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Composer Nico Muhly took a break between operatic world premieres to order a daiquiri and talk to our own JJ about height, haters and flight path. [Capital New York] (Photo: Peter Ross)
The Machine malfunctioned tonight in Siegfried at the Met, only one performance behind schedule. La Cieca is told that the final transition to the “Valkyrie Rock” could not be completed. “Just as Siegfried was starting his climb, multiple planks thudded into ‘down’ position. Lots of shouting into walkie-talkies. The set never moved again,” a witness…
La Cieca supposes that maybe the reason Angela Gheorghiu doesn’t include any music from Manon Lescaut on her new “Homage to Callas” CD is that she can’t quite identify with the character?
La Cieca is always happy (if a little envious) when another critic expresses exactly how she feels about a musical event (such as Jonas Kaufmann‘s recital last Sunday at the Met) because that means she doesn’t have to blather on and on about it. Instead she can simply reply, “Check out what Zachary Woolfe has…
Of course, we all know a Marilyn Horne anecdote without a four-letter word is about as plausible as a martini without gin, but the tale that kicks off her Q&A with Zachary Woolfe is particularly bracing. You’ll be both shaken and stirred by this interview in the current Capital New York.
Though the headline seems to apply a whole series of epithets to a revered critic (“Stand-In Meets Sweet Snake, Shrieky Diva, Grumpy Dad: Manuela Hoelterhoff”), the actual review of the Met’s Siegfried on Bloomberg offers more than purely comic interest. While La Hoelterhoff is no better than usual as an opera reviewer, she does briefly…
The little gray cells of operalover9001 were functioning at full capacity last week, raciocinating that the fuller-figured soloists must imply a heavier sing. And, yes, the mystery opera was a very hard sing indeed, Les Troyens at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, directed by David Hermann. This week’s quiz promises to be as difficult to guess…
Get your effete knives out for general interest and off-topic conversations for the week of October 30.
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.
And standing in the door of La Casa della Cieca (pictured) was little Betsy Ann Bobolink, who, instead of lisping “Trick or treat!”, drawled affectedly, “In the spirit of mutual respect and commonality that so pervades our modern society, and has even at times crept onto these pages, here’s what’s available for listening (and chatting)…”
This may seem a bit of a stretch, cher public, but stay with me. La Cieca introduces a new feature on parterre, named after not Lois Lane (pictured) but rather Lois Kirschenbaum, legendary Gotham opera fan. This Lois is widely regarded as a bellwether of noteworthy performances; or, to put it another way, if Lois…
Yes, I think perhaps lookism has finally gone too far.
“It’s the understudy’s job to save the show, and that’s just what Jay Hunter Morris did Thursday at the Met in the daunting title role of Wagner’s Siegfried.” [New York Post]
Says the Met press office this bright, sunny Friday morning: “Jay Hunter Morris will sing the role of Siegfried in the new production premiere of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung on January 27, and in the performances on February 7 and 11. He replaces Gary Lehman, who has withdrawn due to the continued effects of a viral infection.”…
So, tell me this, what do Anthony Tommasini, Zachary Woolfe and James Jorden (not pictured) have in common? Well, according to John M. Olin Fellow at the Manhattan Institute Heather MacDonald, these three “trendy” critics constitute “a press corps determined to push Met general manager Peter Gelb into conformity with European opera houses, where narcissistic…
Those lucky few of you who manage to scare up tickets to the Met’s second Ring cycle of the spring ($3,500 top) will no doubt want to start crossing your fingers now that nothing goes wrong with “The Machine” at the “prologue-evening” Das Rheingold April 26.
“Pathos and the high tone is not his thing,” helpfully explains Google Translate in reference to “Provokateur” Frank Castorf, who has been selected to direct the Ring at Bayreuth in 2013, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth. [Berliner Morgenpost]
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.
Reviewing some old files while restoring the parterre mainframe’s hard drive, La Cieca ran across some predictions made in 2006 of what the current Met season would consist of. The details after the jump.
When Mojca Erdmann’s new debut CD for Deutsche Grammophon was reviewed in the September issue of Opera News, the disc’s cover art showed the lissome German soprano in a thin, revealing white dress, lying on a bed of roses. The album was then called Mostly Mozart. When that review questioned the titling, DG must have…
“The New York City Opera is at an exciting and critical junction in its approach to opera and its ability to connect to audiences in the broader New York City community. City Opera’s new innovative programing presents an opportunity to re-imagine and re-conceive current fundraising efforts for a budget of $13.7 M.” Yes, NYCO is…
In the liner notes to his new Wagner CD, Rene Pape opines that performing the master’s work isn’t terribly different than performing Mozart. Both composers require singers to sustain a melodic line, manipulate vowels at the right moments and deploy dynamic gradations for dramatic effect. Call it German bel canto or natural speech, just don’t…
With his new CD release for Decca, The Maltese Tenor, Joseph Calleja clearly declares his ascension to the top level of the world’s lyric tenors. The 15-selection program shows that his plaintive voice has matured and clarified, his emotional understanding of the music has deepened significantly, and his artistry has moved to a higher level. …
Not only has physical therapy healed Mariusz Kwiecien‘s shapely back, it’s apparently added a third to the top of his range. [New York Times]
Nothing pleases La Cieca better than stumping the panel. As such, she will turn all the cards over and reveal that our most recent Regie quiz depicts Chabrier’s L’étoile, as presented by Oper Frankfurt, directed by Our (Occasionally) Own David Alden. A snippet of Alden’s show follows the jump; then you can mull over yet…
La Cieca (missing from photo) invites you, the cher public, to discuss events otherwise not specified during the week of October 23.
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