Recent Stories
When Giuseppe Filianoti isn’t busy being one of the world’s more versatile tenors, he plays detective.
Venerable Opera magazine had better watch its ass, since the publication’s “We Hear That” column will probably be getting a “visit” from the Met’s thugs goons legal counsel any minute now.
With almost frightening speed, floridante2k nailed our most recent Regie quiz.
Richard Wagner believed the key to any legend was contrasting the supernatural with human nature, and showing how the combination had no chance of enduring. In Lohengrin, the title’s character’s insistence on unconditional love and trust collide with the conditional expectations of the real world. The challenge is capturing the tale’s somber majesty without losing…
By the time Rossini was 20, he had produced six operas, most of them brief, comic and slight. He admitted to admiring Mozart (not then well known south of the Alps), but the melodies of his early works show more of the influence of Paisiello.
La Cieca would like to take this opportunity to extend kudos to Francesca Zambello and the Glimmerglass Festival on what looks to be their season’s first smash hit: a new production of the classic musical Dreamgirls.
La Cieca (right) welcomes the cher public (and you know who you are) to an all-out, no-holds-barred edition of our weekly general interest and off-topic discussion.
Betsy Ann Bobolink presents a Betsy Ann Bobolink production of un film de Bétsy Ann Bobolinque.
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
When they go low
When they go low
Nostalgic for bass month, Parterre Box offers excerpts from two young basses to watch: Giorgi Manoshvili and Patrick Guetti.
Nostalgic for bass month, Parterre Box offers excerpts from two young basses to watch: Giorgi Manoshvili and Patrick Guetti.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Nailin’ the coughin’
Nailin’ the coughin’
Rosa Feola, still scheduled for a run of performances as Violetta in New York this spring, is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Rosa Feola, still scheduled for a run of performances as Violetta in New York this spring, is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Landing the plane
Landing the plane
With Nixon, Klinghoffer, and Andris Nelsons on the mind, Parterre Box offers a recording of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s recent John Adams outing.
With Nixon, Klinghoffer, and Andris Nelsons on the mind, Parterre Box offers a recording of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s recent John Adams outing.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Le galant tireur
Le galant tireur
American tenor Charles Castronovo performs a bit of Weber’s Der Freischütz ahead of the opportunity to hear Berlioz‘s take on the score at Carnegie Hall next week.
American tenor Charles Castronovo performs a bit of Weber’s Der Freischütz ahead of the opportunity to hear Berlioz‘s take on the score at Carnegie Hall next week.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
My 600 performance life
My 600 performance life
Parterre Box acknowledges Riccardo Muti‘s 600th performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by highlighting two of his favorite singers — under a different conductor.
Parterre Box acknowledges Riccardo Muti‘s 600th performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by highlighting two of his favorite singers — under a different conductor.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Life imitates art
Life imitates art
With Gustavo Dudamel in the spotlight at Parterre Box this week, Grand Tier Grab Bag foreshadows one of the New York Philharmonic’s upcoming operatic engagements.
With Gustavo Dudamel in the spotlight at Parterre Box this week, Grand Tier Grab Bag foreshadows one of the New York Philharmonic’s upcoming operatic engagements.
The cover picture on the Opera Australia’s DVD
of a 2011 production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni is rather startling.
“Yet the evening’s first words, heard in the set-piece Ombra ma fui—like all of Xerxes’ arias sung with monarchic sprezzatura and amoral relish by Stella Doufexis…”
Coming up over the next two weekends: a pair of streamed video performances sure to provide plenty of chat fodder.
Sometime in 1753, Frederick The Great of Prussia, following a tiff with his great friend Voltaire, began writing an opera libretto in French prose that was to elucidate his ideas about the role of an enlightened monarch.
I have a confession to make about Britten’s opera Billy Budd: I don’t like it very much.”
American soprano Evelyn Lear died quietly earlier this evening at at Brooke Grove nursing center in Sandy Spring, Maryland. She was 86.
Stay cool, cher public, as La Cieca (center) invites you all to comment on off-topic and general interest subjects during the week of July 1.
As we lurch into the month of July, La Cieca (not pictured, one hopes) wants quietly but firmly to draw the attention of her cher public to some of the more interesting releases on audio and video newly available on Amazon.com.
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Darby Fegan
A favorite Verdi performance from Darby Fegan
Anna Tomowa-Sintow, “Ernani Involami,” from the MET Centenial Gala, 1983.
Anna Tomowa-Sintow, “Ernani Involami,” from the MET Centenial Gala, 1983.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from CKurwenal
A favorite Verdi performance from CKurwenal
Like probably all of us, there are so many different things I could have submitted for a favorite Verdi performance.
Like probably all of us, there are so many different things I could have submitted for a favorite Verdi performance.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from La Grunowa
A favorite Verdi performance from La Grunowa
I realize Igor Gorin did not sing much Verdi except for a few Papa Germonts, yet this performance of the famous baritone aria from Attila I claim is well-night perfect singing.
I realize Igor Gorin did not sing much Verdi except for a few Papa Germonts, yet this performance of the famous baritone aria from Attila I claim is well-night perfect singing.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Ryan Ellerman
A favorite Verdi performance from Ryan Ellerman
Luminous Lucia Popp’s “Caro Nome” beams with Gilda’s youthful passion, displaying Popp’s signature bright, beautiful timbre and magnificent coloratura.
Luminous Lucia Popp’s “Caro Nome” beams with Gilda’s youthful passion, displaying Popp’s signature bright, beautiful timbre and magnificent coloratura.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Marina Rebeka
A favorite Verdi performance from Marina Rebeka
While studying Un ballo in maschera for my Vienna role debut next January, I came across this beautiful ‘Ecco l’orrido campo’ amazingly performed by Montserrat Caballé.
While studying Un ballo in maschera for my Vienna role debut next January, I came across this beautiful ‘Ecco l’orrido campo’ amazingly performed by Montserrat Caballé.
Says Betsy Ann “Yankee Doodle” Bobolink; “In honor of the upcoming holiday, today’s breakdown will forego the usual F.K. evaluation system in favor of rating each opera according to its ‘Ooo-Aah’ factor. “
Our Own JJ once again is dipping his toe into light entertainment, writing and directing a cabaret act for his old, old, old friend Dorothy Bishop.
It’s time yet once again for a listening quiz, cher public, courtesy of Our Own armerjaquino.
The little grey cells of cosmodimontevergine came in quite handy in unraveling the mystery of our previous regie quiz.
Do you not feel in the air that a certain legendary soprano will make a surprise singing appearance this evening?
The story is enough of a cipher to make any regie-bent director salivate.
Leave it to Maury D (pictured) to show how it’s done.
Congratulations to Cesare 15 (pictured, right) who came, saw and—after a false start or two—conquered in the very challenging “Piangerò” quiz devised by Our Own DeCaffarrelli!
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