La Cieca hears that the continuation of the Ring cycle at the Met next season will go on without the participation of Ben Heppner. We’ll have more details next week when the Met makes their season announcement, but La Cieca’s impression is that the two Siegfrieds are at the moment some combination of Gary Lehman […]
Gather around to chat tonight, cher public, during yet another La boheme.
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).
Faithful reader Sadie Salome writes, “Don’t know if you saw last night’s marketing email from the Met promoting their Valentine’s Day e-card website: “This Valentine’s day fall in love at the Met Opera.” Well, I did not like their schmaltzy selection of cards, so I made some of my own from my favorite romantic opera […]
Courtesy of contextual ad placement, here’s a quick and easy way to remember the meaning of the German term “Kulturbanause.”
Our most recent Regie quiz was just too easy! Among many correct guesses ipomoea was first to discern Carmen amongst the pit bulls and jockstraps, followed closely by Billys Butt and WeillFan offering important refinements to the original theory. The production for Opera North was by Daniel Kramer. No dogs in the current quiz, but […]
As La Cieca always so magnanimously says, “E vo gridando: pace! E vo gridando: chat!” The subject of today’s discussion is Simon Boccanegra, live from the Met at 1:00 pm.
Although Walter Braunfels was among those German composers whose music was banned in their home country after 1933, and whose political rehabilitiation in 1945 was not accompanied by a commensurate revival of his music, his 1920 opera Die Vögel should need no special pleading on musical or dramatic grounds. Though Braunfels is traditionally described as […]
“A milestone in history, a hyped Met premiere and a gaggle of A-list artists added up to something less than a sensation Wednesday night when the Metropolitan Opera offered its first performance of John Adams’ Nixon in China.” [New York Post]
Overheard after last night’s performance of Nixon in China: “That’s the first time I’ve heard the word ‘motherfuckers’ shouted from the Met stage since John Dexter resigned.”
All this talk about girls and ladies prompted La Cieca to turn (not for the first time!) to Brad Wilber’s Met Futures Page, freshly updated just a couple of days ago. So detailed and fascinating is Brad’s vision of the future that La Cieca is inspired to invite the cher public to play a little […]
Which girl proved so popular that she will return next year, all grown up into a lady?
La Cieca (not pictured) invites the cher public to a meeting of the minds this evening at 8:00 pm during the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Nixon in China.
Many happy returns to two big-voiced, big-haired sopranos who are still very much with us!
The golden-voiced gay icon was born 89 years ago today.
There were a disproportionate number of young people at the Met today—even younger than me, which is really young. That made me happy and smile while filing in line to enter the auditorium. Hopefully this is the next generation of undying fans and queens about to plunge into a “new” world of opera spearheaded by […]
Cubes and Macbeth seem to have been a successful pairing in the recent Regietheater. Graham Vick’s production of Macbeth at the Teatro alla Scala in the 1997/98 season had become famous, or infamous, for centering its spirit and energies on a big cube dominating both sets and singers. David Pountney exploited the same idea of […]
La Cieca (pictured) is going to go out on a limb here, cher public, based on bits and pieces of gossip, a hard fact or two, and her own occasionally flawed powers of ratiocination. Her prediction: James Levine will retire as Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, effective at the end of the 2011-2012 season. […]
Today’s afternoon chat should be a special treat for the legions of Radvandovskyites out there in Extended Parterriana. The Tosca palaver will begin at 1:00 pm.
The great Welsh soprano, superb interpreter of Mozart, Verdi and Lieder, died earlier today. She was 69. [Washington Post]
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 […]
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