But screw your courage to the sticking-place
La Cieca has it on very good authority that the 2014-2015 Met season will include a revival of Verdi’s Macbeth featuring Anna Netrebko.
Recent Stories
Yes, the Prince Did Ask Her
“Miss Mary Garden in her dressing room at the Philadelphia Opera House this afternoon, denied that she was soon to marry Prince Movrocordato, as reported in a special cable from Paris in THE NEW YORK TIMES to-day.”
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).
A song at twilight
Yes, you’ve heard it already, but you might as well have an official place to talk about it: Marina Poplavskaya goes on tonight in Les Vêpres siciliennes at the Royal Opera House.
The décolletage after tomorrow
Stand not on ceremony, cher public; in fact, don’t stand at all.
No “Boys” allowed
A shocking message one teenager sends to another leads to scandal and death in an opera featured in this season’s “Live in HD” series from the Met.
The mystery of Stefan’s “Vêpres”
The much-anticipated Stefan Herheim production of Les Vêpres Siciliennes opened last night at the Royal Opera, and the New York Times‘ Zachary Woolfe was something less than completely bowled over.
Le canard laqué
“No opera has entered the international repertory since the premiere of Turandot in 1926.”
Beyond the Valley of the Freemasons
An impresario with a hit on his hands—Emanuel Schikaneder, for instance, after the initial run of Die Zauberflöte—will crave nothing so much as an opportunity to hit the same bell.
Sounds of silence
“Don’t sing anything but teensy bits of Mozart until you’re at least 40…”
Normative
La Cieca is sort of out of words trying to describe what makes a great performance of the role of Norma, as opposed to the conscientious traversal of the notes.
“Not Convincing as a Drama”
“Miss Garden has made a new and striking impersonation as the heroine of this opera.”
And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you
Alluring soprano star Danielle de Niese, wife of Glyndebourne Opera boss Gus Christie, had that sinking feeling when she arrived for a performance at the Arts Club in Mayfair—and discovered her glamorous gowns were missing!
Bo, concept
The surprises, and puzzles, of Dmitri Tcherniakov‘s production of Don Giovanni in this DVD of a performance at the Aix-en-Provence festival begin before a note has been played or the curtain has risen.
Hell night
I got quite a surprise when I opened the latest packet of goodies from La Cieca – a DVD of Orphée aux Enfers, but in German as Orpheus in der Unterwelt.
Future unseen
Which erstwhile diva will be back, if not actually “back soon” (we’re talking 2016) to sing an opera she’s performed before at the Met, though not the same role?
Sediziose voci
Oh, signor Johnson
La Cieca is going to go out on a not very long limb here and say that Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West is a great role for Jonas Kaufmann and may well turn out to be one of his three or four greatest.
V for Violetta
ollowing La Cieca’s meager example above, the cher public are encouraged to devise images of album covers based on Renée Fleming’s Guilty Pleasures
CD.
A couple of swells
It’s almost curtain time, cher public, so get started on your discussion of off-topic and general interest subjects.
Strike a Posa
It’s just a teensy bit late for Verdi’s birthday, but La Cieca thinks you’ll enjoy the latest vocal ID challenge, cher public.
The music lovers
The curious things about accepted wisdom is that sometimes it’s correct.
Brother act
The Jesi foundation continues its tireless quest of making Pergolesi operas available on video.