Recent Stories
Even as sinister gossip hinted to the contrary, the Met successfully completed negotiations with the stagehands’ union last night, averting the possibility of a job action next week. According to a source close to the Met, Peter Gelb sent out an email confirming the contract sometime after 1:00 this morning:
Legendary soprano Sena Jurinac, one of the most beloved artists at the Vienna State Opera, died yesterday. She was 90. [via AP]
La Cieca hears that the premiere of a new production may be marred. The reason? The company might have to perform the Paris version of this opera.
Only because I am a member of the You Can Never Have Too Much Callas School of Opera Listening can I recommend EMI’s new release The Callas Effect. The beautifully packaged production is the size of a small paperback book and consists of two CDs with 29 arias sung by Callas plus a new 70-minute…
Giovanni Simone Mayr was one of the most important musical figures of his day, a man Rossini referred to as the “father of Italian opera” whom Napoleon personally lobbied to come work in Paris. Though he wrote nearly 70 operas and taught Donizetti and Bellini, the Bavarian-born composer had the misfortune of hitting his peak…
Slim British tenor Ian Bostridge arrives in town for a recital on November 28 featuring Thomas Adès‘ “Darknesse Visible,” as well as the work upon which it “reflects,” the John Dowland song “In darkness let me dwell,” as a sort of prelude to an evening of Heinrich Heine settings including the Dichterliebe. And you, cher…
“…to a certain degree, good critics are no longer necessary to find. The phrase ‘Everybody’s a critic’ has taken on a universal cast. The internet encourages people to share their opinions with the world. In the theatre, the buzz created by chatroom chatters has become increasingly important to a show’s reputation before it opens. There…
As the dear Marquise de Merteuil found out to her sorrow, the only worse than not being talked about was being talked about. But worst of all, cher public, is having no place to go for general interest and off-topic conversation. So here you are: your place to promenade during this week’ intermission.
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
Don’t cry because it’s over
Don’t cry because it’s over
Grand Tier Grab Bag hearkens back to the days when Sondra Radvanovsky — who is singing no Verdi at all next season — seemed like the Verdi soprano of reference.
Grand Tier Grab Bag hearkens back to the days when Sondra Radvanovsky — who is singing no Verdi at all next season — seemed like the Verdi soprano of reference.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Rizzin’ to the occasion
Rizzin’ to the occasion
Parterre Box features the Met’s current Eugene Onegin, Iurii Samoilov, in a performance of Rossini ahead of a return to Pesaro this summer.
Parterre Box features the Met’s current Eugene Onegin, Iurii Samoilov, in a performance of Rossini ahead of a return to Pesaro this summer.
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.
Miss Bobolink accepts the challenge: It’s Margaret-and-Will Day!
Different people look at things from different points of view: a fact so familiar it’s the refrain of one of the songs from the beloved music musical Lost Horizon. So La Cieca will have no quarrels if you don’t agree with her choices of must-see programming for the upcoming week.
“Now that it has become apparent that Robert Lepage‘s production of the Ring at the Met is a fiasco (too soon? Nah.)… well, anyway, since arguably the production is a dreary, unworkable, overpriced mess whose primary (perhaps only) virtue is that it actually hasn’t killed anyone yet, and since, let’s face it, the Machinecentric show turned out to be so mind-bogglingly…
From the Met press office: “Jay Hunter Morris will sing the role of Siegfried in Siegfried on April 21 matinee and April 30, 2012, and in Götterdämmerung on May 3, 2012. He replaces Gary Lehman who has withdrawn due to illness.”
“Rumors were that an ‘Occupy’-something group would disrupt Wednesday night’s US premiere of Kommilitonen! But the Juilliard Opera performance went off without offstage fireworks, and proved to be a well-crafted and moving meditation on student activism.” [New York Post] (Photo: Nan Melville)
“…Finding my voice w/out pitch, rhythm and the composer’s structure–a new challenge!” [@reneesmusings, Twitter feed for Renée Fleming]
“City Opera Management has passed on an offer from the unions representing its musicians and singers that could have saved the company some much-needed cash. The proposal would have required members of the New York City opera to perform for free in the 2011-2012 season.” [NY1]
More innovative casting from amazon.com.
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Arrigo
A favorite Verdi performance from Arrigo
My favorite Verdi performance is Claudio Abbado Don Carlo opening of the Scala.
My favorite Verdi performance is Claudio Abbado Don Carlo opening of the Scala.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Peter Russell
A favorite Verdi performance from Peter Russell
The purely musical performance preserved here is thrilling, ratcheted to a higher intensity than the Deutsche Grammophon studio recording
The purely musical performance preserved here is thrilling, ratcheted to a higher intensity than the Deutsche Grammophon studio recording
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from TC
A favorite Verdi performance from TC
Victoria de los Ángeles has always been my Violetta of choice, a portrayal that never ceases to move me.
Victoria de los Ángeles has always been my Violetta of choice, a portrayal that never ceases to move me.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Anna Netrebko
A favorite Verdi performance from Anna Netrebko
I feel that the best years of Maria Callas’s vocalità, when we hear such a unique freedom and generosity in her singing, were captured in her early recordings.
I feel that the best years of Maria Callas’s vocalità, when we hear such a unique freedom and generosity in her singing, were captured in her early recordings.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Armerjacquino
A favorite Verdi performance from Armerjacquino
Before the screams of horror begin, it says ‘favorite’, not best.
Before the screams of horror begin, it says ‘favorite’, not best.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Remko Jas
A favorite Verdi performance from Remko Jas
Elisabeth Grümmer was, of course, very good at Wagnerian prayers, but she also shines in this Verdi prayer.
Elisabeth Grümmer was, of course, very good at Wagnerian prayers, but she also shines in this Verdi prayer.
Cher public, La Cieca must inform you that the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Michael Kaiser (right), is afraid of you (left). “This is a scary trend,” says he. [via Huffington Post, of all places to climb on your soapbox about “serious arts criticism.”]
“Instead of Bess’s leaving their Charleston ghetto for New York by herself, with the crippled Porgy giving chase some time later, the Broadway version would include a newly invented scene in which Bess tries to persuade Porgy to start a new life with her up North. She leaves, followed by Porgy; one final stage picture…
The Handelian hilarity begins in just half an hour, cher public, so tune in to the Met’s Listen Live page and find your place in the parlor of La Casa della Cieca.
Randal Turner, pictured above, is but one of 33 barihunks featured in—who ever would have guessed?— “the first Barihunks calendar,” just in time for holiday giving and receiving. All proceeds from the calendar, available at the Barihunks site, will be donated to young artist programs. (Photo by Sarah Wells)
A “Machine” that’s been dished and hung out to dry, and a “Magasin” you hang dishes on to dry. Thanks to Zerbinetta for noticing the striking similaries (not to mention that fact that the object that actually does something costs less than half the one that does nothing; a lesson for us all?)
No shortage of interesting guesses, but, alas, none of the cher public were only MontyNostry was able to identify last week’s Regie quiz by the three images chosen. The opera, in fact, was Pikovaya Dama, and that lady taking a nap in her corset in the third photo is none other than the title character. Some…
Even the shooting stars of the heavens cannot compare to the dazzling spectacle of the cher public (pictured) shooting off their mouths.
Critic Ann Binlot draws some perhaps rather obvious parallels between Satyagraha and the Occupy Wall Street movement in a brief feature on ARTINFO.
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