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What could say “Paris in the spring” more eloquently than this musical offering: Paris Théâtre des Champs-Elysées 06/14/2009 Kurt Weill : Die Dreigroschenoper Ian Bostridge (Macheath)… Oh, sorry, forget I said anything! Oh, the shark has Teeth like razors And a massive Overbite…
Just how badly does Robert Heuer want Stewart Robertson out of Florida Grand Opera? Well, so La Cieca hears, badly enough for the board to agree even in the current economy to pay Robertson his full salary for next season. This is despite the fact that the maestro resigned early this year, and has been…
This just in from the Met’s press office: “In the Met’s new staging of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Joseph Calleja will sing the title role, replacing Rolando Villazón, and Alan Held will sing the roles of the four villains, replacing René Pape.” The press release goes on to explain that Villazón plans to undergo throat…
“But perhaps the greatest delight was witnessing Richard Bonygne wielding his baton. Demonstrating a general air of ease (but levels of energy that one might have expected from someone fifty years his junior) …” [MusicOMH]
La Cieca is fully aware that Anna Netrebko is a dress size or two bigger now than she was a couple of years ago. And yet, there is no excuse, no excuse I tell you, to transform the young courtesan Violetta Valery into the middle-aged dowager Mrs. Claypool. Now, La Cieca has a couple of…
Yuriy Mynenko represents Ukraine in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competion — though probably not with this particular selection!
First reports indicate major personal successes for Anna Netrebko and Charles Castronovo in last night’s Traviata at San Francisco Opera.
Well guessed, cher public! Last week’s puzzler was indeed Der Freischütz in the Robert Wilson production designed by Viktor & Rolf “with the use of over one million Swarovski crystals.”
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 great mezzo-soprano and advocate for the arts is 96 today! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/pCYHALudt1k” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] (The video above is taken from one of Miss Stevens’ occasional appearances with The Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League under the auspices of Mrs. Ricky Ricardo.)
Your doyenne makes fun of Jessye Norman from time to time here at parterre.com, because we love her, you know. So it is with particular delight that La Cieca wishes La Jess “toi toi toi” on her Broadway debut in the hit musical Rock of Ages.
La Cieca apologizes in advance to her dear colleague the Barihunks site, but she’s happy to unveil the latest of the barihunk breed. She first noticed this singer because he has an ideal barihunk name: Holger Falk. He’s appearing in L’incoranazione di Poppea at the Boston Early Music Festival, where he garnered a strongly positive review…
Cher public, talk among yourselves. La Cieca’s going for a walk!
“This week Washington, DC celebrates Capital Pride, which culminates on Saturday, June 13 with a parade and Sunday, June 14 with a street festival. Washington National Opera will present a float featuring WNO costumes worn by supernumeraries, host a booth and raffle two tickets to The Barber of Seville at the street festival.”
Lucky patrons of San Francisco Opera, who get to see Liza Minnelli in her first staged Tosca!
Is it possible to suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder in the middle of June? La Cieca will lose (what’s left of) her mind if this constant, relentless rain doesn’t let up! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/NBwXt_06T9w” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
On tonight’s episode of Unnatural Acts of Opera, we hear the second act of Donizetti’s Belisario. But we won’t hear Leyla Gencer during this act, as her character remains offstage for the duration. However, La Cieca has added an extra act of Donizetti (with la Gencer onstage the whole time!) as bonus. Hear it after…
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.
La Cieca hears that Eva Mendes (“Crystal” in the recent horrific remake of The Women) will play Maria Callas in a biopic based on the diva’s life.
“In a constellation of the world’s opera stars, one shines brighter than all the rest. But it’s not merely her ravishingly beautiful voice and physical glamour that make Renée Fleming special. In person, she makes an extraordinarily intelligent and articulate interviewee. And it comes as no surprise, since as a probing interpreter of the works…
In the almost four years since La Cieca pointed out Anthony Tommasini‘s curious penchant for “strapping,” the NYT scribe has been forced to reach, well, a bit farther back on the shelf for his modifiers. TT’s current pet adjective, as La Cieca is sure you all have noticed, is “earthy.”
“A-B-C.”
La Cieca hears that Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians has reached an agreement with the New York City Opera. Since AGMA agreed in their meeting on May 18 that they would go with whatever 802 decided, “it looks like the season is safe for now,” says our informant.
“…if only Oprah had been alive and writing librettos in the 1940s. She’d have stood up to Britten and gotten a much better opera out of him.” David Patrick Stearns reviews The Rape of Lucretia [Philadelphia Inquirer]
La Cieca made monkeys of you all, cher public, with last week’s Regie quiz. The opera depicted was Henze’s Der Junge Lord, in a production by Christine Mielitz for Opernhaus Dortmund. This week’s quiz might be a little too easy, so please, cher public, if you recognize this staging, don’t blurt it out right away!
La Cieca is frankly gobsmacked that Our Own Vicar of John Wakefield has remained mum about the most important sex scandal of the 21st century, and possibly in Western Civilization taken as a whole. Definitive mezzo-soprano Anne Howells has apparently fingered author and TV presenter Clive James as her illicit lover. James, whose name Ms. Howells…
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