The Indestructible Hildegard (Behrens) has signed contracts for European appearances as Kundry, Hanna Glawari and (oh, my dear!) Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus! One thing Behrens will NOT be doing is Elektra in Baltimore (as previously announced here); that will be Marilyn Zschau appearing opposite Renata Scotto's first Klytemnestra (November, 2000).

So, why was Peter Sellars' production of Ligeti's La grande macabre axed from the inaugural season of the revamped Covent Garden? Official reason is that the stage machinery wasn't fully operational yet or isn't running smoothly, but insiders whisper that Graham Vick, producer of the opening night Falstaff, insisted that the show required more onstage rehearsal time. The house had to open on schedule, so, according to this account, ROH chief Michael Kaiser dumped Sellars' show. Vick, we hear, is notorious for "flexing his muscles" by asking for more rehearsal time than he actually needs: therefore his demand can be seen as a ploy to cast the American Kaiser as a heavy. Also a factor: for two years at Glyndebourne, Sellars' Theodora stole the limelight from Vick's shows -- at a time when Vick was Director of Productions. Revenge is sweet and in this case, very visible.

It was a great pleasure to hear Aprile Millo's Margherita and (first-ever) Elena last month -- it took her a few minutes to "sing herself in" in the Garden Scene, but she was in lovely warm voice for "L'altra notte," phrased very personally, in the old-fashioned way (back when the singer was virtually a collaborator with the composer). "Spunta l'aurora pallida" reminded me of Scotto in the concentration of the line and gradual sense of build; curiously, Millo in the Prison Scene even looked rather like Scotto did in the last act of the Met's Manon Lescaut, a dirty little waif.

The Elena, I think, works even better for Millo. As dear Sylvia Bills might say, Millo is one of the few still enrolled in the Old School. The concept of Robert Carsen's production is that Elena is an operatic diva, all sweeping gestures, stereotyped emotion, and "effect;" Millo has the wit to physically parody (gently) Scotto, Milanov, Caballe and (mostly) herself, stalking around in big shoes and (as Enzo is so fond of quoting Grace Bumbry as saying), "flailin' her arms all over the place." She sang the devil out of the "Amore! misterio celeste," her rich spinto sailing over the chorus and matching Richard Leech high note for high note. (Well, yes, she did flub the high C, but recovered quickly.)

La Cieca chose to hear the last act of this opera from Orchestra Standing Room (to have a better staging place for bouquet-throwing) and would you believe that five minutes before the end of the performance, at approximately the beginning of Faust's apotheosis, two staff cleaning women banged open the rear door of the auditorium and strolled in, pushing carpet sweepers? Repeated shushing from the standees finally convinced the charladies to postpone their conversation, but nothing could quiet the loud rattling of their plastic garbage bags. The standees have more or less adapted to the rude and patronizing manner of (a minority of) the Met's ushers, but now are we to expect that the cleaning crew will start Hoovering during the Liebestod?

Everyone was backstage afterward. Millo's witty side was in evidence. Someone mentioned that he just heard that Benackova had just canceled this evening's Otello, and Millo's ears pricked up. "Hmm," she mused, "I wonder who the cover is?" At that instant the telephone in her dressing room rang, everyone froze, and Millo quipped, "Oh, dear, do I remember those words? "Mio superbo guerrier...' " She cleared her throat and added, "On second thought, where's my coat?" (Someone should take advantage of Millo's flair for comedy. How about a John Harbison opera called "Non e portentosa" starring La Millo as the author of Valley of the Dolls?)

It seems a widely admired but heavily overbooked soprano celebrated a recent holiday by inviting two colleagues to her flat for a "good old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner." But when the two divas arrived in mid-afternoon, they spied neither turkey nor mince pie, but rather only the soprano's daughter and her nanny sitting in the kitchen munching Froot Loops. Soprano herself was still in bed, moaning, "I was just so tired I couldn't get started." So the guests (who, after all, had just as much to sing at the opera as their hostess did) pitched in and whipped up a Thanksgiving feast -- which Soprano took on a tray, still in her nightgown.

New at parterre box: downloadable MP3 files illustrating the best and worst singing ever -- Dementia and Filth.

A reliable source at a major artists' management firm tells La Cieca: don't hold your breath waiting for Ernani in 2001 at the Metropolitan Opera. Those performances will be changed to Aida, to star Luciano Pavarotti, in what seems likely to be his Met farewell. One assumes Deborah Voigt will substitute the title part for her first local Elvira, and, well, the rest of the casting is up for grabs.

Renata Scotto will return to the American operatic stage in the 2000-2001 season! Baltimore Opera Company reportedly will present La Scotto in her first-ever performances of Klytaemnestra in Elektra. Watch this page for dates, further casting, and train schedules as they become available! Coincidentally, Miss Voigt dropped a major bombshell backstage after her powerful Aida performance -- she is preparing Tosca for Florida Grand Opera in March 2001, with stage direction by, yes, the protean Scottissima herself! (More details on the next few thrilling years in the Voigt saga may be found on her new webpage.) Ms. Borodina (whose performance as Amneris combined all the right elements of Fiorenza Cossotto and Anne Baxter) will turn to comedy in future years, singing Rossini's Italiana in Algeri first in San Francisco (2002-2003), then at the Met the following season. (Amazing how much you can find out if you just ask!

Those remaining diehard Sylvia McNair fans can put their love to the test on March 15, 2000, when the soprano appears at Carnegie Hall in the world premiere of John Corigliano's "Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan." Accompanied by Martin Katz on piano, McNair will perform the texts of "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Masters of War," "All Along the Watchtower," "Blowin' in the Wind," "Forever Young" and two others TBA, set to new music by Corigliano. According to a spokesperson for Carnegie Hall, Dylan has been invited. And the composer reportedly didn't even listen to the originals while he was writing his own versions.

As one of her first orders of business, Pamela Rosenberg, the new General Director of the San Francisco Opera has cancelled the world premiere of Silk, the new opera by Andr� Previn and Colin Graham which was to have taken place in September, 2002. Let's all encourage Ms. Rosenberg to continue the good work by finding interesting roles for Elizabeth Futral and Boje Skovhus, who were to have starred in the ill-fated work.

Did you know that Joseph Volpe pulled down a cool (on-the-books) $620K at the Met last year? Well, you will, when you access this wonderful internet resource called Guidestar, which makes available financial reports of over 600,000 "charitable" organizations across the US. Just click on www.guidestar.org and enter "Metropolitan Opera" (or other organization of your choice) to find out all sorts of public-domain financial goodies!

La Cieca wants to know: which operatic duo is no longer in harmony now that the soprano half of the team has admitted to ongoing extramarital "collaboration?"

Following the much-discussed debut of Jos� Cura as Turiddu, the Met is reportedly "scrambling" to book engagements for the tenor in the next couple of years, even offering to buy him out of gigs in other opera houses where necessary. La Cieca's wish list for this handsome and charismatic performer would include Andrea Chenier (opposite Millo or Urbanov�), Carmen (Borodina), Francesca da Rimini (Villaroel) and Pikovaya Dama (hey, why not? Scotto as the Old Countess).

Sam Ramey has in formed La Cieca that he does NOT intend to cancel the Met's Mefistofele, as was rumored this past weekend. Ramey is just finishing up a run of Louise in San Francisco where he has won unanimous acclaim for his singing as the Father; what's more, he knew his music from the first day of rehearsals, more than can be said for some of his fellow singers. La Cieca is told that Lotfi Mansouri canceled the first chorus rehearsal of Louise when two of the principal artists showed up in town dog-tired and, more to the point, not knowing the score well enough to fake their way through a staging rehearsal.