DRAMA on the front page of today’s NYT Arts section! Ruth Ann Swenson comes out swinging at the Met for “snubbing” her in favor of younger and less zaftig artists. Her current run of Cleopatras in Giulio Cesare is her final contact with the Met*, apparently the end to a 20-season career there spanning over […]
Sempiternal Montserrat Caballe, erstwhile Verdian, bel canto specialist, Straussian, lyric soprano, coloratura soprano, dramatic soprano and pop singer, reinvents herself once more as character comedienne. Presenting La Superba as La Duchesse de Krakenthorpe in La Fille du regiment.
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).
La Cieca (not pictured) reminds her cher public that tonight’s 40th Anniversary of the Met at Lincoln Center gala will be the subject of an online chat right here at parterre.com. The program, starring Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, begins at 7:00 PM and so the chat room will open at 6:45. Maestro Bertrand de […]
Anna Moffo in a non-operatic facet of her career, as leading lady in the Italian film Una storia d’amore (released in the United States as Love Me, Baby, Love Me!) In this melodrama, La Moffo seems to be playing the “Lana Turner” role, a sexy matron involved with a good-for-nothing pretty boy gigolo.
Leave it to La Cieca to offer added value to even so glittering a performance as Act Two of I Capuleti e i Montecchi starring Anna Netrebko, Daniela Barcelona and Joseph Calleja. Your doyenne makes her legitimate acting debut in a new episode of Apocryphal Opera Anecdote Theater in the demanding role of “Lady Capulet” […]
These two gentlemen (Craig Ramsay and Timothy John Mandala) are among the players in Matthew Passion: A New Play (with music) by La Cieca’s erstwhile colleague Phil Hall. The show opens Monday, April 2, 2007 at 8:00 pm for a limited engagement. Per the show’s press notes, “Matthew Passion tells the story of the passion […]
On April 17, Dame Kiri te Kanawa returns to the scene of… well, not a crime, actually, more like a triumph: that is, her surprise Met debut in Otello way back in 1974. No, she’s not singing, but on April 17 she will make a personal appearance at the Metropolitan Opera Shop, to greet her […]
Something new and interesting (La Cieca hopes) on Unnatural Acts of Opera: a 2004 concert performance of Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi, starring Anna Netrebko (Giulietta), Daniela Barcellona (Romeo) and Joseph Calleja (Tebaldo). Act One is the current podcast, with the second to follow on Friday. Speaking of the lovely Miss Netrebko, she and […]
Opening tonight at Manhattan’s Film Forum: U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha, a 2005 film adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen updated to the present and transplanted to an industrial community near Cape Town, South Africa. The score, somewhat abridged but otherwise not altered, is sung in the Xhosa language. The NYT’s reviewer isn’t completely bowled over by the film, but […]
On the recommendation of tipster La Malipasta, La Cieca presents a snippet or two from a January 14 performance of Meyerbeer’s Il crociato in Egitto at the Teatro Fenice. Heard in a duet from the first act of this rarity are two sopranos of differing genders, Michael Maniaci and Patrizia Ciofi. Part One Ah non […]
Don’t get La Cieca wrong: the whole “Opera and Technology” panel last Friday was fascinating. But probably the most interesting bit of information shared all night was done after the formalities were ended. Anne Midgette got to talking with JJ and a few others about the layout style of the New York Times Arts section, […]
In yet another dazzling example of counter-intuitive programming, the New York City Opera has decided to exhume their quarter-century old ticky-tacky Hal Prince staging of that overexposed snoozefest Candide to replace their scuttled new production of Ragtime. (Gee, how long is it since we last heard Candide here in New York? It must be twenty […]
So now it seems there may be a season for Opera Orchestra of New York next year after all. But keep in mind that word “may” because it’s not a lock yet. In an email to supporters, Eve Queler says that she and the other OONies “are currently devoted to assuring you a splendid season. […]
Hunka hunka burning tenor Darío Volonté jumped into San Diego Opera’s production of Il trovatore last night, replacing Nicola Rossi Giordano as Manrico. (Does Rossi Giordano ever actually sing anywhere? All La Cieca has ever heard about is his cancellations.) Anyway, this is Mr. Volonté’s second time out with SDO, following up on his Calaf […]
Even as she toys with the idea of yet another emergence from semi-retirement, Madame Vera Galupe-Borszkh is divesting herself of some of her most celebrated frocks. An Ebay auction continuing through March 27 offers such cult couture as the Manon “St. Sulpice” gown and an argentate mantle worn by Madame’s hysterically hieratic Turandot. Also included […]
Our editor JJ‘s busy week included a review of the Met’s Aegyptische Helena in Gay City News, and that panel La Cieca has been yammering about all week. As his presentation on the topic “Opera and Technology,” JJ introduced this little documentary about your own La Cieca.
La Cieca has just been informed that soprano Mary Dunleavy will participate in tonight’s panel discussion “Opera and Technology” at The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University. No word on whether La Dunleavy replaces or supplements the previously announced Lucy Shelton. Our own JJ will be there of course, along with […]
From today’s Daily News coverage of Naomi Campbell‘s community service: “Decked out in a pencil skirt, leather trench coat and cloche hat, the supermodel sure knows how to make sweeping the floor look good every day of the week. “On Monday, she opted for Christian Louboutin boots, an Azzedine Alaia coat and Chanel cap, while […]
Operatic trailblazer Kiri te Kanawa has won yet another victory for every soprano who doesn’t really feel all that much like singing anyway. The Kiwi canary testified that it was only after agreeing to appear on a concert program with veteran pop icon John Farnham that she discovered that some of his fans expressed their […]
Beginning April 1, San Francisco Opera will begin broadcasting its regular season again for the first time since 1982. The opener is Manon Lescaut featuring Karita Mattila as the notorious party girl. Says General Manager David Gockley, “After decades with no regular broadcast series, this is truly a landmark announcement for San Francisco Opera. Through […]
“Move as little as possible when performing practical or enticing actions. For example, if you wish to look over at something or someone, move your eyes first until they cannot move any more, then move your head, then your torso and adjust your lower body last and only when necessary.” At long last, you too […]
The latest episode of Unnatural Acts of Opera episode offers, in addition to the second part of Gluck’s Armide, the long-awaited return of Apocryphal Opera Anecdote Theater. Our drama this time is based on the real-life story of a feud between two of opera’s most celebrated divas!
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