Mark, with thee we mean to live Mark, with thee we mean to live

People these days often exclaim “…..is everything!” but often it feels like gross hyperbole. But surely anyone who has seen Mark Morris’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato since it premiered in 1989 would agree that it is indeed everything!

The newest normal The newest normal

A nonstop flow of COVID related announcements from New York City performing arts organizations has swept the city the past weeks.

A dream deferred A dream deferred

In an era when the Metropolitan Opera cannot cast an Aida, Trovatore or Forza consistently, New Amsterdam Opera managed to cast large, attractive and fully technically capable voices in all the cruelly demanding principal roles in I Vespri Siciliani!

Winged defeat Winged defeat

Frankly, I can’t imagine there’s a future for I Married an Angel.

The unusual suspects The unusual suspects

Mad Scenes and Exit Arias:  The Death of the New York City Opera and the Future of Opera in America provides ample fodder for the legions of amateur opera sleuths seeking to confirm their theory of “Who Killed City Opera?”

The perfect use of an imperfect medium The perfect use of an imperfect medium

Carousel is receiving a Broadway revival in a simple, cautious production that still manages to pack an emotional wallop.

Monotheism mit Marianne Monotheism mit Marianne

Philip Glass is indisputably one of the most prolific composers of the last half century, yet none of his more than 20 operas has found a place in the standard repertoire.

The Met: what’s really wrong? The Met: what’s really wrong?

The Met’s financial challenges are not meteorological, demographic, or cyclical; they are structural.

Dark year for NYCO?

UPDATE: La Cieca has just heard that the “dark season” is not a done deal just yet. The NYCO board meets next week to make that decision. (Given how late in the game this is, most likely the “decision” will be no more than a formality. But La Cieca will keep her ear to the…