This woman is dangerous
Renée Fleming—stylish dame with a stylish name—who lived by jungle law in a big city and clawed her way to where the money was…
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Speak loudly
Do we do what we have to do? Or do we have to do what we do?
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).
“Operatic whitewashing”
On the day of the Super Bowl, I attended a near-sold-out screening of the Paris Opéra’s recent production of Rameau’s 1735 opéra-ballet Les Indes galantes at New York’s Alliance Française.
Long live the Queen!
Happy 93rd birthday to soprano Leontyne Price.
Mirella Freni 1935-2020
The beloved lyric soprano has died, according to press reports.
She was not unprepared
On this day in 1974 soprano Kiri te Kanawa made an emergency Met debut as Desdemona (and her broadcast debut.)
Constant surveillance
It’s 2020, Ivo’s the new Ethel Merman, and I caught a preview of his fourth Broadway show and first Broadway musical, West Side Story.
La Damnation de Faust
One final hearing of the Berlioz this afternoon.
What good is the secret to you?
Born on this day in 1888 actress Dame Edith Evans.
Keep the Rome fires burning
Handel’s biting Agrippina finally arrived at the Metropolitan Opera Thursday evening 310 years after its Venetian premiere.
Better than the sum of its parts
Is there any opera more bullet-proof than Le Nozze di Figaro?
Judith
The Bayerische Staatsoper offers an all-Bartok program called Judith this afternoon.
Once Moore with feeling
On this day in 1928 soprano Grace Moore made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Mimi.
Songs of mirth and triumph sing
Pretty is its own reward.
Sacred ground
Trove Thursday celebrates Leontyne Price’s 93rd birthday on Sunday with a pair of her rarest collaborations with Herbert von Karajan: Bruckner’s Te Deum with Hilde Rössl-Majdan, Fritz Wunderlich and Walter Berry and Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem alongside José van Dam.
You tread on my dreams
Wednesday night’s New York Philharmonic concert was a high-stakes performance for a number of reasons.
Death on the Nile
On this day in 1968 mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Amneris.
Elegance, passion and poise
It is rare to be moved to tears by a lieder recital. It is rarer still to be moved to tears by the third song on a recital program.
First Lady
On this day in 1959 soprano Leonie Rysanek made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Lady Macbeth.
I’m your captain
“Evgeny Nikitin will sing the Dutchman in all performances of the Met’s new production of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer, replacing Sir Bryn Terfel, who withdraw last week due to ankle surgery.”
Bone voyage
In Winterreise, Peter Mattei’s persona is burly and brusque, a sarcastic introvert, full of contempt for his romantic weaknesses with squalls of anger and lyrical reflection by turns.
NYCO 1943-2019
It is with a heavy heart that La Cieca predicts the demise of New York City Opera.