Met: We love the gays; won’t protest Putin
“The Met is proud of its history as a creative base for LGBT singers, conductors, directors, designers, and choreographers.”
Recent Stories
A multiplicity of mezzos
Wonder no more! Says the Met press office, “Elina Garanca has withdrawn from her 2013-14 Met engagements because she is pregnant with her second child, who is due this winter.”
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).
I see a new “Sun” up in a new sky
Leslie Uyeda’s When the Sun Comes Out is being premiered by Vancouver’s Queer Arts Festival as “Canada’s first Lesbian opera” at the Roundhouse Community Center in Yaletown. I caught the second performance; there is one more tomorrow night.
Fire and water
I’ve long been a fan of Kenneth Branagh, even though this fandom feels a bit like being a camel in the desert.
Season of no witch
Deborah Voigt, “unfortunately ill,” will not sing her first Ortrud this Sunday at the Festival de Lanaudière. According to the festival’s press office, a replacement will be named later today.
Una voce lontana
here in the US, you can 
Ces soupçons, ces soupçons
La Cieca hears a rumor, currently unconfirmed, that Elina Garanca is pregnant and will cancel her participation in the Met’s new production of Werther this season.
Amazing!
“As one of opera’s most controversial artists, Grace-Melzia Bumbry continues to make headlines.”
Soon their duet will become a trio
La Cieca hears that congratulations are in order to Aleksandra Kurzak and Roberto Alagna, who are expecting their first baby in February.
Waiting in the wings
The Met’s season-opening production of Eugene Onegin will be directed by Fiona Shaw,
No nudes is good news
“Mary Garden has adopted sea massages instead of nude bathing as a means of reducing.”
Camino unreal?
Peter Gelb says Calixto Bieito will direct at the Met.
Lady of the house
How’s about a little light summer chat Tuesday afternoon starting at 2:15 EDT, when parterre fave Danielle de Niese headlines Don Pasquale, webcast live from the Glyndebourne Festival?
And Tony goes to…
La Cieca spies spotted the New York Times‘ Anthony Tommasini at the opening of the Salzburg Meistersinger, which indicates his review should be appearing by tomorrow at the latest.
Pre-curtain
Here’s your opportunity, cher public, to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects the first week of August.
Ladies in the dark
And now, cher public, the vocal identification quiz in excelsis, Leonora’s great Act IV scena from Il trovatore, as sung by 25 sopranos (and five tenors).
Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!
Wagner’s Meistersinger, in a witty, sumptuous performance (thanks to Stefan Herheim and Daniele Gatti, respectively) is now being streamed on 3sat.online, available, so far as La Cieca can tell, wherever the internet reaches.
After the fall
Wendy White is suing the for a 2011 accident on stage during a performance of Faust.
Leveraged canard
“Sing on your vocal interest, not your vocal principal!”
Uh, no, they’re saying “Boo-runnhilde, Boo-runnhilde”
If the Frank Castorf production of the Ring at Bayreuth accomplished nothing else, it will be the popularization in classical music circles of the term “boovation.”
Walk on the Wilde side
After Heart of a Soldier, The Perfect American, The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene, et al., the premiere of Theodore Morrison’s Oscar in Santa Fe last Saturday came as a welcome relief.
Tweet and lowdown
Everyone can go home now, because Twitter has reached its zenith.
Leonard Pinth-Garnell! Thou shouldst be living at this hour
These mainstage programs will be augmented throughout the year by supporting videos, photos and writings that will help to contextualize the works in progress…