Recent Stories
La Cieca hears that Indianapolis Opera plans to cancel the fourth and final show of its season, Britten’s Albert Herring, “amid ongoing financial issues.”
“Last year, Freud sold 80 percent of available seats during the 2012-13 Lyric Opera season.”
“Mary Garden, it was announced last night, ate a Christmas dinner consisting of ‘sweetbreads, petits pois, and Maraschino punch’.”
La Cieca (pictured) invites the cher public to join in the fun tonight at La Casa della Cieca during the Met’s broadcast of Andrea Chenier, starting at 7:25 PM.
Masterful mezzo Joyce DiDonato heads the cast of this 2010 performance of Mozart’s Idomeno from the Edinburgh International Festival
“This powerful tale is laced with revenge, destruction and jealousy and the spectacular traditionally staged production features magnificent sets and costumes with amazing lighting and stage effects.” [Basingstoke Gazette]
No matter where you’re seated, cher public, you are encouraged to join in the general interest and off-topic conversation for the week.
Devotees of Dawn Fatale (and you are legion!) will be delighted to hear that the parterre scribe made an early (2001!) appearance in issue #45 of parterre box, the queer opera zine, ranting about the “squish-squish school of opera direction.”
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
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.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
One man’s Junker
One man’s Junker
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
The “arme Leut” who will be listening to Wozzeck this afternoon are invited to commiserate in La Casa della Cieca beginning at 1:00 PM.
“Union members have occupied Paris’ Opera Garnier in a protest over proposed changes to labor rules for theater workers.”
What better way to say, “welcome, first day of spring” than with Elena Cernei singing “Printemps qui commence?”
Mike Richter‘s documentation of the 1962 Buenos Aires Ring continues with the second act of Die Walküre featuring Birgit Nilsson and Hans Hotter.
After nearly a half century on stage, San Diego Opera will cease operations after its current season, said Ian Campbell, the opera’s general and artistic director.
For one week every two years since 1981 the eyes—and ears—of those interested in period performance turn to the Boston Early Music Festival, particularly to its opera centerpiece, but that organization doesn’t rest on its laurels in between festivals.
“Opera can, in fact, be something beautiful and moving even when all a performance has going for it is some really excellent singing.”
The Met’s financial challenges are not meteorological, demographic, or cyclical; they are structural.
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.
George Steel?
“There are ascenseurs even in Paris,” said the singer afterward.
Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin mixes it up a bit this week, presenting a score that should be familiar by now, though this time with a novel cast.
“When you read, and credit, the more feverish musings of the internet chatterati, there is some kind of British invasion storming the bastions of American opera.”
Our Own JJ (not pictured) offers his recommendations for 10 opera and classical music events worth hearing this spring.
Now that we’re all gathered, cher public, let’s make with the conversation about off-topic and general interest subjects.
My mailbox is filled with cards and letters, all asking the same question: “Croche, is there a classical music angle to the escalating conflict in Crimea?” My answer is: “Indeed there is!”
The hostile reaction to the Mary Zimmerman production of La sonnambula was well documented after the premiere in 2009.
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