Our left coast correspondent Baritenor reports: I would not call Grendel an opera for the faint-hearted. The libretto is well-written, but the score jumps to both ends of the operatic spectrum, going from lyrical to modernistic to lyrical again in the blink of an eye. Think Benjamin Britten on crack, if you will, only with […]
The event that seemed poised to evoke the year’s biggest outpouring of Schadenfreude has finally transpired. The critical response to Angela Gheorghiu‘s first staged Tosca (Royal Opera, Covent Garden, June 13) could best be described as mixed. The diva’s vocal and visual glamour elicited kind words from all the critics, despite general reservations about a […]
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).
Undoubtedly the apex of Beverly Sills‘ career: Pigoletto, in collaboration with the Muppets. UPDATE: this is a corrected version with improved sound and an un-dubbed Miss Piggy!)
La Cieca is singing the praises of her namesake la la, a website that coordinates the trading of previously owned CDs. This is how it works: you list your unwanted CDs on the site, then you select from the 1.8 million titles other members are willing to trade. Every time you choose a disc to […]
UPDATE: the podcast of Das Rheingold is now online! La Cieca is delighted and not a little bit frightened to announce that Unnatural Acts of Opera will present the first-ever podcast of Wagner’s tetraology Der Ring des Nibelungen beginning Friday, June 2 and continuing through the last weekend of the month. The series will consist […]
Since this week’s Unnatural Acts of Opera podcasts feature a classic live recording of Bizet’s Carmen, La Cieca thought it might be fun to remember the legendary chanteuse Leona Anderson with a clip of her performance of the Habanera. La Anderson, who was once described as “the missing link between Florence Foster Jenkins and Mrs. […]
Curtain call at a recent gala event. (Note, toward the end of the clip, Denyce Graves holding up the bodice of her strapless dress!)
David Gockley talks to a gay paper about fisting. (Well, when you’re running the San Francisco Opera, knowing these things is surely part of the job description.)
La Cieca doesn’t want to get all pedantic here, but she does want to point out that the phrase Mirella Freni sang at the end of her rambling monologue at the Volpe gala was not from Act 3 of La boheme. Or rather, the musical phrase reappears in the opera, but the version Freni sang […]
For your Sills-related listening enjoyment today, this collection of Bubblecasts. And here’s Our Beverly singing Zerbinetta — the hard way.(As seen at Beverly Sills Online. From YouTube, Beverly Sills on Video.
Joseph Volpe‘s memoir The Toughest Show on Earth (see, La Cieca can get the title right when she wants too) is a book about a working-class kid from Queens who wanted to be Rudolf Bing when he grew up. Or, rather, it’s about a stage carpenter who was bright enough and ambitious enough to do […]
When she’s dressing for a gala and she wants to stand out from the crowd, what’s a diva to do? Well, she can hire Angie Dickinson‘s hairdresser, but then confuse the issue by making her dress out of window sheers. Or she can go for a classically simply mother of the bride dress, and then […]
At long last (but far more than worth the wait!), the latest episode of The Entertainment Beat with Frances Gumm is online. If you haven’t listened to this marvelous series, well, you just don’t know show biz. And, before La Cieca slumps into unconsciousness, please let her thank the almost 100 participants in tonight’s live […]
We interrupt this liveblogging with this bulletin: James Levine didn’t show for the Volpe Gala. (Obviously he wasn’t going to conduct, but not even to walk out onstage?) What’s more, Rudy Giuliani didn’t show either. And Uncle Joe himself didn’t even make a speech. Oh, God, how they must all hate him!
11:40: Then Rene Pape matched Hvorostovsky, then Zajick matched (topped?) them both, then who the hell had the idiotic idea of doing the Easter Hymn with a mezzo who can’t sing it and the chorus apparently stoned or else in another city? (Oh, and did you notice the long, noisy scene change afterward? Vintage Volpe.)11:05: […]
The Volpethon is about to start in real time, but parterre.com’s online discussion of the WQXR broadcast will begin promptly at 7:45. Simply click on the “Chat Now” button in the right toolbar to join the discussion. (Note you will need Java enabled in order for the chat program to work. If you need more […]
Astute Anne Midgette (glimpsed earlier this week among the faithful throngs at the Millo Tosca) wonders today in the Times whatever happened to singers like Richard Leech, Sharon Sweet, Susan Dunn, Francisco Araiza, June Anderson, Cheryl Studer, Carol Vaness, Aprile Millo and Dawn Upshaw. All these artists were mainstays of the Joseph Volpe 1990s at […]
For those of you who don’t do Skype yet, now’s the time to give the service a try. They are offering unlimited free calls to anywhere in the US and Canada from now until the end of the year. International calls to, basically, any phone in the world, cost .02 Euros per minute. Unless you […]
You know, La Cieca heard there were some staging modifications to the Wilson Lohengrin since the last revivial, but who knew? As La Cieca announces in her current podcast, she will be liveblogging the WQXR broadcast of the Volpe Farewell Gala this Saturday evening. Comments will be enabled so you can be as interactive as […]
Standing room for the Volpethon goes on sale on the day of the performance (May 20), and it will only cost you . . . fifty bucks. Nice to see that Uncle Joe hasn’t lost the common touch. By the way, has anybody read the book yet? No, me neither.
Well, it looks like yet another cliche turns out to be true: there really is no such thing as bad publicity. La Cieca hears that since his arrest two nights ago for DWI, Jerry Hadley has been fielding calls and emails from practically everyone he ever met in the business — most of them asking […]
La Cieca hears that Ben Heppner has canceled today’s dress rehearsal of Parsifal at the Met; Mark Baker will go on. (He’s Heppner’s cover for the run as well.) UPDATE: Baker went on, and as if things are not already exciting enough, the Met has rushed Gary Lehman into town to cover-cover.
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