Perhaps you’ve been wondering why James Levine has taken over the final two performances of this season’s Madama Butterfly at the Met. Could it be that Asher Fisch has fallen ill? Well, no, Maestro Fisch is just fine, thank you. In fact, La Cieca hears that Levine has returned so that these two performances can […]
From the mailbag: Dear La Cieca, First of all, you are fab. [Several paragraphs of fulsome praise snipped.] But that’s beside the point. I just noticed that the Met has published more details on their upcoming HD broadcasts. Unfortunately, at least as far as Ontario is located, they did an abominable job in choosing their […]
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 all remember that new Norma slated for Zurich with Renaaay (and Marcello Giordani, by the way)? Well, La Cieca hears that talks are already in progress to import the show (complete with The Beautiful Druidess) to the Met. The good news is that we’ll see the retirement of the “Ping-pong Table Norma” last glimpsed […]
New York fans of puppylicious tenor Juan Diego Flórez will be happy to hear that he will be a fixture at the Met the next few seasons. Next year he stars in a new production of La Fille du regiment opposite his Barbiere prima donna, Diana Damrau. In 2008-2009, he headlines the first Met performances […]
The infamous X-rated telephone calls from Fox News blowhard Bill O’Reilly to his producer Andrea Mackris are now arias in a decidedly secular oratorio by composer Igor Keller. According to the gossip site radar.com, Keller has set court documents relating to Mackris’s sexual harassment lawsuit against O’Reilly as “seven chorales, four recitatives, and numerous arias.” […]
The scene: Backstage at the Richard Tucker Gala. The situation: Diva X is onstage, singing music from the opera _________, a role for which Diva Y (also on the bill) is famous. Diva Z is among the onlookers while Diva Y “holds court.” [The guests chatter.] Diva Y: Silence! What’s that music! Diva Z: Why, […]
La Cieca has just heard that impeccable Ira Siff will return to the Met Sirius broadcast tonight for the second intermission of Tosca. Listen and learn!
The late dramatic soprano in film clips spanning almost four decades of her career. November 14, 2006 is the 80th anniversary of her birth.
La Cieca must be brief as she is on jury duty (can you imagine, La Cieca being asked to pass judgment?) Anyway. Highlight of the Tucker Gala was definitely Marcello Giordani, who was in absolutely ideal voice for the “Improvviso,” and only slightly nervous for the “Vicino a te.” (He sharped on the very final […]
Soprano Yali-Marie Williams is currently singing Traviata at the Opéra de Montréal. Now, La Cieca realizes that not every Violetta can literally look like she’s wasting away, but surely even a more Junoesque soprano can look handsome and chic if she’s costumed intelligently. This is not what La Cieca calls intelligent costuming. In fact, La […]
What’s happening next week on Sirius. Monday, November 13, 2006 6:00 AM Offenbach: Les Contes D’Hoffmann. 12/3/55 Monteux; Tucker, Peters, Stevens, Amara 9:00 AM Donizetti: Don Pasquale. 4/15/06 Benini; Florez, Netrebko, Alaimo, Kwiecien 12:00 PM Mascagni/Leoncavallo: Cavalleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci. 4/11/1964 Santi; Farrell, Miller, Tucker, Bardelli / Amara, Corelli, Colzani, Marsh, Ghitti 3:00 PM Wagner: Tannhauser. […]
Where else would La Cieca be this Sunday but basking the the star radiance of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation’s annual gala? Now! With 100% more Met artists, including Elizabeth Futral, Samuel Ramey, José Cura, René Pape, James Morris, Marcello Giordani, Patricia Racette, Joseph Calleja, Angela Marambio, Sandra Radvanovsky and Aprile Millo. The galalicious fun […]
parterre box fave Dame Gwyneth Jones is 70 today. Here’s a clip from her legendary Elektra. And here’s more of the magnificent Dame G. on YouTube.
Juan Diego Flórez, who — if this costume design is to be believed– is planning to play Almaviva as a gay pirate, will headline a mini-company from the Met appearing on “Late Night with David Letterman” tomorrow night, November 8, 2006, at 11:35 p.m., ET, on CBS. The boyish Rossini tenor and his colleagues Diana […]
Quello, as a matter of fact, because Marcello Giordani is going on tonight as the Duke in Rigoletto at the Met, jumping in for Joseph Calleja. It’s on Sirius, of course.
parterre box salutes Dame Joan Sutherland on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of her birth, November 7, 2006. The tribute on Unnatural Acts of Opera includes a series of podcasts featuring a complete performance of Massenet’s Esclarmonde, plus video highlights from I puritani, Lucia di Lammermoor, La fille du Regiment, Anna Bolena, Alcina and […]
. . . though not in that order, actually. Donald Collup presents a brace of his documentary films this weekend featuring two very different divas, Astrid Varnay and Florence Foster Jenkins. La Varnay (the ecstatic part of the bargain) is profiled in “Never Before,” a two-hour video and audio journey through the early years of […]
A video of Brad Pitt in wet underpants. Now, you would think that there is no way that such a video would be less than fascinating, right? Well, you’d be wrong, because the video is directed by the only man in the world who could make Brad Pitt in wet underpants look boring. Robert Wilson, […]
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “The male toilets of Australia’s most famous landmark, the Sydney Opera House, has been listed among hot spots for a hook up point for men cruising sex with other men.” Jane Eaglen is going to teach young people how to sing. “By the time her stepfather Herodes starts sucking […]
Peter Gelb‘s motto for the week: “Those Swarovski crystals are going on with or without you.” Maria Guleghina sings the first Tosca of the season tomorrow night, jumping in for Andrea Gruber who is under the weather. A report from the dress rehearsal notes that “Gruber had nothing above about an A, Cura was rushing […]
Salvatore Licitra, who took a nasty spill Tuesday night on the way to a promo event for his new CD, will sing go on and Canio tonight at the Met. The tenor reportedly tore a couple of tendons in his shoulder and will have to wear a sling during Pagliacci. Some of the staging will […]
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