes. "Yet another" rural opera festival in Britain (this time, in "Somerly Park," which is where La Cieca imagines the Maggie Smith character lives when she's not sponging on her in-laws in Gosford Park) has been canceled due to renewed fears of "the foot and mouth crisis."

Yes, yes, of course La Cieca knows that "foot and mouth" is an infectious disease of domesticated animals. What she misses is why people can't go to an outdoor opera because of it. Anyway, here's some of the story in question.

Marketing director for the [Somerly Park] estate, Rosalind Nott, said . . . "We're stuffed but there's nothing that we can do.

"We are hugely concerned about the number of people who will turn up on the night."

She stressed that there are over 1,000 sheep on the site and that they are "all over the park".

"When you have livestock you've got to protect them at the end of the day when we've got people arriving from all over the place.

"We all remember the last time it happened."

. . . . A spokesman for The Garden Opera said: "Obviously we are disappointed with the cancellation given the work that has been put into the event but we understand the seriousness of the reasons for cancelling the event."

Well, actually, that's the problem: La Cieca really doesn't remember the last time it happened and so she can't quite grasp the seriousness of the reasons. Anyone care to explain to her what's the danger here?

On a lighter note, devotees of high culture can rest easy that at least some of the events of the Romsey Show are going forward. Although the "display of sheep and cattle" is canceled (this La Cieca understands), Romsey Show secretary Annie Carder assures us that Wiltshire may still enjoy "the food show, helicopter displays, Titan the robot and, thanks to our president this year, Lawrie McMenemy, Saints in the Community coaching sessions."

Opera Chic recoils in Scala shocker!

Our devoted and prolific little sister Opera Chic reports that, threatened with legal action from La Scala's cadre of highly-paid lawyers, she has removed "offending" content from her site, including photographs taken inside the celebrated opera house and even her own logo. But, as with so many things Milanese, OC tells the story best.