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La Cieca has obviously not been paying attention, because she totally missed the announcement that Denyce Graves is going to join the cast of The Real Housewives of DC. Oh, she’s not, you say? So then what’s the explanation for these new headshots?
Our Own JJ salutes three sister bloggers (of whom only one is female) in his current Rough and Regie column at Musical America.
BREAKING! In a sudden and shocking turn of events, James Levine will go on as scheduled tonight, conducting Simon Boccanegra at the Met. However, according to an email from the Carnegie Hall press office, the maestro “and The MET Chamber Ensemble must regrettably cancel their concert scheduled for this Sunday, January 30 at 5:00 p.m.…
In 2006, Aribert Reimann was offered a commission to create a new work for Vienna State Opera. After initial hesitation—”The creative process can sometimes be rather a struggle and isn’t necessarily a pleasant experience”—he went to work. After a flirtation with a Camus drama, he settled on Franz Grillparzer’s version of Medea as his subject…
“A blizzard seemed an incongruous prelude to an opera set in sizzling biblical Egypt, but the trudge through snowy SoHo on Wednesday night paid off with a glimpse of the intriguing new Mosheh.” [New York Post]
Though the day is almost over, it should not go without marking that today is the 50th anniversary of the debuts at the Met of Leontyne Price and Franco Corelli, one of the red-letter nights of the Rudolf Bing regime.
La Scoopenda meets Detective Stabler when The People’s Diva Renée Fleming appears on a very special episode of Law & Order: SVU. La Fleming will play a supporting role in the “Bully” episode which stars Kate Burton “as a wicked boss whose business partner is murdered.”
Der Rosenkavalier is exactly 100 years old today, a century after the world premiere of the Strauss/Hofmannsthal comedy at the Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden. La Cieca invites the cher public to share favorite Rosenkavalier memories and YouTube clips.
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.
Burgeoning blogress Poison Ivy asks the musical question “Which operas should have beautiful productions?” La Cieca encourages the cher public to detour to her blog “Poison Ivy’s Wall of Text” and comment on her very interesting and (La Cieca is delighted to note) thought-provoking post.
In fact, Lucia is due in New York in less than a month, but current reports about the proposed prima donna are not encouraging.
Quoth the Met press office: “Piotr Beczala will sing the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto on Thursday, January 27, replacing Joseph Calleja who is ill.”
Of all places, NY1’s “Inside City Hall” is the setting for an opera roundtable tonight when John Adams, Peter Sellars, James Maddalena, and Peter Gelb appear on the program to discuss the impending premiere of Nixon in China at the Met. “Inside City Hall” airs at 7 p.m. tonight with a special edition after the…
“Rolando Villazon brought in renowned mime and clown Nola Rae to help out with his directorial debut, Werther, which opened tonight in Lyon.” [Nouvel Observateur via Intermezzo]
Has this distinguished artist’s career reached its twilight? Anyone with an eye in his head can see it’s time to pass the torch and forge ahead with the immortal work.
In the summer of 2007, at the height of the heated speculation and public debates over who would succeed Wolfgang Wagner as the head of the Bayreuth Festival, his daughter, Katharina Wagner presented a new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the festival, replacing the mind-numbingly boring one by her father (his third at…
“It was during a prolonged losing streak of the New York Yankees,” writes composer Richard Wilson, “that, musing on the subject of failure, I decided to write an opera about Aethelred the Unready.” And so he did, writing both libretto and music to a one-act opera in seven scenes.
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 (center, in chair) has listened carefully to the Bühnenweihfestspielkrieg commentary of the cher public (also pictured) and, though practically overwhelmed by the brilliance of all of you, really, has managed to settle on a single winner, who, in addition to the hand of Eva Pogner, will receive the complete DVD set of Der…
La Cieca applauds cosmodimontevergine for so elegant a solution to the previous Regie quiz. As hinted by the YouTube clip, the piece is indeed Kalman’s Die Csárdásfürstin, as performed at Oper Köln in a production by Bernd Mottl. A clip from this unusual take on the classic operetta, plus our next Regie quiz, after the…
La Cieca has (all together now) a hunch that the cher public would enjoy discussing this afternoon’s performance of Rigoletto during the Met broadcast beginning at 1:00 pm. Details after the jump.
“Pre-performance applause often signals gratitude for past glories. In this case, it was only a preview of the stomping and cheering following that night’s performance of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra — well-deserved acclaim for a masterpiece of conducting.” So says Our Own JJ in the New York Post.
NYCO benefactor and all around darling David H. Koch is the subject of an infographic detailing his long and distinguished career and that of his nonoperatic sibling Charles. La Cieca suggests you print out a few copies to take on your next trip to Lincoln Center, though she would not think of advising you to…
Best birthday wishes to pirate supreme, premier podcaster and archivist of the musical sublime and ridiculous. (See below.)
La Cieca reminds the cher public that today is the final day of the Bühnenweihfestspielkrieg competition, with the first prize a sparking new copy of the complete Ring cycle on DVD! Put on your thinking tarnhelms and comment!
Tonight’s Met season premiere of Simon Boccanegra promises to offer far more than mere B-movie thrills. Cher plebe! Cher patrizi! You’re invited to a chat beginning at 8:00 pm!
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