Libre elle est née
Why does La Cieca suspect that Angela Gheorghiu has, for the moment anyway, forgotten the denouement of Bizet’s opera?
Recent Stories
Buzzworthy
Mean, moody, magnificent Mariusz Kwiecien gets the Regie treatment (including a buzzcut!) for a new Don Giovanni in Munich.
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).
The student princess
Which much-recorded singer has developed her use of expressive rubato to the point that she actually “stole” a professor from a prestigious British academy by offering him a veritable fortune to resign his position and devote his time to coaching her most recent CD?
He has always been a fellow who arranges things
Is there no end to the talents of George Steel? Boy soprano, Bernstein protégé, conductor, impresario, endive fancier — and now matchmaker!
Noch mehr Tristan
The BBC 3 broadcast of Tristan und Isolde that so captivated the cher public yesterday afternoon is available in streaming form for the next week.
Regie in mufti
Two weeks the cher public have had to ponder our most recent Regie quiz, and yet none of the usual suspects were able to work out the obvious clues. A Victorian ingenue and her doting father are interviewed by an Italian fascist in a Rita Hayworth wig?
Happy Birthday Victoria de los Angeles
Today is the 86th anniversary of the birth of the beloved Spanish Catalan soprano, November 1, 1923.
Pyramid scheme
A special Halloween trick (or is it a treat?) for the cher public.
Enigma
At this point, Maria Guleghina is still listed as tonight’s Turandot at the Met. Any of the cher public attending this performance are encouraged to share news, reviews and scuttlebutt about what did or did not happen (broad enough for you?) here in the comments section.
Love in the afternoon
Right now on BBC 3, Tristan und Isolde from the Royal Opera.
Castrata Diva
Cecilia Bartoli’s latest vanity release bucks protocol to present an album heavy on historical concept. The classical recording industry has long feasted on the popularity of operatic solo records, especially during the last few years of industry-wide decline in CD sales. Incidentally, as record companies run out of ways to sell the standard repertoire to […]
An overnight project
La Cieca hopes you will enjoy the following little video (shared with us by the lovely and personable kashania) and that you will be inspired to go and do likewise. (You know what the comments section is for!)
Une femme de mon nom
Felicity Palmer has withdrawn, alas, from the Met’s spring revival of La Fille du Régiment. In her place, alternating in the role of the Marquise de Berkenfield we will hear Ann Murray (pictured, with friend) and Philip Langridge. (Oh, all right, La Cieca is being silly. Not Philip Langridge, actually, but rather Meredith Arwady. But […]
Doyenne overwhelmed by reader interest
The response to the critic auditions post has been something more than gratifying, cher public, with over 30 of you competing for entry into one of La Cieca’s limited number of slots.
Another sloe-eyed vamp
“Since its 1987 premiere, this Franco Zeffirelli production has transitioned from breathtaking to tasteless to endearingly camp.” [JJ in NYP]
Furry ‘Liese
Okay, La Cieca has just revised her standard for “Gayest Thing Ever.”
Random Harvest
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 […]
Do you have what it takes?
La Cieca is holding auditions this week, looking for a few good reviewers of opera CDs and DVDs.
The Turandot chat
Tonight’s chat during tonight’s season premiere of Turandot from the Met begins at 7:30 pm. Sirius/XM RealNetworks from metopera.org
First, do no Carmen
They should have overlooked the cell phone, but arrested her for this video.
tick… tick… chat
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 […]
Happy birthday Edith Head
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.