Blind spot
Which honcho in the Met’s administration is retiring this spring, leaving a major gap in the chain of command?
Recent Stories
Ugly and small
“Modern opera studiously avoids anything so old-fashioned as melody or emotion, which seems to me a contradiction of what music is all about.”
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).
Whimper
“Opera America, a service organization for opera companies, has expressed interest in purchasing City Opera’s thrift shop…”
O nube! che lieve per l’aria ti aggiri
Prominent local “billionaire scam artist” Alberto Vilar has asked for an extension on his court-imposed curfew so he may attend the Met’s Eugene Onegin and “socialize” afterward with the performers.
The rite of autumn
Queer Nation claims responsibility for tonight’s political action in Carnegie Hall, chanting “[Valery] Gergiev, Your Silence is Killing Russian Gays!”
The pearls are clutched
“The gloves are off, the chips are down; my patience has run out.”
Something happened up there, something not very nice
Emma Thompson will portray Mrs. Lovett in the New York Philharmonic’s staged production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Happy Birthday Giuseppe Verdi
On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Swan of Busseto, La Cieca invites the cher public to share reminiscences of great Verdi performances—and YouTube clips, of course!
Pop, idled
“Russian soprano Marina Poplavskaya has fallen ill and unfortunately has had to withdraw from singing the role of Hélène in Les Vêpres siciliennes in the final rehearsals and the first three performances in October.”
Beware the abs of March
The pictured Zachary Gordin is only one (or, at most, three) of the plethora of pinups provided by this year’s 2014 Barihunks Charity Calendar, on sale now with all proceeds going to help support young artists and young artist programs.
Patrice Chéreau, 1944-2013
The celebrated opera director and filmmaker died today of lung cancer in Paris. He was 68.
Built in a day
“The La clemenza di Tito contract will be offered as a ‘Solo Dancer’ contract and requires 8 physically fit men…. The David McVicar production…”
Zing went the strings
This DVD
of a Diana Damrau recital (accompanied only by the harpist Xavier de Maistre) is sure to please her legions of fans.
Deranged bedfellows
When Mr. Steel asked Mr. Koch if he could make further gifts to save the company, Mr. Koch demurred, telling Mr. Steel that the Marshall family might be less than pleased.
Drama queen
Say what you will about Naxos, but this company has created a sizeable number of recordings of works on the periphery of the standard repertory and have managed to document quite a few interesting singers in the bargain-and at bargain prices.
Post-Liebestod
“The title character in Barber’s Gothic melodrama Vanessa, a self-deluded, manipulative older woman, ‘keeps coming up,’ Ms. Voigt said.”
Deductible canard
This week’s canard is inspired by recent sad news here in New York, and it goes something like this…
Bean counter
Another season opens this weekend, the much-admired series of livestreams from the Bayerische Staatsoper.
Present prescriptive
“Director Christopher Alden destroys everything Strauss’s operetta stands for”
