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Join La Cieca (not pictured) for an impromptu session of La Casa della Cieca this afternoon as Manon Lescaut is webcast from Baden Baden. The relay begins at 2:15 EDT.
The scene: a vocal audition, sometime in the past. A young, blond soprano approaches the podium. Her aria: “Un bel di.” She sings. Before she gets to the second “Chi sara” she’s rudely interrupted.
Coming as Peter Gelb did from the music industry, opera lovers hoped that he would display a more distinctive knack for casting and an improved talent pipeline than Joe Volpe offered during the waning years of his tenure.
With orchestral and choral forces that could outnumber a small European village, Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder is a composition designed to overwhelm.
At Camille‘s request, here’s some all-American Bellini from our dear Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin: a live performance of I puritani from New York City Opera featuring Beverly Sills.
In fact, as Madame Vera Galupe-Borszkh used to say, “you are every kind.” Enjoy commenting on off-topic and general interest subjects, cher public.
The sea, the sky, the wind, the storms that are so frequently depicted in the music of Benjamin Britten are brilliantly illuminated in the new DVD of Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach, a collaboration between Aldeburgh Music, film director Margaret Williams, and stage director Tim Albery.
Who is the most happy fella, he who perfectly fits societal definitions of fitness and attractiveness, or he who attains self-acceptance in spite of whatever personal idiosyncrasies he may confront?
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Goodnight, Irene
Goodnight, Irene
Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.
Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Poetic license
Poetic license
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Kathryn the great
Kathryn the great
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Count your blessings
Count your blessings
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
After her marvelous Pat Nixon at the Théâtre du Châtelet two years ago, June Anderson returned there last Wednesday with pianist Jeff Cohen for a recital of French melodies and Broadway songs.
On the evidence of the trailer for the Baden Baden Festival, the upcoming new Met co-production of Manon Lescaut by Sir Richard Eyre (and who better to direct a German/American production of an Italian opera set in France and Louisiana than a Brit?) looks to be a fairly straightforward, if drab, update to circa 1940.
With the Met season soon to finish, I am sure many will want to unwind with a little after party/masked ball.
The spectacular young American tenor has just been named the winner of the 2014 Richard Tucker award.
Which clean-shaven young tenor must be feeling full of beans to hear he is the winner of this year’s Richard Tucker award?
From the legendary Mike Richter collection, here’s another segment of “El Anillo,” act two of Siegfried from the Teatro Colón.
Tonight’s broadcast of Madama Butterfly from the Met is sure to attract many of the cher public to La Casa della Cieca.
“In Kristine Opolais, who gave her first Met performance in the title role on Friday night, the company has a Butterfly with the soaring voice and penetrating theatrical presence to meet Minghella’s elegant dramaturgy head on.”
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
Patrizia Ciofi should have made it to the Met
Patrizia Ciofi should have made it to the Met
The artist who I feel should have made it to the Met is Patrizia Ciofi.
The artist who I feel should have made it to the Met is Patrizia Ciofi.
The Talk of the Town
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never made it to the Met
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never made it to the Met
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never sang at the Met.
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never sang at the Met.
The Talk of the Town
Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo should have made it to the Met
Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo should have made it to the Met
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
The Talk of the Town
Ebe Stignani and Anita Cerquetti should have made it to the Met
Ebe Stignani and Anita Cerquetti should have made it to the Met
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
The Talk of the Town
Sena Jurinac should have made it to the Met
Sena Jurinac should have made it to the Met
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
The Talk of the Town
Janet Baker should have made it to the Met
Janet Baker should have made it to the Met
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
“Miss Garden has prepared no titles for her lectures, explaining, ‘I will speak as I feel’.”
On Wednesday, April 23rd at 8:15 PM, renowned soprano Deborah Voigt and opera and theater director Francesca Zambello, friends for over twenty-five years, join to discuss opera, inspiration, artistry and friendship.
For those of you who might be feeling just a little too cheerful this week, Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin offers three performances of Winterreise, sung by Mark Padmore, Simon Keenlyside and Gerald Finley.
Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin is his masterwork and its themes of social convention and unrequited longing surely struck a deep chord in a composer who, in late 19th century Russia, was gay and had to conduct himself carefully.
With Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Arabella once again on the Met’s stage, I thought I’d take a moment to revisit that opera’s most reviled character, the Fiakermilli.
No need to dress for this week’s intermission feature, cher public: just show up and start discussing off-topic and/or general interest subjects.
As if you needed an even more exciting reason to drop in for La Casa della Cieca this afternoon: last night’s Butterfly Kristine Opolais is jumping into the role of Mimi, subbing for an ill Anita Hartig for the broadcast and the HD.
It’s time for lazy stage directors and lazy sopranos to find some other gesture besides the chain of clumsy pique turns (AKA “whirling”) that is the cliché go-to shorthand for “joy.”
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