Recent Stories
“Since its 1987 premiere, this Franco Zeffirelli production has transitioned from breathtaking to tasteless to endearingly camp.” [JJ in NYP]
Okay, La Cieca has just revised her standard for “Gayest Thing Ever.”
The Random Number Generator has spoken, and from the whopping 442 comments offered during the Turandot Chat, the randomly chosen winner of the Cecilia Bartoli Sacrificium CD is #185, as written by….. Our Own squirrel. Congratulations, to you, o little nut-hoarder, and La Cieca asks that you email her a shipping address where your CD…
La Cieca is holding auditions this week, looking for a few good reviewers of opera CDs and DVDs.
Tonight’s chat during tonight’s season premiere of Turandot from the Met begins at 7:30 pm. Sirius/XM RealNetworks from metopera.org
Lise Lindstrom sings Turandot tonight.
They should have overlooked the cell phone, but arrested her for this video.
UPDATE: Looks like Guleghina’s going on (no big surprise, that). Chat is on for 7:30 as mentioned before. If Maria Guleghina is going to cancel tonight’s Turandot (following up on “bronchitis” privately announced at the dress where she marked the role) the announcement from the Met should come shortly after 5:00 pm (five minutes from…
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.
The legendary costume designer for film was born October 28, 1897 in Searchlight, Nevada. Miss Head dressed practically everyone in Hollywood, including Helen Traubel, seen after the jump in an outtake from the 1961 comedy The Ladies’ Man.
La Cieca invites the newly reunited cher public to participate in an archeological dig scavenger hunt puzzle quiz promoting the new “Sacrificium” CD from Cecilia Bartoli. Ready to play? Well, first you have to answer this question: Farinelli’s remains were exhumed in 2006 from this cemetery in Bologna? Most of you surely know the answer,…
All things come home at eventide, Like birds that weary of their roaming. And I would hasten to thy side, Homing!
Even though La Cieca is sure you will agree with her that “Meglio stasera, che domani o mai. Domani chi lo sa, quel che sarà,” the fact is the server people are still working on parterre.com with a “go” time set for sometime early tomorrow. Be assured that your doyenne will inform you here at…
“Mr. Pell said that perhaps in a year or so, when a permanent general director has been found, the whole business with Mr. Steel’s brief tenure here may seem like the episode of ‘Dallas’ when Bobby Ewing stepped out of the shower and ‘the entire previous season was revealed to have been a dream’.” [NYT]
Now, this, my dears, is how you do PR! Don Juan: Everyone’s Favorite Bad BoyTuesday, October 27, 7:00-8:30pmThe Museum of Sex233 5th AvenueNew York, NY 10016 New York City Opera’s own Don Juan (bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch) in its new production of Don Giovanni, director Christopher Alden, and sexlogist Esther Perel (Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic…
Bayreuth scion Katharina Wagner treats her choristers well. When they complained about getting soaked with stage blood, she bought them all latex panties at sex shop Beate Uhse. [n-tv]
Which diva, whose performance of the first act is admittedly note-perfect, is making management lose sleep because she’s hasn’t yet attempted the second or third? (Maybe they’re worried she won’t cancel.)
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Mister Snow
A favorite Verdi performance from Mister Snow
Nothing prepared me for the Soviero experience
Nothing prepared me for the Soviero experience
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.
P.S. The old site will be back tomorrow, promise!
From the Orders Report for La Cieca’s Amazon store for October 23, 2009: And a reminder, cher public, even though La Cieca is coming to you from an alien server until tomorrow, the Little Shop of Arias is still in business.
“Gloria Davy, Claudia Muzio, Renata Scotto and Lynne Strow Piccolo.”
Tonight’s chat during the season premiere of La Damnation de Faust from the Met begins at 8:15 pm. Sirius/XM RealNetworks from metopera.org
“…at the height of her crippling attacks of stage fright, her vocal coach had to physically push her on to the stage of the Met’s new production of The Marriage of Figaro, in which she was singing with Bryn Terfel and Cecilia Bartoli.” [Times Online]
If you’re wondering why the relatively inexperienced George Steel was tapped for the demanding job of hauling the New York City Opera out of the basement — instead of front-runner Francesca Zambello, well, maybe this is why: Zambello, currently in London creating a joint Royal Opera and Royal Ballet production of Tchaikovsky’s comic rarity “The…
I’m sure you’ve all read by now about the “famous Argentine opera diva” (who, by the way, nobody has ever heard of, so she’s not famous; and she doesn’t sing opera, so she’s not an opera diva; and at the rate she’s going, she’s probably going to turn out to be from Bolivia)… but, anyway,…
Maestro Wenarto shows us how Tosca should be done… as directed by that exciting Regie wunderkind Luc Bondage.
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