Recent Stories
La Cieca presents an open letter from a parterre box reader.
“Nobody dies in Partenope, Handel’s 1730 opera that ends in contentment and reconciliation. For the audience at the New York City Opera’s production Saturday night, the finale also hinted at hope for the troubled company’s future.” [NYP]
You may think La Cieca is full of beans when she tells you that a maestro private-jetted in to New York today for a rehearsal and then jetted back again, with no plan to return to our metropolis until the day of the prima.
“…in Parsifal, instead of digging out the chapters from Metaphysics for Dummies (which is what basically everyone does, except Herheim!), [Calixto Bieito] made it a perfectly plausible story, close to us, to our lifestyles…
Saturday evening Kiri te Kanawa sang the first of her final two Marschallins at the Cologne Opera House. The reason for this rather unexpected return to one of her signature parts seems to have been a sentimental one:
UPDATE:The Met press office this afternoon [!] has broken the news:
[San Francisco Chronicle]: I’m certainly not the first person to observe how convincing you are in male roles. Would I be correct in thinking that the line outside your dressing room after these performances is rather, um, interesting?
Either the directors are running out of ideas, or else the cher public is just getting too smart. Once again, the first guess was the right guess: the opera in last week’s Regie quiz was indeed Un ballo in maschera. (And you, SF Guy, need to get to bed earlier!) After the jump, La Cieca’s…
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.
La Cieca (pictured) is delighted to host an afternoon Aïda chat for you, the cher public — all of whom she imagines as having something of the grave dignity and multiple chins of dear Sir Cedric Hardwicke.
Good Friday means Parsifal.
La Cieca recalls the words of her old, old, old friend Eve Harrington: “In good conscience, I must give credit where credit is due.” And far be it for La Cieca to begrudge her cher public something so freely given by Little Miss Evil.
“Volpe, who is 69, wants to set the record straight, now that Peter Gelb is being held up as the architect of a new, dynamic Met: with enough money, he too could have been creative. ‘Peter spends money in ways I never could,’ Volpe told me. ‘If I had Mercedes Bass and I could have…
“A report was posted soon after on Parterre.com, an opera blog, that Mr. Slatkin had been removed from further performances.” [NYT]
La Cieca has just heard that Leonard Slatkin has been removed from further performances of Traviata at the Met.
On this beautiful spring morning, La Cieca is delighted to announce to her cher public that she has uncovered yet another exclusive scoop. For you listening enjoyment on this last day of March, we present the next single to drop from the most talked-about operatic disc since Karita Mattila‘s!
Patricia Racette will sing the title role in Puccini’s Tosca on April 14, 17, 20, and 24 matinee, replacing Karita Mattila, “who is ill” — this just in from the Met’s press office.
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a great opera conductor
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a great opera conductor
Historically, conductors were often viewed as rigid, authoritarian figures. Yannick Nézet-Séguin completely subverts this stereotype.
Historically, conductors were often viewed as rigid, authoritarian figures. Yannick Nézet-Séguin completely subverts this stereotype.
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.
This production, though obvious Regie fodder, looks far too interesting to wait for our regular Sunday night quiz! Video after the jump.
“Angela Gheorghiu‘s triumph in La Traviata Monday night at the Met was a searing reminder of why we go to opera in the first place.” [NY Post] Photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera
La Cieca breathlessly offers you a sneak preview of one of this spring’s most eagerly awaited CDs.
Recently denasaled bass-baritone Paulo Szot returns to South Pacific at the Vivian Beaumont tomorrow. [Broadwayworld.com]
According to Anne Midgette, baritone Carlos Alvarez has withdrawn from Washington National Opera’s production of Hamlet, to be replaced by Michael Chioldi and Liam Bonner, with their individual dates TBA. [The Classical Beat]
“Diva! The very word evokes tantrums, unreasonable demands — and the wrath of Aretha Franklin denied her Snickers bar.” Our Own JJ (not pictured) discusses divadom with Angela Gheorghiu in the New York Post.
Boy, this review practically writes itself. I’ve heard Jonas Kaufmann’s Alfredo live and was duly impressed, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review this recording. All I can say about Jonas Kaufmann: Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven & Wagner (Decca 4781463), to be released April 6, 2010, is that it went straight to both…
Well done, Lindoro Almaviva, for not only guessing the opera but pinpointing the correct scenes and characters in Idomeneo! The production is by Ivo van Hove for La Monnaie.) And now for something completely less minimal.
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