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This week on Operavore: “Strong Women of Opera.”
Tenor Vittorio Grigolo, easy on the eyes despite the fright wig, is one of the “Hottest Opera Stars Of 2013.”
You know, information wants to be free and all that.
Which opera company that apparently still exists has sent out a casting call for no fewer than 40 supernumeraries to appear naked in an work whose title, ironically, includes a part of the body that is generally not concealed anyway?
In the interest of absolute accuracy (for surely the cher public deserves no less!) La Cieca offers the following correction.
FINAL RSVP REQUEST: La Boheme from The Royal Opera – This Sunday, Jan. 27.
Ah, finally a light begins to break.
The apparently immortal Anja Silja (all those performances of Vec Makropulos must have rubbed off!) is seen here in her newest role, Babulenka in Prokofiev’s Igrok at Oper Frankfurt.
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Poetic license
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Kathryn the great
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Count your blessings
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
One man’s Junker
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
… I’ll just keep on singing until everyone hears it.
In a winter rich with splashy debuts, Friday’s performance of Le Comte Ory introduced a 27-year-old South African charmer who may well be the Met’s next big star.
There’s that old joke; What’s the difference between opera and sex? Punchline; you can have good sex.
Another Sunday, another invitation to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects.
Today marks the premiere of the Operavore radio show on WQXR.
Elena Manistina will make her Met debut as Azucena in the Saturday, January 19 evening performance of Verdi’s Il Trovatore, replacing Stephanie Blythe, who is [obviously] ill.
Either you adore “The World Is but a Broken Toy” from Act II of Princess Ida and have always wanted to hear it sung by voices of operatic quality… or you don’t… and you haven’t.
Your doyenne invites you to drop by La Casa della Cieca.
Talk of the Town
Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo should have made it to the Met
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
Ebe Stignani and Anita Cerquetti should have made it to the Met
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
Sena Jurinac should have made it to the Met
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
Janet Baker should have made it to the Met
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
Dorothy Maynor should have made it to the Met
We had to wait for Marian Anderson to break the color barrier at the Met and many great Black opera singers never had a chance there.
We had to wait for Marian Anderson to break the color barrier at the Met and many great Black opera singers never had a chance there.
Leyla Gencer should have made it to the Met
Leyla Gencer had a long European career but never sang at the Met.
Leyla Gencer had a long European career but never sang at the Met.
At last, the quintessential targeted reader of parterre.com has been identified.
La Rondine, which began as a light Viennese operetta before being transformed into an Italian tearjerker, is not a natural diva vehicle…
Leave it to a cat to transform a Wagner festival into the Jellicle Ball.
If war is hell, then Soldier Songs should rank somewhere around “purgatory.”
Which recent debut has the Met’s administrators intoxicating themselves with dreams of a return engagement for the budding star in the second cast of one of next season’s new productions?
Well, you can slash La Cieca’s veins, drink her blood and trample her corpse, because she did not see this one coming!
A wayward bouquet conked Kristine Opolais on her noggin during the ovation Friday night in La Rondine—but that was the only mishap in the Latvian soprano’s spectacular Met debut.
Thanks for your feedback, cher public. La Cieca has implemented the new chat software with your suggestions at La Casa della Cieca.
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