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La Cieca has been warned to expect a shoe to drop (or should she say “shoes?) at the Met later today.
Wow, but he does this well! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/mYg9IvjVmds” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
George Steel manages to hold out for 140 words before dropping the inevitable name in this month’s issue of Edible Manhattan. The Man of Steel continues: The places that are famous tend not to be good. People are looking for an experience of authenticity and not really using their mouth. La Cieca should note that…
Simple, if not always grand.
The headlined phrase is a neologism (La Cieca should know, because she just made it up) and therefore will require a bit of explanation. Bear with your doyenne, cher public, because there’s eventually going to be a CD review in here somewhere. So. Many, many years ago, ere the earth was young and all that,…
A whole month it’s been since our last Regie quiz, when the opera depicted was admittedly a lesser-known work, Rossini’s La scala di seta. More tomfoolery in sleek modern interiors may be found in this week’s quiz, after the jump.
People often come up to me and say, La Cieca, “Who do you think will be the next Renée Fleming?” Well, all, right, that doesn’t actually happen often, or even rarely. In fact, it doesn’t happen at all. But be that as it may, La Cieca has found “the next Renée Fleming,” or at least…
Today, September 12, thousands of protesters opposed to health care reform marched in Washington and elsewhere, carrying signs like the ones pictured above. This “9/12 Project” is brought to you in part by Americans for Prosperity, which you will all recall is headed by David H. Koch, the billionaire who is to be honored at…
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.
Brainstorming advertising slogans for the new Tosca at the Met: “Puccini’s Shocker, Shabbier Than Ever!” “Now with Three Times the Penetration!” “O Scarpia, Second to the Right and Straight on ‘Til Morning!”
Reformed twink turned Verdi impersonator Rufus Wainwright has joined the ranks of Koch fanciers who will perform at the American Voices concert relaunching the NYCO on November 5. The Roofster will play and sing, yes, that song again, “Les feux d’artifice” from Prima Donna, providing respite from NYCO singers present and past including Samuel Ramey, Lauren Flanigan, Amy Burton, Joyce…
La Cieca continues her salute to Kennedy Honoree Grace Bumbry with this 1973 documentary.
La Cieca is just guessing here (with some prompting from Zachary Woolfe) but she thinks she has divined the coup de théâtre climaxing the Met’s new production of Tosca. They shoot Mario, etc. etc., and then Karita Mattila runs crazily off the stage as the guards come rushing on. They search all about but cannot find…
Amazing Grace Bumbry has been named as a recipient of the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors. [Clef Notes]
Zachary Woolfe asks the musical question, “Who is this Peter Gelb anyway?” [NY Observer]
This is crossover that stops just short of crossdressing.
Which “gay” cougar has been showering her tenor colleague with even more affection offstage than on? (And, no, despite the clues, there are no homosexuals anywhere in this item.)
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Ivy Lin
A favorite Verdi performance from Ivy Lin
This is one of those rare performances that makes you believe that everything Verdi was greater Way Back When.
This is one of those rare performances that makes you believe that everything Verdi was greater Way Back When.
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.
Which operatic legend intends to breeze into New York later this month to assess the work of his successor?
Offhand, La Cieca would never have thought of Così fan tutte done as a telenovela, but honestly? She’s seen a lot worse. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/oQwtjYkKoz0″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Who but La Cieca’s idol and role model Liz Smith would have the wit (not to mention the balls) to compare Sarah Palin to Maria Callas, complete with quote from Sir Rudolf Bing, plus an offhand allusion to…
Ildebrando d’Arcangelo and Andrea Concetti get chummy in this scene from Don Giovanni. [via Barihunks]
Our Own JJ (not pictured) nominates the can’t-miss operatic and vocal events of the autumn of 2009. [NYP]
Régine Crespin, whose “Very Best” you’ll want to possess; Joan Crawford, in the 1947 film noir Possessed.
All of you who said, “Oh, Kiri te Kanawa could never do Norma” are feeling pretty silly right now, aren’t you? Of course, La Cieca doesn’t mean the Bellini druidess, a role the Kiwi songbird never could have mastered even at the peak of her career, whenever that might have been. No, this Norma is…
Two things Dame Kiri te Kanawa doesn’t like to talk about: retirement and knickers. [The Australian]
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