Wolfgang’s work
A couple of glimpses of the last Ring cycle Wolfgang Wagner directed before turning over the Regie reins to Patrice Chéreau.
Recent Stories
As of now
Early reports indicate that Rolando Villazón was back in form last night for his return to the stage in L’elisir d’amore at the Vienna Stage Opera.
I’ll take the fall
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).
Comeback kid
According to first reports, Rolando Villazón enjoyed a much-applauded success earlier this evening at the Vienna State Opera as Nemorino, his first staged opera performance in almost a year.
Back! To the future?
Since James Levine‘s back is flaring up again and he has canceled BSO performances through April 5, how about a group-mind experiment in predicting what the rest of the maestro’s Met season will be like?
Happy Birthday Martha Mödl
The legendary Kunstdiva was born March 22, 1912.
Wolfgang Wagner 1919-2010
The grandson of Richard Wagner, chief of the Bayreuth Festival from 1951-2008 and director of a dozen productions, died Sunday. He was 90. [Monsters and Critics]
Ripped from the Regie
Oh, phooey! Barely 12 minutes separated La Cieca’s posting of the most recent Regie quiz and the correct guess by bassoprofundo. By the way, your doyenne’s current crush Stefan Herheim directed this production for Den Norske Opera. And now for a puzzler La Cieca hopes will be a bit more challenging!
The triumph of the Wilson
With the production of Siegfried, the “Ring for the 21st Century” staged by La Fura dels Baus finally hits its stride.
Where eagles chat
Today’s Met broadcast is From the House of the Dead. Our habitual chat begins at 12:30 pm, and the details are after the jump.
Batter my disc
I have heard Gerald Finley live and enjoyed his singing immensely. He possesses a strong, resonant, lyric baritone, even of scale and beautiful of timbre. His biggest successes to date have been creating the roles of Oppenheimer in John Adams‘ Dr. Atomic and Harry in Mark-Anthony Turnage‘s The Silver Tassie. He includes selections from both […]
Leg show
Today’s gossip riddle: what does the Met’s upcoming Mary Zimmerman production of Rossini’s Armida have in common with the above-referenced classic of cheesy 1950s science fiction?
Noblesse oblige
Angela Gheorghiu will sing Mimì at the Met’s last performance of Boheme this season tomorrow afternoon, replacing Anna Netrebko who is ill. Angie’s in town (already?) in preparation for her performances in La traviata beginning March 29.
There should be a new word for high definition
La Cieca has obtained a snippet of the Met’s upcoming HD simulcast of Thomas’ Hamlet. Do not reveal to anyone the source of this clip!
“They certainly spared every expense!”
I have to confess that I overheard that line during the intermission of the Met’s new production of Amboise Thomas’s seldom-performed Hamlet based on Shakespeare’s oft-performed play. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Botox Shortage Grips Denmark
The cher public are invited to suggest captions for this less than flattering photo by Sara Krulwich, which appeared originally in the New York Times.
The debut that got away
“After all that, it would be gratifying to declare Petersen’s debut a ‘star is born’ moment. But… she was pretty much a nonstarter, her Ophélie hovering on the cusp of inaudibility in midrange and shrill on the highest notes.” [NYP]
Ces lettres, ces lettres…
David Gockley has accepted Elina Garanca‘s withdrawal for “personal reasons” from San Francisco after discovering a “series of European concerts has been recently announced on Ms. Garanca’s website during the Werther performance schedule.” [La Cieca earlier reported this story as Gockley’s giving “the boot” to Garanca, which was not accurate.]
In endless waiting rooms
The wait is over, cher public, and your doyenne’s blue-ribbon panel has selected the perkiest procrastinator of the pack, jatm2063 for his account of a delayed encounter with Sylvia Sass. Congratulations, jatm!
The embonpoint to become a queen of song
Serious “opera singer” Katherine Jenkins says her greatest wish is to sing Carmen or Cherubino at La Scala.
The phantom of the opera-l
La Cieca (not pictured) has been asked to spread the word that the Opera-L list is down due to the power outages in New Jersey where it is hosted. The latest information is that it is hoped to be up sometime Wednesday. UPDATE: Opera-L is now operational again.
Von Kopf bis Fuss
La Cieca is delighted to begin a new series on parterre.com dedicated to the fretting, brooding and dithering of the Wazier of the Worriers, Anthony Tommasini. Our first examples (of many) follow the jump.
Birthday partita
Many happy returns to Antonietta Stella, who turned 81 today!
Golden girl
Although she has made headlines on this side of the Atlantic largely because of her recent dismissal by Franco Zeffirelli from a Roman production of La traviata on the grounds of “physical inadequacy,” Daniela Dessì is a topflight star in Europe. In her native Italy she is arguably the most popular soprano currently active. Over […]