No, the following passage not from any goddamn Warner Brothers epic and it’s not from any thirties musical starring little Miss Alice Faye. But what’s it from? Wer lässt hier Aufruhrstimmen, Kriegsruf ertönen, wollt Ihr die Götter zwingen, Eurem Wahnwitz zu fröhnen? Wer wagt vermessen, gleich der Prophetin der Zukunft Nacht zu lichten, wollt Ihr […]
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How exactly is a reporter for Bloomberg News supposed to take sides in a controversy between Peter Gelb and Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees? Philip Boroff must feel like Mime, waiting for Fafner to kill Siegfried, Siegfried to kill Fafner, or, ideally, a bit of both. (And how on point […]
The New York City Opera, “in response to demand for tickets to its long-awaited revival production of Hugo Weisgall’s Esther,” New York City Opera has added an additional performance of the Lauren Flanigan twelve-toner on Tuesday, November 17 at 8:00pm. Tickets are available at the David H. Koch Theater Box Office in a Box…
La Cieca has managed to obtain this exclusive snippet from the camera rehearsal for Saturday afternoon’s Met HD telecast. Note the “Hitchcock” influence in the cinematography. (Extra points for the first member of the cher public to detect La Cieca’s cameo appearance!)
JJ reviews the Met’s current revivals of Aïda and Il barbiere di Siviglia in the New York Post. Meanwhile, the Times leads with the boos.
First things first: congratulations to lorenzo.venezia who recognized Rigoletto in that crinoline. And now: who are all these people, and why are they having such a good time?
La Cieca welcomes suggestions for a caption to this photograph. (Catherine Ashmore, Royal Opera)
La Cieca should know by now that any think piece that kicks off with the locution “I have from time to time wrestled with this conundrum” is just going to piss her off and she should just close the tab. But she didn’t, and this is what she found a little lower down (in more […]
Which diva has been dicking around the presenters of that gala by refusing to decide on a single thing: what she’ll sing, whom she’ll sing with, or even whether she’ll sing at all?
That little Pinkerton brat is all grown up — and now he’s formed his own opera company.
Just a note from La Cieca (right) to you, cher public (not pictured), to remind you that the usual prima chat will transpire here tomorrow night beginning at 7:45 pm during the Met broadcast of Aïda. Check back here at that time for the chat-related post.
What no one dares talk about in New York — at least not yet: …the medical leave will add to the debate about whether Levine is in fact overextended in his two jobs leading both the BSO and the Metropolitan Opera …. Levine’s current contract at the Met ends in 2011 and one presumes he’ll […]
“What people don’t know, what people who spend time sort of, like, gossiping about a role might not know, is that, I mean, once you get onto the audition stage, you are just like everybody else; it’s what you do vocally and what you do as an artist that gets you the job or not.… […]
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/_032vNxDrEI” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Puccini’s opera performed live on location in the Gäbelbach low-income housing apartment complex in Bern. More about this television project.
“I had a reputation that I was not easy to work with… But that was because they knew I was very professional, very correct and always, always successful.” Only one diva could say that and not only get away with it, but make us adore her all the more. [St. Louis Beacon]
“Never before have I seen a Royal Opera production greeted with a standing ovation and then a fortissimo volley of boos.” [Times Online]
Anthony Tommasini‘s Sunday Times think piece about opera direction (fetchingly adorned with the Susannesque headline “Halfway Won’t Do”) is online now. La Cieca thinks TT’s heart is in the right place (and of course she’s still all aglow after the Babs interview), so she’s going to stay mum about that Herbert Wernicke production of Die […]
Edo de Waart will conduct Der Rosenkavalier on October 13, 16, and 19 at the Met, replacing James Levine during his recuperation from herniated disc surgery.
The quarterly results (July-September 2009) are in, and La Cieca must say she is delighted with the participation of you, the cher public, in the Amazon Associates advertising system. After the jump, a rundown of this quarter’s most popular products ordered via parterre.com.
Sting is hoping to attract new fans to opera with his latest release, a film in which he and wife Trudie Styler tell the story of composer Robert Schumann. [BBC News]
Billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne David H. Koch, slated to be celebrated for his boons to humanity at the November 5 “American Voices” gala by the New York City Opera, is namechecked in this month’s Rolling Stone. The article, “The Lie Machine,” details how this summer’s “spontaneous” demonstrations against health care reform “were tightly orchestrated from the top down […]
UPDATE: A press release from the Met adds that James Levine has withdrawn from performances of Der Rosenkavalier as well as Tosca. Joseph Colaneri, who was already scheduled to conduct Tosca on October 3, 14, and 17, will take over Levine’s performances of the Puccini opera on October 6 and 10 matinee. (He already filled […]
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
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).
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