Recent Stories
The Australian conductor and authority on the operas of Janácek and Mozart died earlier today in London. He was 84.
“Internationally acclaimed opera singer and arts administrator Plácido Domingo, General Director of Washington National Opera (WNO), will lead a group of his protégés in a concert performance of Verdi’s Rigoletto on August 2, 2010, at Beijing’s Reignwood Theater…. The concert performance marks the first time that Domingo, a legendary tenor who has recently made highly…
The lovely and personable Jumping Clapping Man will act as host/coordinator of the first-ever Norcal Parterre.com Gathering Demented Mini-Conference (as seen in the above artist’s rendering). Details after the jump (and clap).
“…by any standard, Meade’s is a very fine Norma — and, as a first attempt at this Mount Everest of a role, it’s simply a miracle.” [New York Post]
After Friday night, it seems clear that the Brooklyn hipster is destined to be the next audience for opera. Galapagos Art Space was home to another co-production by American Opera Projects and Opera on Tap, this their fifth collaboration, and once again some amazing surprises were presented by this rag-tag bunch of very experimental artists.…
So a member of the cher public writes, “The odious Command Opera says that Netrebko has cancelled the Mariinsky Bolenas” which, according to the Mariinsky site certainly seems to be true. Or at least what seems to be true is that the rumored or planned production of Anna Bolena at the Mariinsky is not happening…
The Norwegian dramatic soprano, often called “the voice of the century,” was born 115 years ago today. The hard-working singer became a sensation “overnight” when, after the first act of her Met debut as Sieglinde, she was hailed by intermission commentator Geraldine Farrar as a new star.
More of you than La Cieca can mention managed to unveil the solution to last week’s Regie quiz: it was indeed Don Giovanni, as presented at Oper Köln and helmed by Uwe Eric Laufenberg. (A video on the Oper Köln website offers further visuals.) And now… something a little less extravagant?
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.
Which tenor, who’s notorious for his off-the-chain antics, recently gave his colleagues the willies when he sauntered about backstage butt-naked?
Here’s home base for the cher public’s afternoon opera listening, whichever of the multitude of selections you choose to follow.
“My goal is just to make as many people happy with my throat as I can.” [Time Out New York]
“Why is the needlessly naked executioner so coy about showing us his wobbly bits?” [The Telegraph]
No, there never was an answer to that celebrated Lewis Carroll conundrum, but its inexplicability pales into insignificance next to the query sent in by loyal reader S.A.: why is Jack Black covering Bryn Terfel in the Met’s Ring?
Sweet Betsy again rounds up the Saturday afternoon listenables. La Cieca leans toward Manon naturellement, but she should warn you that she’s off like Des Grieux’s cassock at 3:00 pm to jump on the Caramoor Caravan. After the jump (not onto the Caravan!) the complete list of what’s singing who.
Finally, after all these months, La Cieca begins to understand the ways of Fthà in arranging the universe so that Francesca Zambello would be chosen new honcho (honcha?) of the Glimmerglass Festival. At first it seemed this turn of events was to transpire only so that dear ‘Cesca could stage half-baked feminist rewrites of Annie…
The voyages of CruzSF and his parterre box t-shirt continue as they visit the War Memorial Opera House in sunny San Francisco.
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.
Legendary diva Martina Arroyo chats with Our Own JJ about learning, teaching and The Odd Couple. [New York Post]
La Cieca (pictured) can hardly muster a messa di voce after the overwhelming torrent of entries in the “You Can Ring My Bel Canto” competition, but after hours of careful consideration and hobnobbing with my fellow doyennes, I have finally come do a decision as to who should be considered a prima inter pares.
Chicago’s William Mason will ankle Lyric Opera at the end of the 2011-2012 season. John von Rhein‘s list of dreary white male possible successors is as good evidence as La Cieca has seen recently of the value of thinking outside the box. [Chicago Tribune]
The all-American diva was born 100 years ago today!
Juan Diego Flórez and Jerry Seinfeld compete to decide who has the puffiest shirt of them all.
La Cieca has just heard that the legendary basso cantante, star of well over 400 performances at the Met, died earlier today in Atlanta.
OpinionatedNeophyte was certainly heading in the right direction when he (she?) guessed our previous Regie quiz suggested Médée. That Greek sorceress was indeed in attendance, but maestro Cherubini had nothing to do with it, because the opera in question was Mayr’s Medea in Corinto. The director was Hans Neuenfels, at the Bayerische Staatsoper. And that…
Those of you escaping the summer heat this afternoon may want to gather ’round for a performance of Don Giovanni (featuring recent convert to the shaved-noggin lifestyle Bo Skovhus) live from the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, beginning at 3:30 New York time.
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