Recent Stories
La Cieca hears that Rene Pape has just canceled an upcoming production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Now, we New Yorkers perhaps should not panic quite yet, because the engagement he has just asked to be released from is not at the Met. On the other hand, the Hoffmann Pape is leaving is after his scheduled…
“Well, you know, this will sound crazy, but because I spent many, many years as a choirboy, I think about service music all the time.” The Man of Steel is Mad About Music on WNYC with Gilbert Kaplan.
La Cieca, you know, is all for modernizing opera stagings to appeal to the young — up to and including (ahem) the use of frank sexual references, even in the works of the divine Mozart. But even your broad-minded doyenne must come to the conclusions that Dallas Opera has gone too far this time! (“Can…
Boris Pokrovsky, a famed Russian opera director who staged many of the Bolshoi Theatre’s biggest productions in the Soviet era, died on Friday at age 97. [via AP] Here’s a scene from Pokrovsky’s lavish 1980 production of Sadko: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/SaSxMYmAIMQ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
La Cieca presents with pride her latest installment of Unnatural Acts of Opera, the Donizetti rarity Belisario, featuring legendary Leyla Gencer as vengeful Roman matron Antonina.
Leyla Gencer: The very name is exotic. She was an artist of Turkish ancestry who, during the 1950s and 60s, held her own despite the presence of Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Renata Scotto, Montserrat Caballe, and Magda Olivero, all of whom shared roles in her repertoire. Ironically, Gencer has a number of important credits attached…
“Opera is above drugs and alcohol and you don’t have to be fucked up to either write it or see it. It’s about transcendentalism. It’s not of this world. So I’d suggest not being fucked up, because you’re just wasting your money.” Compositeur de musique Rufus Wainwright shares practical penny-pinching tips in Interview magazine.
A snippet from Flatpack: An Opera in Ikea, now playing at the IKEA Wembley, Drury Lane. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/dW2pB7E74eg” width=”425″ height=”261″ wmode=”transparent” /] “The Opera explores issues encountered in everyday modern life and how our consumer decisions and domestic interaction with others are indicators of more profound life choices and personalities. Practically, this focuses on a…
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Kathryn the great
Kathryn the great
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Count your blessings
Count your blessings
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
One man’s Junker
One man’s Junker
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s 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.
Andrea Bellissimo (Laetitia) and David Schmidt (Bob) star in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, a presentation of the New York Metro Arts Vocal Ensemble, a group whose name is longer than some of the operas they perform. The opera runs tonight through Saturday; here’s more information.
Mary-Louise Parker, who smokes pot on TV; Angela Gheorghiu, who sings Carmen next year at the Met.
La Cieca is always impressed when a veteran artist chooses, instead of resting on her considerable laurels, to expand upon her knowledge of the art of song. This is especially true when a true diva chooses to study at the knee of another diva, even though the latter diva is younger in years than the…
Vittorio Grigolo sings Edgardo in May 2009.
Member of the cher public ellerveira informs La Cieca: Juan Diego Florez has given several very fascinating interviews to the Spanish media while in Madrid for his two recitals that will replace his canceled performance of Rigoletto. He explained in some detail why he stopped singing Rigoletto (tessitura too low for his voice and if…
Francesca Zambello (center), universally critically slammed for her production of The Little Mermaid, has been tapped as director of yet another musical, as if Little House on the Prairie and Rebecca are not enough to keep her busy. She’s helming First Wives’ Club for a July opening at the Old Globe Theatre in Baltimore San…
La Cieca’s band of elfin techies are moving parterre.com to a new hosting server. What that means to you, cher public, is that you may experience outages of posts, images or media content on this site for a few days. You’ve all been so swell for the last couple of weeks while we worked this…
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/o7y3_SZqNi4″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
Eglise Gutierrez should have made it to the Met
Eglise Gutierrez should have made it to the Met
So much color in this beautifully agile voice.
So much color in this beautifully agile voice.
The Talk of the Town
Mado Robin should have made it to the Met
Mado Robin should have made it to the Met
I like to use this recording to annoy Mariah Carey fans by proving that whistle register doesn’t count.
I like to use this recording to annoy Mariah Carey fans by proving that whistle register doesn’t count.
The Talk of the Town
Maria Kanyova should make it to the Met
Maria Kanyova should make it to the Met
I’m surprised that American soprano Maria Kanyova has never performed at the Met, even though she has loads of high-profile U.S. opera credits.
I’m surprised that American soprano Maria Kanyova has never performed at the Met, even though she has loads of high-profile U.S. opera credits.
The Talk of the Town
Barbara Hannigan should make it to the Met
Barbara Hannigan should make it to the Met
The fact that Barbara Hannigan has never performed at The Metropolitan Opera is just plain dumb.
The fact that Barbara Hannigan has never performed at The Metropolitan Opera is just plain dumb.
The Talk of the Town
Robert Rounseville should have made it to the Met
Robert Rounseville should have made it to the Met
From one Mister Snow to another, I salute him.
From one Mister Snow to another, I salute him.
The Talk of the Town
Denise Duval should have made it to the Met
Denise Duval should have made it to the Met
I decided I’d take ‘never made it to the Met’ as an excuse to submit a post about why French soprano Denise Duval (1921-2015) is special to me.
I decided I’d take ‘never made it to the Met’ as an excuse to submit a post about why French soprano Denise Duval (1921-2015) is special to me.
Our Own JJ directs dancers Michele and E.J. before Saturday night’s performance of “Sexy, Sassy and Starving” at Joe’s Pub. (Not pictured is Dorothy Bishop, who was busy singing…)
Your doyenne is back, cher public, and she missed you more than she can say. Thanks to so many of you who sent messages of support!
“As the East Village gentrifed over the past decade, gone are the punk-rock club, the dive bar, the crack den . . . the opera house.” Our Own JJ marks the finale of Amato Opera. [NYP]
… so good. Keep your fingers crossed, cher public, that this morning’s tweaks have ameloriated the recent unpleasantness. Meanwhile, JJ is off to hear Madame Vera.
La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Dorothy Bishop launches a revised and heavily retouched version of her show “Sexy, Sassy and Starving!” at Joe’s Pub here in NYC on Saturday, May 30 at 7:30 PM. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Yr59Cke781M” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
La Cieca is sorry, sorry, sorry about the downtime on parterre.com. The hosting company blames wordpress, and wordpress blames the host, and La Cieca is very rattled right now. If you can hook La Cieca up with someone who knows about PHP and SQL databases, please email her at [email protected] . Thanks, folks.
Those tiny Czech flags served as red flags for the keen-eyed public, several of whom correctly surmised that last week’s Regie quiz was a production of Prodana nevesta. (The “Mrs. Slocombe from Are You Being Served?” character is Kecal the marriage broker, in this production sung by a bass in drag.) And what, my dears,…
La Cieca’s trying a new look for parterre.com, since she must confess that the light-on-dark format was beginning to get a little wearing on her aging eyes. Comments? Suggestions?
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