Rex appeal
Say this about Oedipus: The character’s got staying power.
Recent Stories
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).
O fatal “Don”
The Met’s performance of Don Carlo Friday night was a tragedy, but not for the reason Verdi intended.
Durch Mitleid wissend
There is applause at the end of the opera, not none at all.
“Where are my marrons glacés?”
Take a break from eating sweets, cher public, to participate in this week’s discussion of off-topic and general interest subjects.
The Met in 2013-2014, a more copious leak
Following up on last night’s information dump of the (overdue?) Met season announcement for 2013-2014, La Cieca has obtained a somewhat more detailed rundown.
Blood simple
“One of the things I’m gradually learning as I’m coming up my the 20th anniversary of writing about opera for publication is that you have to be wary about making Pronouncements.”
Equal rites
As with all good myths, certainly all the myths at the heart of Wagner’s operas, the juggling of symbols and archetypes and themes in Parsifal opens the piece to a great variety of interpretations.
Seria business
La Salustia was Giovanni Batista Pergolesi’s first opera, composed at the tender age of 21. In structure and storyline it’s a conventional baroque opera seria.
Double digits
Promiscuous — it’s not a pretty word. But when a matron in black underwear cavorts with two dozen naked hunks, what else can you call her?
Empire records
That’s what it must have been like in 1726 London when Handel composed Alessandro for perhaps the three most famous (and expensive) singers of the day.
One touch of venous
Like the hero of Parsifal, who finds the Holy Grail after a lifetime of frustrated wandering, the Met’s audience was finally rewarded for its patience.
“And the portions are so large!”
A parterre reader just back from the matinee of Powder Her Face relates this story of two elderly ladies seated in the second row…
Strange music
Sempiternal soprano Edita Gruberova celebrates her “45th stage anniversary” tomorrow, Monday February 18 with a performance of Alaide in Bellini’s La Straniera live from the Vienna Musikverein.
State of Her Grace
Like Miss Adelaide the well-known fiancée in Guys and Dolls, the New York City Opera may be down but she’s not flat as all that.
Zips up the back and no bones
La Cieca invites the cher public (pictured) to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects.
Bühnenweihfestgespräch
A reminder, cher public, La Casa della Cieca opens early this evening (5:55 PM EST, to be precise).
Einspring can really hang you up the most
Winter Met sensation Pretty Yende does another jump-in this weekend, again in Le Comte Ory, but this time at the Theater an der Wien.
Ring them bells
The new Boris Godunov from the Bayerische Staatsoper (directed by Calixto Bieito and conducted by Kent Nagano) looks absolutely remarkable.
Happy Birthday Philippe Jaroussky!
The French countertenor is 35 years old today.
Fools rush in
A member of the cher public writes La Cieca suggesting that parterre readers attending the first night of the Met’s Parsifal might want to meet and/or greet.
Wang Center
Now it seems the NYCO’s Duchess of Argyll will have to make do with a mere 25 lovers in the company’s production of Powder Her Face—instead of the originally planned 88.
Things unseen
Which artist who’s no longer in denial about waning abilities is about to withdraw (or be withdrawn) from the next (and probably last) Met project?