“Senza rancor”
The winds of change sweep across the first post-9/11 issue of parterre box, the queer opera zine.
Recent Stories
Ash Wednesday
Joyce, Javier and now Julia—this week these three remarkable Js brought New York City memorable “Cinderella stories.”
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).
Sleep no more
The respective long slumbers of Brünnhilde and La Cieca are finally at an end as we continue “EL Anillo” from the Mike Richter collection with the third act of Siegfried.
The man on the wedding cake
Though at the moment we have no indication that there will be a cast change for the final three performances of La Cenerentola at tha Met, La Cieca does think the group mind should apply itself to the pressing question of exactly wbich tenor will appear in the HD telecast on May 10.
Call me Madame
“To play La Pompadour—what a delightful task! To be La Pompadour—what a gruesome fate!”
Goodness had everything to do with it
The Met stage was filled with considerable magic Monday night when its dizzily effervescent revival of La Cenerentola starring Joyce DiDonato and Javier Camarena stirred a bewitched audience to some of the most ecstatic ovations heard this season.
Mary Garden to go Salome three better
“They now say if they can prevent it, Mary will not dance in Minneapolis, even in seven veils, to make no mention of four.”
Regna tristezza sul destino mio
Our dear and invaluable Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin offers us a new classic this week, a live recording of Anna Netrebko‘s collaboration with Riccardo Muti on Manon Lescaut.
Man of the future
Javier Camerena, “as close to a rock star as the Met has produced from its male roster this season,” has big plans with the company, with at least four roles planned for future seasons.
Latecomer
La Cieca apologized for a tardy arrival at today’s Intermission Feature, but hopes that the cher public will nevertheless enjoy discussion of off-topic and general interest subjects.
Purity woman
That’s the exact word I’d use to describe Olga Peretyatko’s debut in I Puritani last night at the Metropolitan Opera: “calm.”
Mad, mad, mad, mad scenes
In anticipation of the Met’s revival this evening of I puritani, I thought it might be nice to take a look back at a few archival videos. In terms of commercial videos, there isn’t much out there, so once again I look to those great old pirated videos for inspiration.
State of grace
Lawrence Brownlee’s new album Virtuoso Rossini Arias demonstrate both how far the tenore di grazia has come in the operatic world.
Bedtime story
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.
No limits
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.
The Met: What is to be done?
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.
Low-fat Schoenberg
With orchestral and choral forces that could outnumber a small European village, Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder is a composition designed to overwhelm.
La voce sua soave
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.
You are most kind
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.
On the beach
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.
Big D-elight
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?
Till there was June
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.
Wrecking ball
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.