Recent Stories
It would be a shame, I think, if EMI’s stunt video of Angela Gheorghiu “in duet” with Maria Callas backfired powerfully enough to prevent serious opera fans (well, okay, let’s say “enthusiastic opera fans,” that’s more like it) from listening to the Romanian diva’s new CD Homage to Maria Callas. There’s a lot on this…
The already notorious or celebrated or whatever it is version of the “Habanera” featuring (in alphabetical order) Maria Callas and Angela Gheorghiu: it’s been released, and you can experience after the jump.
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…
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Poetic license
Poetic license
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Kathryn the great
Kathryn the great
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Count your blessings
Count your blessings
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
One man’s Junker
One man’s Junker
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
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.
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…
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo should have made it to the Met
Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo should have made it to the Met
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
The Talk of the Town
Ebe Stignani and Anita Cerquetti should have made it to the Met
Ebe Stignani and Anita Cerquetti should have made it to the Met
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
The Talk of the Town
Sena Jurinac should have made it to the Met
Sena Jurinac should have made it to the Met
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
The Talk of the Town
Janet Baker should have made it to the Met
Janet Baker should have made it to the Met
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
The Talk of the Town
Dorothy Maynor should have made it to the Met
Dorothy Maynor should have made it to the Met
We had to wait for Marian Anderson to break the color barrier at the Met and many great Black opera singers never had a chance there.
We had to wait for Marian Anderson to break the color barrier at the Met and many great Black opera singers never had a chance there.
The Talk of the Town
Leyla Gencer should have made it to the Met
Leyla Gencer should have made it to the Met
Leyla Gencer had a long European career but never sang at the Met.
Leyla Gencer had a long European career but never sang at the Met.
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]
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]
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