Recent Stories
“There was little glamour in Anna Netrebko’s first years on the banks of the Neva River. She lived in a notoriously horrible dormitory belonging to the St. Petersburg Conservatory on Ulitsa Doblesti and worked as a floor cleaner at the Mariinsky Theater where she dreamed of performing.” [St. Petersburg Times]
Over at the Met they’re dropping like, well, you know. Per the press office: “Marco Armiliato will conduct Puccini’s La Bohème on January 31, February 3, 7, 10, 17, 22, and 25, replacing Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, who has withdrawn for personal reasons.” There’s more!
Decca has released a remarkable performance of Massenet’s great romantic tragedy Werther. Filmed live in January 2010, this performance stands out primarily for the great singing and dramatic vitality of the principals, particularly the remarkable Werther of Jonas Kaufmann. It is rare to hear a tenor voice with this much heft, body and color phrase…
Not to scoop Brad Wilber (if such a thing were possible!) but La Cieca has just heard that the much-discussed opening night of the Met’s 2012-13 season has been settled. Starring in a new Bartlett Sher production of L’elisir d’amore will be Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien, with Dulcamara and conductor TBA.
Resolved: Luc Bondy‘s production of Tosca is the same as Darren Aronofsky‘s Black Swan. Side argument: this season’s revival of Tosca is like the eventual recut of Black Swan for basic cable. (Tosca photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera)
Opera’s girl next door—if you live on Riverside Drive—Anna Netrebko discusses her many egg recipes and her favorite pajama boutiques in the Sunday Routine column in the New York Times. (Her own John Raitt, in the person of Erwin Schrott, put in a cameo appearance not in pajamas but a tight t-shirt.)
Commenter emerita Poison Ivy (now a blogress in her own right) takes on the dark side of fandom over at Poison Ivy’s Wall of Text. Find out what the fan did!
La Cieca (pictured) invites the cher public (also pictured) to a chat this afternoon at 1:00 PM EST during the Met broadcast of La traviata (likewise pictured). Details follow the jump!
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.
“A show can get better for a long time without ever getting good.” Our own JJ muses on the revised staging of Tosca on view this season at the Met. [Rough and Regie]
Says the Met press office: “Roberto De Biasio will make his Met debut as Gabriele Adorno in the Thursday, January 20 opening performance of Simon Boccanegra, replacing Ramón Vargas, who is ill. Mr. Vargas is scheduled to sing the remainder of the performances.”
After six months of professional silence, Natalie Dessay will return to the stage on Monday in Giulio Cesare at the Palais Garnier. A hint of what the Handel may sound like will be found after the jump.
Ioan Holender was General Manager of the Wiener Staatsoper for nineteen years, the longest anyone has held this post, and the august institution honored him with the gala to end all galas in the final days of his administration. With the goal of commemorating each of the 40 new productions premiered at the Staatsoper during…
Fans of Joyce DiDonato and fairness (and there is considerable overlap between the two groups) will be happy to know that the Metropolitan Opera, as part of a settlement in a civil rights lawsuit, has agreed to increase accessibilty to the opera house, including the installation of additional wheelchair seating. [NYT]
The Germans have a word for everything except what La Cieca is about to propose, which is why she made up her own Mammutwort for, well, a contest having to do with stage productions, specifically those of Wagner music dramas. (The “consecration” is understood, you see.) The rules and what you can win, after the…
La Cieca’s turf has been violated, and by Our Own JJ‘s colleagues (sort of) at the New York Post, to boot! [Page Six]
“This year may go down as one filled with surprises at the Met, kicking off with an unexpected role for a familiar tenor and a dazzling debut for a budding superstar.” [New York Post] (Photo: Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera)
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never made it to the Met
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never made it to the Met
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never sang at the Met.
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never sang at the Met.
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.
Who knew that, among all his other accomplishments, Alfredo Kraus was an interpreter of Poulenc monodrame?
UPDATE: “Roberto Alagna will make his Met role debut as Cavaradossi in tonight’s opening performance of Tosca, replacing Marcelo Álvarez, who withdrew this afternoon due to the lingering effects of a cold.” Whoever her tenor might be, the occasion of parterriani fave Sondra Radvanovksy‘s first Met Tosca calls for dancing in the streets, drinking in…
In the process of unearthing forgotten musical works, sometimes we stumble across a gem. World War II saw an entire generation of European composers forced into internment or diaspora, and their works are only slowly being rescued from obscurity. In a recent DVD release from the LA Opera, a part their Recovered Voices series, we…
Those sleek monochromatic idols were, in fact, film stars in last week’s Regie quiz. This Opéra national du Rhin production of La Belle Hélène, directed by Mariame Clément, won half credit for talented cosmodimontevergine, who recognized William Randolph Hearst’s neo-classical swimming pool in San Simeon and recalled the use of that image in a recent staging…
“A cover article this weekend about choosing the Top 10 classical composers misstates, at one point, the length of time that opera had existed as of 1750, when Bach died. As the article correctly conveys in other references, opera had been around for roughly 150 years then, not ‘a half-century’.” La Cieca is sure the…
Willy Decker’s Traviata has garnered praise from critics and audiences alike in the week since its Metropolitan premiere, but (as was to be expected) this praise comes over the complaints of a select few traditionalists, a handful of lonely boos amid the mostly enthusiastic applause. Their objection (as usual) is that Decker’s production betrays the…
La Cieca welcomes “the boys” (and girls, too!) to a chat during this afternoon’s broadcast of La fanciulla del West from the Met. The first shot will be fired at 1:00 pm precisely!
“Decker’s vision of Traviata, like most great productions, combines emotional truth with intellectual rigor—or, rather, there is a synergy between these two qualities that illuminates the entire work.” Our Own JJ takes apart the giant watch to find out what makes it tick, over at Musical America.
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