“Believe you me, there is a lot of drama in the opera world, and you have to rise above it …. I really don’t get into the drama. … I don’t cause scandals and I don’t throw fits. For me, the thing to be admired is to be on time, be prepared and to give […]
A gifted amateur by the name of Izzy Anderson takes on Verdi’s Duke of Mantua. Mr. Anderson is one of the regulars on the must-see Wenarto YouTube site. (That’s the celebrated Wenarto himself conducting this selection, though usually he is found center stage.)
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).
You’ve all worked out that the previous Regie quiz was Don Carlos in the Peter Konwitschny production. So now, how about a few guesses what opera these two photos might represent? (Please, any of you who already know the production, please let the others try to work it out!)
Bernard Holland of The New York Times attended(?) Saturday night’s all-Schubert program at Carnegie Hall, featuring Ian Bostridge, Thomas Quasthoff and Dorothea Röschmann accompanied by Julius Drake. Holland’s review ran 468 words, of which barely 100 addressed the performance. Here’s La Cieca’s analysis.
Given the current lively discussion of Peter Konwitschny‘s regie of Don Carlos, La Cieca thought the cher public might like to see (and to debate) the “Celestial Voice” scene from this production. UPDATE: Since the discussion has now broadened to involve the context of this scene, La Cieca has substituted a player with a selection […]
A reader sends us this page from the Los Angeles Opera season brochure for 2008-2009. (Click on the image to enlarge). La Cieca wonders if perhaps this production was originally planned for Giulietta Simionato and Mario del Monaco…
An Italian TV report on the already infamous all-Alagna-all-the-time Orphée. Now, David Alagna may not be one of the world’s great stage directors, but he certainly is among the cutest!
That grand old man of music André Previn is writing another opera, following up on the clamorous success of 1998’s A Streetcar Named Desire. The commission for Houston Grand Opera is Brief Encounter, based on Noel Coward’s one-act play Still Life as well as the screenplay for the eponymous film. (First Tennessee Williams, then Noel […]
Two images from a recent production of … well, you tell me! Our previous Regie riddle? It’s Tristan und Isolde, of course, directed by “The Cher of Regisseurs,” that one-named wonder Rosalie.
“The presence of the voiceless Rosalind Plowright in the supporting role of Gertrude demonstrates the folly of the Met’s notoriously Britcentric artistic administration. Surely there are dozens of equally over-the-hill American mezzos who could have shrieked the role just as atonally.” Our own JJ reviews the Met’s productions of Hansel and Gretel, Die Walküre and […]
La Cieca has Maury D’annato to thank for (passively) calling her attention to the blog The Opera Tattler, which in recent days has been detailing next season’s plans in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other opera companies of the Transhudson. (The) Opera Tattler also reviews a lot of West Coast opera, and at least so […]
La Cieca is happy to announce a special performance to mark the return from exile of Unnatural Acts of Opera. Our program is a reprise of the first opera ever podcast on this site, Verdi’s Macbeth featuring Shirley Verrett and Piero Cappuccilli. Claudio Abbado conducts the orchestra and chorus of La Scala on December 7, […]
A controversial new production of Massenet’s erotically-tinged opera Manon featuring “it girl” soprano Anna Netrebko opened last night in…. Oh, all right. Obviously that’s not our Anna. In fact it’s ecdysiast Dita Von Teese performing her signature “cocktail glass” strip. The model and performer (whose adorably mousy real name is Heather Sweet) has accepted an […]
La Cieca pulled a string or two and managed to get permission to embed a clip from the VAI Lucia so recently lauded by Our Own Niel Rishoi. Of course YouTube video and audio is severely compressed, but the imaginative viewer will surely get the gist that this is a performance for the ages.
La Cieca is loath to scoop dear Bradley Wilber, but rumors are swirling once again about future seasons at the Met. Perhaps the most controversial (among the cher public, at least) of these plans is a new production of Anna Bolena to open the 2011 season, with Anna Netrebko‘s pretty head on the chopping block. […]
As dear Rosalind Russell used to say, “It’s about this whale…“
“…and Marcelo‘s getting LARGER!” [Via Opera Chic]
[Via Likely Impossibilities]
“John Treleaven and Linda Watson Bring Passion to Wagner’s Five-Hour Love Story” — Los Angeles Downtown News
Guest critic Niel Rishoi reviews the VAI DVD release of Lucia di Lammermoor. OK, this is IT. Barring the cuts, this is the Lucia of Gaetano Donizetti. Not that misguided travesty at the Met, not Natalie Dessay‘s vocally juddery overwoughtness. No schtick, no Carol Burnetting around. Just Donizetti and Cammarano’s Romantic drama, pure and simple. […]
In related macabre news, (reportedly) gay tenor Sergej Larin died this weekend, and La Cieca has just heard an unconfirmed report that another gay tenor, Giuliano Ciannella, has also passed away.
The Washington National Opera has announced their 2008-2009 season will feature headliners Renée Fleming and Andrea Bocelli under the artistic direction of Plácido Domingo. According to an article by Our Own Anne Midgette in today’s Washington Post, The Beautiful Voice will grace a new production of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, an opera that has deep personal […]
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