La Cieca has launched a new project, cher public, and she hopes you will support her in this enormous endeavor. Your doyenne is in the process of scanning the entire dead-tree oeuvre of parterre box, the queer opera zine and uploading for your online enjoyment. UPDATE: the first ten issues of parterre box are now…
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
“When Mr. Tetzlaff emerged on the scene in his early 20s (still trim, boyish and energetic at 42, he does not look much older)…” [NYT]
A nugget of lead from the Golden Age. Rigoletto Trainwreck Passengers on the doomed vehicle include Sayao, Kiepura, Morelli and Glaz, conducted by Halasz from St. Louis in 1940.
A reporter/graduate student who recently interviewed La Cieca is asking if any of you cher public would be willing to answer a few questions for an article he’s writing on the impact of the Met’s HD broadcasts on “opera queens outside of larger cities.” So, any of you rural or otherwise bucolic parterre.com readers who…
If Wenarto, members of Cirque du Soleil and Rolando Villazón got really really high one night, this might be the result. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://ca.youtube.com/v/A6udHRk1llU” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] (In fact, this music video stars Serge Desrosiers and was directed by Sandrine Béchade.)
And a very strange Regie our last Regie quiz was, but several of you worked out that the opera was Eugene Onegin, in Achim Freyer‘s new production at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin. And now, cher public, can you name this obviously girly opera? (Remember, if you recognize the production, QUIET — let others…
La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Dorothy Bishop returns to NYC with a revamped version of her opera/cabaret show “Viva la Diva” at Splash Bar on October 15 at 8:00 pm. As always, our own JJ directs the show. Dorothy’s Splash debut features new material, new costumes, new “Viva la Diva” dancing boys and (perhaps…
Katherine Jenkins apparently has already begun her vocal studies with Placido Domingo! In fact, the legendary tenor has gone so far as to lend the Welsh songbird his own personal orchestra parts for “Nessun dorma!”Â
In what is becoming the New York City Opera’s only conduit of information to the public, a Friday afternoon news dump reveals that the company has laid off 11 members of its administrative staff. The layoffs are “because of financial pressures and a lack of work caused by the cancellation of most of its season.”…
Sharing the stage another diva in one’s identical fach always puts a girl on her mettle, La Cieca has always said, and no better proof of that just-invented shibboleth is there than this week’s edition of Unnatural Acts of Opera. Grace Bumbry and Shirley Verrett grace the stage of Carnegie Hall on January 31, 1982,…
According to BBC News, “Classical star” Katherine Jenkins hopes to “take up” Placido Domingo‘s “offer” to “train” her to be an “opera singer.” “Placido Domingo has offered to train me and I’ll probably go to his house when we both have the time free,” Jenkins explained. “He’s a very generous person and he’s always trying…
La Cieca has just learned that half a million dollars’ worth of the Met’s prime orchestra tickets (usually $175 – $220) for Doctor Atomic will be made available to the public at $30.
During an intermission at the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night gala (was that only last week?), Susan Graham interviews Ramón Vargas and Renée Fleming. Miss Fleming’s wig, we are told, is made of yak hair, but what’s Susie’s excuse?
The bitchiness of queens of long ago still echoes through Founders Hall at the Met. Among the expertly restored artist photographs, programs and media clippings featured in the exhibit “Nights at the Opera: 125 Years,” the clear standout for outrageousness is an original poster for the Old Met’s closing night gala, defaced (or, perhaps we…
You have to hand it to Gérard Mortier: he manages to get press coverage in most unexpected places!
La Cieca has Sylvia Sass will play Maria Callas. Or, to be more specific, Sass will, after a long career built on imitating Callas, literally play the Greek diva when she acts in a French production of the Terrence McNally play Master Class.
Fracked-up femmes Patricia Racette, Susan Graham and Deborah Voigt strike a manly pose backstage at the Met before their appearance in the Placido Domingo anniversary shindig on Sunday. (Photo: Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera)
Those of you cher public who ordered and enjoyed Decca’s bargain Wagner box may now be interested in a bargain Puccini edition offered by EMI. The set, Puccini: The Operas, retails for $59.98 (less than four bucks a disc) and includes complete performances of:Â
Sopranos Deborah Voigt and Patricia Racette and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham made their drag king debut on Sunday night, and for once the gender confusion has nothing to do with Rufus Wainwright. The trio of songstresses donned tuxes for a spoof of the Three Tenors at a gala honoring Placido Domingo‘s 40th anniversary at the Met.…
Who says media overexposure isn’t good for the career? Note, for example, how the heavily hyped bass-baritone Erwin Schrott has now made the transition into a dual career as lyric baritone and spinto soprano. And that poor schlub who used to update the blog for Martha Stewart now writes captions for the New York Times!
Sharpen those nails and slather on a fresh coat of “Jungle Red,” ladies, because La Cieca hears that “it’s on” between two of the biggest players in NYC’s opera criticism power gay elite. (Well, admittedly that’s not a large pool of talent, but what they lack in numbers they more than make up for in…
La Cieca is still goggling at a press release she just received. Cher public, you can talk about this for a while. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York City Opera Commissions Philip Glass to Compose an Opera Based on the Life of Walt Disney (New York, NY, September 29, 2008) Following a meeting of New York City Opera’s…
Congratulations Baritenor for the fastest Regie guess in history: in less than 13 minutes he correctly identified the opera was indeed Turandot. Let’s see how long it takes to come up with a title for this week’s Regie puzzler. Remember, everyone, if you’ve seen the production, reviews or photos, disqualify yourself while others play.
What the Met’s opening night was like for those who (unlike your plebian doyenne) enjoy celebrity status.
A Baroque Valentine’s with Opera Lafayette | Feb | DC & NYC
Celebrate love in all its guises with tender ballads, amorous duets, cheeky verses, and bawdy drinking songs plus food, cocktails and wine.
STEMdiva status
Ahead of a special boozy, bawdy Valentine’s Day concert, artistic director of Opera Lafayette Patrick Quigley speaks with soprano Maya Kherani about her journey from MIT to rising American Baroque star.