Glyph you hadn’t, but you did
f you like opera to look like a museum, the Arena di Verona’s latest video of Aida should jump to the top of your wish list.
Recent Stories
Bowled over
I never thought I’d see the day when Giuseppe Verdi and Benjamin Britten would battle it out for musical superiority but that’s exactly what happened in Los Angeles this year.
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).
The allegory of the Currentzis
“The often black-clad 41-year-old, described as the ‘Nick Cave of classical’…”
“You call that a trill?”
La Cieca invites the cher public to engage in lively but non-violent discourse on off-topic and general interest subjects.
The pain in Spain
Just a reminder, cher public, that the live webcast of La forza del destino from the Bayerische Staatsoper is at noon on Saturday, with concurrent chat at La Casa della Cieca.
The tutti frutti canard
“An opera production should look the way the music sounds.” — Lady Valerie Solti
Marta Eggerth, 1912-2013
Operetta and film star Marta Eggerth died yesterday in New York. She was 101.
Coupe de grâce
Our good friends at Opera Depot are currently offering a free download of Parsifal conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch at the 1963 Bayreuth Festival.
Their master’s voice
One of Mike Richter‘s most spectacular achievements was the remastering and digitization of the complete master classes conducted by Maria Callas at the Juilliard School in 1971-1972.
She is a diamond
“La Cieca cannot imagine it is much fun to sing ‘Dove sono’ when you’re suffering a fresh case of the Reno jumpy-wumps.”
Robert W. Wilson, 1927–2013
Robert W. Wilson, the American hedge fund manager and former chairman of New York City Opera, has died, an apparent suicide.
Beautiful slender Mary Garden makes her debut in filmland
“Samuel Goldfish’s big glass house on the Hudson is liable to need fireproof curtains—and they better be drawn down tight—for there Mary Garden, who says she has never been in a photoplay house in all her life, will start acting in the title role of Thais for the Goldwyn Picture corporation.”
Have yourself a Mary little Christmas
Here’s a seasonal treat from Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leizmetzerin, Martinu’s Hry o Marii (The Miracles of Mary).
I shall look forward personally to exterminating you, Mr. Sun
“Gelb is said to track sunspot activity for advance warning of possible satellite transmission disruptions.”
Pop music
La Cieca (right) invites those of you who have a thirst for conversation to enjoy this week’s off-topic and general discussion forum.
Weekend in München
“Now, my trip to Munich has been cancelled and I am hoping to be able resell the tickets at face value.”
Dream team
“Music lovers are in for a treat this Saturday…”
Indeed a great chance to be a canard
“Verdi revered Shakespeare and would turn over in his grave.”
Towards zero
Our Own JJ (not pictured) counts down his 10 favorite New York opera performances of 2013 in the New York Observer.
The beat goes on
Weltstardiva Anna Netrebko plays a basement in Greenwich Village next month.
Art school confidential
This week, our peek into the Mike Richter collection reveals a long listen for those lengthy midwinter nights: Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Why, She Would Not Sing Anywhere Else for the World
Mary Garden goes back to Paris to-morrow.