He who gets kicked
A last minute scheduling conflict at the New York Post (curse you, Tony season!) meant that my planned review of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at Manhattan School of Music had to be 86ed.
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Black tie optional
Congratulations to the winners of the eighth annual F. Paul Driscoll Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence, who were lauded at an impromptu “come as you are” get-together Sunday night at the Plaza.
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).
Plus qu’un peu grise
To close its season this week, New York City Opera is unleashing hurricane-force gales of laughter.
Zu verhüllen oder zu enthüllen
La Cieca hopes you, the cher public, will reveal (rather than conceal) your opinions on off-topic and general interest subjects this week.
Spin cycle
Your Wagnerian alternatives for today’s chat in La Casa della Cieca…
Love is only love
Of the two love stories that unfolded at David et Jonathas Wednesday night, it’s hard to say which was more moving.
Dark side of the moon
Finally some video of Stefan Herheim‘s Salome production shows up on YouTube.
Boys to men
You have only until Sunday to catch the most heart-breaking moments seen on New York City operatic stages this season.
A Waltz Dream
Two time Oscar winner and Quentin Tarantino muse Christoph Waltz is branching out into opera direction.
Happy Birthday Anja Silja
The evergreen singing actress was born 73 years ago in Berlin.
L’art du hipster
The reinvention of Verdi’s masterpiece, La Traviata, as sung by world-famous French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay, is the subject of Philippe Béziat’s thrilling new movie.
The case of the missing vehicle
La Cieca’s sources tell her that a planned revival of Faust at the Met in the fall of 2014 has been canceled, because who wants to see that ugly thing again, or else the leading lady didn’t feel like singing it, whichever.
Lots of Gluck
De Nederlandse Opera’s remarkable 2011 feat of premiering productions of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide and Iphigénie en Tauride on the same day and virtually the same set has been issued on a 2-DVD set by Opus Arte
.
The subject was Moses
Like the Israelites who cross the Red Sea in Moses in Egypt, New York City Opera has a long, hard road ahead of it.
Red letter day
“Her letter scene was glorious, and her final meeting with Onegin beguiling. Netrebko leaves nothing to be desired vocally and is a consummate artist as well.”
Nel mezzo del cammin
Congratulations to Isabel Leonard , not only the winner of the 2013 Richard Tucker award, but also the subject of a recent blind item on parterre box!
Young man with a horn
Ring a ding ding! There’s a new Duke in town, and he’s jolting the Met’s Rigoletto with enough electricity to light up the Las Vegas Strip.
Disc inferno
The music is “Brünnhilde’s Immolation Scene” and it is up to you (and I do mean you) to identify the 25 singers involved.
Hold my poltrone
La Cieca invites the cher public (pictured) to go into their regular Sunday routine of discussion and argument over matters general and off-topic.
Midway in my song
Which music foundation’s choice of an award winner this year is perhaps neither brave nor new, but certainly a world of difference from the tenors they usually give it to?
Password must contain a minimum of one lower case character
Memo to Francois Girard: change your login information, because it looks like your PowerPoint has been hacked.
Per molts anys, Montserrat Caballé!
The legendary soprano celebrates her 80th birthday today.
When in Rome
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s only opera for Rome was written to an existing libretto by the great Pietro Metastasio, L’Olimpiade, which had already been set by Vivaldi the year previously.