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“Rachelle Durkin will sing the role of Norina in this Saturday’s matinee performance of Don Pasquale, replacing Anna Netrebko, who is ill,” says the Met press office.
Above is a preliminary PR photo of Eva-Maria Westbroek in the “biggest than life” titular role of the Mark-Anthony Turnage/Richard Thomas bio-opera Anna Nicole, set to open tonight at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. But without the benefit of Photoshop and artful lighting, what do Westbroek and Anna Nicole really look like?
A correction from the Met press office:
The press conference announcing the Met’s 2011-2012 season has begun.
In this artist’s conception, your intrepid girl reporter La Cieca is seen covering tomorrow’s season preview press conference at the Met. Assuming she regains consciousness in time, watch for her live reports from the event beginning at 1:00 pm, right here on parterre.com!
Until Monday evening, I never placed Don Pasquale in my list of favorite operas, but the four principals were so magnificent that I realized just how special an opera can be when it is sung so well. Remember that works like this—Elisir, Ory, Flute, rather than Aida, Forza, etc.—can be performed beautifully today since the…
And now, ladies and gentlemen, Christopher Maltman (among others) in Kasper Holten‘s Juan.
Having completed her season of Giulio Cesare in Paris, Natalie Dessay next takes on Lucia di Lammermoor in New York. A glimpse of the soprano’s Handelian chops and perhaps a hint of her current vocal estate, after the jump.
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.
Instead of waiting until the last moment, La Cieca (pictured) has decided go ahead and set the dates for the remaining evening chats with the cher public (also pictured) in the month of February (not pictured).
La Cieca is pretty sure this is going to be a popular choice, and she thinks as well she’s just discovered parterre’s new resident futurologist. Congratulations to Baritenor (pictured) for his exhaustive essay on the Met’s 2011-2012 season.
“The People’s Diva,” who brought so much darkness and so much hope to us in 2010, is 52 years young today!
Is it possible for a performance of Richard Strauss’s Elektra to be exciting without an exciting Elektra? It of course depends on your priorities and expectations, which will ultimately determine whether such a performance, as preserved on this DVD from Baden-Baden is for you. Linda Watson’s first assumption of the punishing role of Elektra (she…
I’ve found myself procrastinating endlessly over this review. I’m always excited by the chance to hear recently composed operas, and have a weak spot for the American repertoire. So I had overly high hopes for Paul Salerni‘s Tony Caruso’s Final Broadcast. At first listen, I found myself underwhelmed, slightly off put by the blending of…
What do opera composers do on vacation? If the researches behind this performance at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival are correct, they gather their nearest and dearest and dash them off a quickie opera for performance en famille. That, in any case, is what Giovanni Pacini did during down-time between presenting seventy-odd operas to the…
“At a time of life when most opera singers can barely remember their glory days, 70-year-old Placido Domingo is still giving performances singers half his age could be proud of.” Our Own JJ‘s latest review is a love letter to the Met’s revival of Iphigénie en Tauride. [New York Post]
So many wonderful guesses on the most recent Regie quiz, but curiously only the very early Alexander and the very late luvtennis proved veritable William Tells in their accuracy: that applicious opera is Cosi fan tutte. The production for the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus is by Philipp Himmelmann. Our next quiz is one of the most difficult…
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Tildy Diva
A favorite Verdi performance from Tildy Diva
A well-known Met Aïda with a starry cast from 1967 is TildyDiva’s Favorite Verdi Performance
A well-known Met Aïda with a starry cast from 1967 is TildyDiva’s Favorite Verdi Performance
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.
La Cieca invites her comrades to join her in the struggle that will be the chat during this afternoon’s performance of Nixon in China, starting at 1:00 pm.
Riccardo Muti‘s recent fainting spell that resulted in surgery for a broken jaw was caused by a” heart rhythm disturbance,” say his doctors. The conductor has been fitted with a pacemaker to regulate his heart rate, and is expected to make a full recovery.
“Greek night at opera canceled due to conflict” [Indiana Daily Student]
La Cieca knows little of the ways and means of gala-giving, so you tell her: what does it mean when NYCO’s Spring Gala is already available for half price on “luxury discount” website Gilt Groupe?
It was while attending a performance of Fédora in Naples in 1885 that eighteen year-old Umberto Giordano fell in love with Sardou’s then immensely popular play; the protagonist was none other than Sarah Bernhardt, the creator of the title role. He immediately asked the French dramatist to sell him the rights, a request Sardou did…
Repertory for “Bel Canto at Caramoor” 2011: H.M.S. Pinafore and Guillaume Tell.
“Though Bernstein’s own marriage had its complexities (he was bisexual)…” [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Opera Chic reported a couple of days ago that “[t]he Italian mezzo married her longtime boyfriend, big buff Swiss bass-baritone, Oliver Widmer. However, there is no official confirmation of the nuptials, and a closer reading of the Chic’s purported source for the news suggests that Bartoli and her beau are “just good friends,” as we…
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