Recent Stories
The birthday of our nation provides yet one more opportunity for “America’s Diva” Renée Fleming to demonstrate that she is indeed the Patti of our day. No, not Adelina so much, more like Sandi.
The legendary conductor and the protean mezzo-soprano were born on July 3, in 1930 and 1939 respectively.
Though she has not made many in-person appearances on the weekend chat since the summer began, La Cieca has realized (or has been told, truth be told) that directing parterrians, even by means of a democratic vote, is not any easier than herding cats. Which is to say, you guys who are chatting on Saturday…
Our sometime correspondent Seth Colter Walls sees in new PBS leadership a chance for a wider reach for “the splashiest happenings in America’s resurgent classical-music culture.” [Newsweek]
On the occasion of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s 85th Birthday, TDK has re-released performances of Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin” and “Winterreise” as a two-DVD boxed set. “Winterreise” was recorded without an audience at Siemensvilla, Berlin in January 1979, and is the earlier and more robust of the two performances. “Die schöne Müllerin” was taped over a decade…
Once again it takes an out-of-towner to write sensibly about Peter Gelb and the Met, though the “out of town” here refers only to geography: Anne Midgette is at heart and soul a New York newshen. [The Classical Beat]
Since last night marked the debut of history’s newest and perkiest interpreter of the role of Norma, and (more to the point) since Bellini’s druid priestess will grace the woods of Katonah, NY during the month of July, La Cieca thought it would be exciting to organize a YouTube competition on the theme of bel…
“I’ve been moving on stage all my life and I can still manage long rehearsal periods, so I feel fine in the right repertoire…. I just don’t want to go further than I should. I suppose there’s a certain limit: I don’t want to be 70 and still singing opera. I don’t think I will…
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
Goodnight, Irene
Goodnight, Irene
Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.
Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.
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.
Congratulations to SF Guy (pictured), for his winning entry in the “Tout gai!” competition. A copy of the newly-released DVD The Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991: 25th Anniversary at Lincoln Center is currently winging its way City by the Bay-ward.
I’d never actually seen a production of Lohengrin before I agreed to review a new Decca DVD of Richard Jones‘s staging for the Bayerische Staastoper, starring Jonas Kaufmann, so I hope I’ve got this right: It’s about this architect named Elsa, who lives in an Orwellian steampunk Germany that has videocamera technology but still dresses like…
“…she, according to the habit of women and cats, who do not come when you call them, but come when you refrain from calling them, -she halted in front of me and spoke to me.” (Prosper Mérimée)
Congratulations to the many, many of the cher public (pictured above) who really outgayed themselves (if such a thing is possible) with their vigorous and multiple entries in the “Tout gai!” video competition. The results of these perverse efforts can best be summed up in the phrase “gayer than eight guys fucking nine guys,” which…
“World class tenor Rolando Villazón is ‘excited’” [Metro.co.uk]
A member of the cher public reminds La Cieca, “How soon do we start wondering who will conduct the new Rheingold at the Met? I thought I would see Jimmy at Tanglewood next week for the Mahler 2nd, but Mikey Twinkle-Toes will be in charge that evening.” La Cieca’s answer: it’s never too soon to…
An ambitious and Wagner-smitten Ruggero Leoncavallo wrote his rarely heard opera I Medici (Historical Action in Four Acts) as the beginning of what he planned as “an epic poem in the form of a historical trilogy.” Taking his lead from the Ring, Leoncavallo called his planned trilogy Crepesculum, an homage to the Italian translation of…
The inimitable Hans Lick has done it again, and before you exclaim “Done what again? Doesn’t he know the meaning of the word probation?” let La Cieca hasten to add that what he’s done is to guess last week’s Regie quiz, and right on the nose he was with Idomeneo. (This Katie Mitchell production for…
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
Patrizia Ciofi should have made it to the Met
Patrizia Ciofi should have made it to the Met
The artist who I feel should have made it to the Met is Patrizia Ciofi.
The artist who I feel should have made it to the Met is Patrizia Ciofi.
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.
Lucio Gallo‘s name has quietly been substituted for that of Juha Uusitalo in the Met’s 2010-2011 performances of La fanciulla del West.
UPDATE: La Cieca is calling this one for Le Damnation de Faust. The performance (and chat) starts at 1:00 pm EDT, and the list of online stations carrying the WFMT broadcast may be found here.
“Ms. Zambello’s production has plenty of 3-D-friendly texture. The opening scene includes women standing next to a trough of water, dipping their hair in and flinging it back, spraying the stage with water. A real donkey, chicken and black stallion appear. Two acrobats dance and flip across the stage. Confetti flies and ribbons wave. Cast…
Opera Orchestra of New York will jump-start its new incarnation in 2010-11 with a double bill of La Navarraise (Roberto Alagna, Elina Garanca) and Cavalleria rusticana (Alagna again, with Maria Guleghina and Mignon Dunn[!!!]), conducted by Music Director Designate Alberto Veronesi at Carnegie Hall on October 25. Eve Queler returns to the podium for L’Africaine…
In honor of the 40th anniversary of Gay Pride (the 40th official anniversary, anyway) coming up this weekend, La Cieca proposes this week’s YouTube contest theme: “Tout gai!”
La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Intermezzo (not pictured) reacts to last night’s prima of Manon at the Royal Opera: Anna Netrebko “sang strongly, the voice fuller and darker than ever before, looking gorgeous” and Vittorio Grigolo‘s “technique and stamina were truly spectacular.” The pair “were, deservedly, a huge hit with the audience…. authentic and…
[Castrati] “were notorious for their sexual adventures [and] presumably able to overcome liabilities like an underdeveloped penis and variable erectile function.” So, really, all things considered, maybe castration wasn’t so bad after all. [Failure Magazine]
La Cieca congratulates winner Stevey (not pictured) for his masterful curatorial efforts in the “Now That’s How It’s Done” challenge, and the DVD of the Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991: 25th Anniversary at Lincoln Center will soon wing its way Steveyward.
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