Demimonde
La Cieca has just had the news confirmed that Natalie Dessay canceled after Act 1 of La Traviata earlier this evening at the Met.
Recent Stories
Intermission feature
Has the week really gone by so quickly?
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).
Bringing up baby
La Cieca hears that Diana Damrau has withdrawn from the Royal Opera’s production of Robert le Diable (due to open December 6) because of pregnancy.
Comeback kid
After an absence of seven seasons, tenor Richard Leech will return to the stage of the Met on April 27 as Albert Gregor in The Makropulos Case.
Red all over
You’ve heard what it sounded like; now you can see Saturday afternoon’s HD of La traviata, thanks to YouTube.
NYCO 2012-2013 season announcement
Coverage starts live, here on parterre, at 11:00 AM.
News! News! News! News! News! News! News!
The acclaimed Théâtre du Châtelet production of Nixon in China will, unlike the revolution, be televised.
The sorrowful précis
Brian Kellow‘s “Coda” piece in the current Opera News, summarized: “I’m so cranky that even namedropping has lost its thrill.” (Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera)
Glücklich zu sehen, je suis enchanté!
Tenor Nikolai Schukoff (recently Parsifal in the Lyon production) displays so much furry semi-nudity on his web site that the page should be called “Otter Space.”
Ass backwards
Zachary Woolfe went to Las Vegas and all we got was a thoughtful analysis of why Robert Lepage was never a good fit for the Ring.
Gold standard
Like everyone else, La Cieca was watching Mad Men last night, and suddenly something clicked.
Once on this regie
This busy production stumped just about everyone.
Intermission feature
Let not the warm days of spring tempt you too far away from this week’s discussion of off-topic and general interest subject, cher public!
And that’s when I clicked “close gesamtkunstwerk”
A sharp-eyed spy at tonight’s performance of Die Walküre at the Met notes that, while there were no malfunctions of the Machine per se, there was an unexpected projection toward the middle of the third act.
Room for improvement
It’s hard to think of a rare work by a great composer more tailor-made for a twenty-first century reexamination than Mozart’s Il Sogno di Scipione.
Teen dream
Some days you can feel like a hero just getting out of bed in the morning.
Blindsided
The story is short, but to the point: this soprano has been “sacked” from a major opera house’s gala Puccini revival.
Slow curtain, the end
Here’s a taste of what’s in store for the Met’s HD audience on Saturday
Who can that attractive girl be?
La Cieca wants to be among the first to congratulate soprano Ailyn Pérez, who is the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award.
Pain and suffering
A woman unhappy with the Bolshoi Opera’s controversial staging of Ruslan and Ludmila was denied a one million ruble compensation bid by Moscow’s Tverskoi court on Monday.
Recovered girl
Here’s a bit of good news for all you Traviata fans with tickets for tomorrow night’s Met performance or Saturday afternoon’s HD.