Oh, this should turn out well: “Angela Gheorghiu has recorded a collection of French and Italian opera arias in tribute to the late Maria Callas for EMI Classics…. included are arias by Puccini, Gounod, Bellini, Leoncavallo, Saint-Saëns, Catalani, Bizet, Giordano, Cherubini, Massenet and Cilèa.” Which gives La Cieca an idea for a competition, after the […]
Tenor/conductor/impresario/corporate shill Placido Domingo welcomed an extension of copyright protection across Europe today as “great news for performing artists.” Well, he’s half right.
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).
Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, your off-topic and general interest thread for the second week of September.
Sony Classical, in association with The Metropolitan Opera, has begun issuing on CD a number of historic Met broadcasts, newly remastered. The first I received for review was the December 10, 1955 broadcast of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, perhaps most notable for the Ulrica of Marian Anderson, who earlier that year made her debut […]
The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma is “considering actions to be taken to protect the image of the Foundation of its workers and their audiences” following Fabio Luisi‘s cancellation of his participation in Elektra at that theater in order to make time to help clean up the Levineshchina in New York. [Teatro dell’Opera di Roma]
Bel canto fanciers, diva fanatics and freebie queens alike will be delighted to hear that the Met is offering 2,500 gratis tickets to the September 22 open dress rehearsal of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, starring Anna Netrebko in the title role.
La Cieca is delighted to announce that her old, old, old friend Eli Jacobson (pictured, right) has ascended to a position of leadership in the Gay Men’s Opera Club in what one assumes was a relatively bloodless coup.
La Cieca is not sure if this is a casting announcement or the result of a particularly silly round of Mad Libs: Plácido Domingo will add yet another notch to his repertoire, the title role of Der Fliegende Holländer, in a production at the Arena di Verona in the summer of 2013, with Daniel Barenboim […]
Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Tim Jessell, who, according to a spokesperson for the bride, were married September 3. The bride, née Renée Fleming, will keep her maiden name.
“The People’s Diva,” “America’s Soprano,” “The Beautiful Voice, ” “la Grace Kelly della lirica”—in her busy and seemingly interminable career Renée Fleming has worn almost as many hats as hair colors. But henceforth she must also be known as “The Peggy Olson of the Windy City” thanks to her inestimable leadership in crafting Lyric Opera […]
“Gioia!” is the title of Aleksandra Kurzak‘s debut aria recital, her first international release under a new exclusive contract with Decca Music Group, and—not surprisingly—this writer’s response to the soprano’s sparkling vocalism. In the liner notes, the Polish soprano explains that the title of this recording was her agent’s suggestion: “He said that he can […]
So, who can tell La Cieca what the 2011-12 Metropolitan Opera season has in common with the 2007 Yankees?
La Cieca (pictured, center) reminds the cher public that it is very rapidly becoming “that time of year again,” and so, and while we have a brief respite from the flurry of Met press releases, you are invited to select your most anticipated performances of the fall.
Stefan Herheim’s production of Parsifal for Bayreuth is the regie Holy Grail—a production that completely fulfills the promise and purpose of Regietheater.
Which veteran artist has finally made up his mind which opera to perform in concert next spring? Here’s a hint: after five decades of career, he’s sung this role many times before, yet this time it will be something original.
La Cieca has obtained this photo of Thomas Hampson headlining Camouflage Night at Powerhouse, uh, rehearsing for Heart of a Soldier at the San Francisco Opera. You can tell the scene is Northern Rhodesia in 1962, because that is where the British military first started offering complimentary personal training packages to their troops.
This just in from the Met press office: “After a fall last week that damaged one of his vertebrae, James Levine underwent emergency surgery on Thursday in New York, forcing him to withdraw from his performances at the Metropolitan Opera this fall…. While Levine will continue in his position as Music Director, Fabio Luisi has […]
Tenor Salvatore Licitra died earlier today after nine days in a coma following a motorcycle accident. He was 43. [La repubblica]
Ah, six long lazy weeks with nothing to do but relax and guess the most recent Regie puzzler—which, La Cieca blushes to admit, dates all the way back on July 24!—and yet only Freniac was 100% on the right track. The opera was indeed Mitridate, re di Ponto, as staged for the Munich Opera Festival by […]
Noticing how often she turns up lately, one might guess that the operatic “heroine” for the global economic crunch is Medea, the mythological Greek sorceress and filicide.
Robert Schumann said he devoted more love and energy to Manfred than any of his other compositions. It took him only about a month in 1848 to adapt a translation of Byron’s semi-autobiographical poem about a guilt-ridden noble into a program consisting of an overture and 15 pieces for chorus, orchestra and spoken voice. Schumann was […]
This just in from La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Michael Riedel: it looks like the “new” Porgy and Bess isn’t coming into New York. Says the NYP gossipmonger: “…while [Audra] McDonald wins Tonys, her name doesn’t sell tickets. I’m told the producers are likely to fold the show after its Boston run.”
Hans Neuenfels‘ new staging of Lohengrin for Bayreuth is the grimmest version of this work I’ve seen. Not that this opera is all bright lights and lollipops, but he gave us a particularly dark take on the work, motivated, in part, by Wagner’s writings at the time of the opera’s composition.
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