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This one is dedicated to the wizardly Nick Scholl. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Y2_u248S9s4″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
La Cieca is proud to relaunch a completely overhauled parterre.com, previously seen in fragments, dribs and drabs, but now here to stay. The new look features a return to the (now) retro punky aesthetic of the early ’90s zine, updated fonts and all sorts of other improvements intended to enhance your reading and commenting pleasure.…
“Ya are going on tonight at the Royal Opera in Barbiere. In a wheelchair!”
Just added to Google’s online archive of Life magazine photographs: over a hundred full-color images from the Old Met in the 1960s. Be prepared for a strong pang of nostalgia as you glimpse Richard Tucker, Leontyne Price, Birgit Nilsson, Franco Corelli, Anna Moffo, Zinka Milanov and many other greats of that regrettably bygone era. [Google Images]
“The American mezzo-soprano Faith Sherman makes a striking debut as the Pilgrim, but surely ENO could have found a British singer for this role.” [The Telegraph]
Trailer for the new Richard Jones production of Lohengrin at the Bavarian State Opera, featuring Jonas Kaufmann‘s role debut as the Swan Knight.
“Natalie Dessay … in a fuchsia dress and lace-up high boots, flaming red hair piled high on her head …. swung her arms above her head, stretched, and then literally screamed out what sounded like wild joy and barely bridled lust.” [Santa Fe New Mexican]
La Cieca hears that Joyce DiDonato took the proverbial “break a leg” too literally during the opening night of new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia at Covent Garden yesterday. The mezzo caught her foot in a track on the steeply-raked stage and fractured her leg during the first act. Despite the pain, she continued…
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.
That favorite strawman of closed-minded critics, “Regie opera,” is the target of yet another limp-noodle critical flailing, this time from a chap by the name of Geoffrey Wheatcroft — as if someone whose mugshot is so obviously a emblem of bowtied entitlement has any right to pronounce judgment on anyone else’s visual taste. Just how…
“When I was in junior high and my parents found gay porn on my computer, I told them that it was just popup ads from parterre.com.” La Cieca just returned from an interview with Zachary Woolfe, who gave La Cieca that “I loved you when I was a child” crap, but you’ll be happy to…
La Cieca is delighted to present, by special arrangement with VAI, the legendary “New Orleans Forza” as the latest installment of Unnatural Acts of Opera. This live performance was recorded in March of 1953 and stars Zinka Milanov, Mario del Monaco and Leonard Warren. You can hear the first act after the jump.
What a gorgeous performance of “Vissi d’arte!” And was La Cieca surprised when she learned the name of the artist!
The embattled NYCO chairwoman is 59 years young today!
Oh, but this looks dire. Not the fellow wallowing amidst the counterpane, obviously — he’s rather dishy if you like that type — but rather what he’s advertising. It’s a reworking of Don Giovanni called (La Cieca only wishes she were making this up) “The Gay Don,” to be previewed on July 4 at the…
A snippet of last night’s Traviata from London.
The choreographer and opera director died earlier today. She was 68.
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.
Is it for the sake of gay pride in San Francisco, or it is the relief of getting that massive whonking tiara off her pretty noggin? Either way, Anna Netrebko is singing Traviata better now than she was in April. (Sound clip after the jump.)
According to Musical Criticism, Deborah Voigt has canceled her run of Tosca performances at the Royal Opera “due to ‘acute colitis’.” As it happens, your doyenne had a tip on that cancellation late last week and for whatever reason (Michael Jackson fatigue?) she didn’t share that gossip with you. So, cher public, here’s a chance…
Denyce Graves — whatever happened to her? Well, for one thing, she has apparently married well. Yesterday the mezzo-soprano wed Robert Montgomery — not the 1940s film star, but rather the chief of transplant surgery at Johns Hopkins. (He’s the surgeon whose team pioneered the transplant technique of removing a donor’s kidney through her vagina.)…
“Opera singer” Katherine Jenkins is “29 years old” today.
La Cieca hears that Renée Fleming is going to be a Mastersinger. In related news, veteran “marker” Sixtus Beckmesser has announced his retirement. Elsewhere, Susan Graham and Thomas Hampson will be hosts of the fifth annual F. Paul Driscoll Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence. The November 19 festivities will be held…
Yma Sumac sings Queen of the Night, her way. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/s52AZdm8kVo” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Our Own JJ braved the elements for New York City Opera’s outdoor concert of Magic Flute. [NYP]
Despite a few doubters among you, our most recent Regie quiz was (marginally) guessable, as Doug D. demonstrated. The opera is indeed Cavalli’s Eliogabalo, and it looks as if a good time was had by all at Grange Park Opera. These people too look like they’re having a hell of a time. But what (relatively…
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