Recent Stories
La Cieca has found further proof that time is cyclical. Presenting, from over 60 years ago, a film documentary about a production of Carmen that has not taken place yet — if indeed it ever will!
[La Cieca is happy to present a guest review by Our Own Lindoro Almaviva.] Cincinnati Opera makes a good case for the 4 act version of Don Carlo. I think it is a great idea that they used projected titles to give us the background of the opera (since we lose the Fontainebleau scene). This…
Don’t expect much in the way of art at NYCO for the next few seasons, but, on the bright side, George Steel probably has sufficient water-treading skills to avoid drowning. [NYT]
The fucking genius of Peter Gelb just opened a new and heretofore unexpected orifice. Encouraged by the success of the Met’s HD movie broadcasts, The National Theatre in London earlier this evening telecast its production of Phèdre starring Helen Mirren into 300 cinemas around the world. Photo by Catherine Ashmore. [One Cold Hand – NYC]
Among the glitterari at last night’s opening of “a Madison Avenue pop-up thrift shop benefiting the renovated New York City Opera” were Austin Scarlett (Project Runway) and Alex McCord (Real Housewives of New York City). As they (and others less celebrated) perused the gently-used frocks, George Steel discussed tube steak with the Wall Street Journal:…
“You will forgive me my poor dramatic skills. I have only been performing the role of Violetta for six years!”
Divine camp from the turn of the century. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/KDJ5X-hdWEM” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
La Cieca has obtained a copy of the main part of the email sent to AGMA members by the organization’s national executive director Alan Gordon in the wake of yesterday’s abortive meeting with NYCO’s George Steel.
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.
La Cieca’s insider whispers (or, more accurately, shouts): “AGMA walked out of the meeting on Monday. They refused to negotiate. Gordon said Steel‘s demands were more destructive then expected, worse than 802’s.” The New York City Opera season is scheduled to begin in 135 days.
“Il trovatore was premièred in January 1853 and Traviata a couple of months later in March. The wonderful duet at the end of La traviata Act I brings to mind clearly the ‘Miserere’ from Act IV Il trovatore, and when Alfredo sings ‘Dei miei bollenti spiriti’ there is something of ‘Di quella pira’ about it…
Live, from “The Concerthall of Hoorn,” which sounds like a performance venue somewhere in Middle Earth, it’s the return of The Family Pondman! This time Walther and Lonne do a Siegmund/Sieglinde variation on the first act of La bohème.
Antonina (Leyla Gencer) regrets the error of her ways in the third act of Donizetti’s Belisario, the latest episode of Unnatural Acts of Opera.
An entirely new plot element in a Shakespeare text? The story turns on a dispute between Oberon, the manipulative king of the fairies, and Tytania, his willful wife, over the guardianship of a changeling boy. Oberon badly wants that boy as his henchman. But Tytania, who has seen the brutal way her husband sometimes bullies…
Our Own CerquettiFarrell guessed correctly, if cautiously that all those people in short pants were doing Salome. To be precise, it’s a Christopher Alden production for Saarbrücken. Next up, an opera that looks like it might be Salome , but it’s not. So what is it? (Remember, cher public, no blurting! If you have seen…
An old clip, but worth reviving: Elizabeth Vidal sings “La méditation de Thaïs.” [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/CM2IYVN-ckY” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
“The acoustics are wonderful, but it may be the only opera house in the world where Rigoletto’s vows of revenge are punctuated by the raucous cries of seagulls.” [Christian Science Monitor]
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.
“Journalist, screenwriter and producer” Patricia Zohn gives San Francisco Opera’s Traviata a quick once-over over at Huffington Post. As may be expected, there’s little of depth in the post proper: “Vi makes mincemeat out of the heart of Alfredo, the scion of a wealthy family — and then compounds the debris by actually falling in…
[This caption by Kernita Makilla replaces La Cieca’s much inferior “psst… sandbag… SANDBAG!” The photograph by Ken Howard is of Christopher Feigum as Figaro, James Westman as Beaumarchais, and Dorothy Byrne as Susanna in Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’s 2009 production of The Ghosts of Versailles by John Corigliano and William “It’s because I’m gay, isn’t…
The titian-tressed triller was born 106 years ago today in Philadelphia; appropriately, on Arch Street. Miss MacDonald is heard here in that great, great French grand opera Tsaritsa! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/a1rI8hcBgIw” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
A new study suggests that milder forms of intellectual property piracy (e.g., file sharing) seem to have no ill effects on the lively production of books, films and music. [NYT]
“I don’t see how they could not close…There is a slight chance that they can remain open, but where would the money come from?” That’s Robert W. Wilson, former New York City Opera chairman, deftly nabbing the takeaway quote from Robin Pogrebin‘s NYT analysis of what went wrong for the company. And wait until you…
Rufus Wainwright previews an aria from his opera Prima Donna: “Les feux d’artifice t’appellent: descends dans la rue!”
La Cieca isn’t sure how all this sorts out or how it relates to opera, but as she understands it, the show our JJ is working tonight at Splash Bar New York (“Dorothy Bishop: Sexy, Sassy and Starving” at 8:00 PM) leads directly into another event that involves free booze.
Meet “Opera Singer” Oksana Grigorieva. The Ukraine-born diva (seen here resting between selections during a performance of “Detskaya”) was once the girlfriend of Timothy Dalton but now is best known as “the woman behind Mel Gibson‘s billion-dollar divorce.” The Braveheart star himself produced the enceinte Grigorieva’s current single “Call My Name” (no relation to the…
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