Cher public, you are simply getting too clever for this poor old simple-minded doyenne. With only two photos to guide you, so many of you deduced that the opera was Wagner’s Siegfried, in the new production by Sven-Eric Bechtolf for Vienna. And so, our next quiz will be limited to only one photo. Should you…
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.
After Natalie Dessay‘s second act aria in La Fille du Régiment, the Metropolitan Opera audience just didn’t want to stop applauding — that’s how much fun they were having. Finally the soprano had to shush them so this new production of the Donizetti comic opera (heard April 21) could rollick to its triumphant conclusion. Our…
The Bonynge and Sutherland of YouTube, Wenarto and Izzy Anderson, return with a more elaborately produced version of what is rapidly becoming Izzy’s signature tune, “Nessun dorma!”
Oh, yes, La Cieca agrees that an opera based on the life and career of Hillary Rodham Clinton sounds like a great idea. But is this really a role for David Daniels?
Actually this next sound clip dates back over a decade but has recently re-emerged (like the Creature From The Black Lagoon, actually) on such sites as Dial “M” for Musicology, Boing Boing and Wired. It’s a project by conceptual artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid based on an online poll of people’s likes and dislikes…
La Cieca would like to remind her cher public that parterre.com stays afloat thanks to your generosity when shopping at amazon.com) and making donations through PayPal. Won’t you take a moment to click on the “donate” button so La Cieca may continue her good work? That gossip isn’t going to repeat itself!
La Cieca’s spy at least night’s performance of La Fille du Régiment assures her that, yes, indeed, Juan Diego Florèz did take a “bis” of his first act cabaletta. “Tonight the ovation was far longer and louder than before (perhaps for fear of getting short-shrift as the old folks on Saturday did), and the encore…
At very long last, the final act of Tristan und Isolde. Act Three Tristan – Spas Wenkoff, Isolde – Catarina Ligendza, Brangaene – Yvonne Minton, Marke – Karl Ridderbusch, Kurwenal – Donald McIntyre, Melot – Heribert Steinbach, Steuermann – Heinz Feldhoff, Hirte – Heinz Zednik. Carlos Kleiber; Bayreuther Festspiele, 30 July 1976.
Here’s bel canto goddess Mariella Devia in fiery form for the final cabaletta from Anna Bolena earlier this month in Palermo. (Just ignore the annoying interpolated interviste.) [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/rT5cpY2qJ2c” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
. . . much to our dismay, we caught a glimpse of high-C-flaunting Juan Diego Florez coming out of the Juilliard School’s Meredith Wilson Residence Hall with fiance Julia Trappe in tow at around, oh, 1pm. That’s like 30 minutes before curtain! Little sister Counter Critic goes to the movies and gets a surprise preview.…
Reader/brainiac Orion Montoya has invented a gizmo that may help simplify the annual puzzlement over which of the Met’s myriad subscription series is right for you (if any). Before you purchase your tickets for next season, take a look at the Met Opera Subscription Helper.
Recital in Tokyo, November 2007. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/kGgFU8_bpLM” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
According to a review by Vivien Schweitzer in this morning’s NYT, the staid old Metropolitan Opera introduced a rather startling new plot element into their current revival of Entführung aus dem Serail:
It took sharp-eyed reader Weill Fan less than eight hours to recognize our most recent Regie puzzler. The correct answer was (of course) Ariadne auf Naxos. Additional kudos are due to Weill Fan for pinpointing exactly the characters and situations depicted in all three photos. So, will he (she?) be able to name this week’s…
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/qvDWwm2MHlI” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Many thanks to loyal reader Oliver for pointing us to this astonishing clip of Hildegard Knef singing “Seeräuber Jenny” from Die Dreigroschenoper. True, she was hardly an opera singer; in fact, Ella Fitzgerald once called her “the world’s greatest singer without a voice.” But as this clip demonstrates, La…
Until recently, soprano Diana Damrau was unaware of reports of steroid abuse in the 18th century seraglio. (Photo by Ken Howard, Metropolitan Opera.)
Oh, it’s just a typical day in the life of Shirley Verrett: walking the dog, crooning a few show tunes, going for a sleigh ride in a fur turban, vocalizing in a variety of silk scarves, strolling in the Bois, pounding notes on the Casio, and oh yes, belting out a Gluck aria or two.…
La Cieca thanks you all for your lively conversation during this afternoon’s chat about La Fille du Régiment.
“She asked one time, they said no. She asked a second time – no. At the third time she said Vafanculo [literally, “go f*** yourselfâ€]. You know how many times you sing La Bohème without rehearsal in the world? Roberto “Oil on Troubled Waters” Alagna continues his unique relationship with the media in an interview…
Philip Glass’ 1980 opera “Satyagraha” is a very high-minded work, but it never hides behind its principles. Musically and scenically the Met’s production (seen April 11) would rank as a successful work of art even if its subject matter were less inspirational. Our own JJ’s review appears in the current issue of Gay City News.
Now, stop La Cieca if she’s wrong, but it seems to her that the concept for this production of Carmen is that Escamillo is a 1970s gay clone. Well, no, La Cieca doesn’t get it either. But see for yourself: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/6F_hltdh1KE” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
In what La Cieca hopes may be a quiet voice of reason, or, failing that, just for the sake of clarity, she would like to quote from the press release announcing the Met’s program for the summer of 2008. “We are trying something new this summer, which we think will be especially appealing to all…
The accustomed Peter Gelb ballyhoo was not in evidence this morning when the Met very quietly let it be known that the company’s Parks concert series would not take place this summer. According to a rather modest item in today’s New York Times, in lieu of the familiar format of a “tour” of the city’s…
“A bare-chested prisoner, suspended upside down from a rope tied to his ankles, is pushed back and forth by brutish guards with clubs as if he were a human piñata.”
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.
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.