Latest casting news from the Met: Stephen O’Mara will sing Radamès in Aida on Wednesday, October 24, replacing Marco Berti, who has withdrawn from remaining performances due to illness. The role of the Egyptian captain for the the remaining performances of the season (October 27 – November 8) will be sung by that popular man-about-town…
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.
Maury D’annato asks “How high does the Simionato role [in Adriana Lecouvreur] lie? Could Podles do it? Well, judge for yourself. Here’s a clip of mezzo Oralia Dominguez singing the Principessa’s aria “Acerba volutta.”
This is what tomorrow looks like: a live opera telecast over the web. It’s France 3’s transmission of a performance of Il Sant’Alessio performed by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, starring “le contre-ténor à la voix d’ange Philippe Jaroussky, tout auréolé de sa Victoire de la musique d’Artiste lyrique de l’année 2007.” Watch it…
So, was last night a triumph or a disaster? Well, it was neither since the role of Radames doesn’t play to all of Roberto Alagna‘s strengths but it was a very fine showing by a distinctive and sensitive artist in a repertory that isn’t his natural metier. The evening’s biggest triumph was scored by old…
La Cieca has just heard that Roberto Alagna will sing his first Met Radames tomorrow night, replacing the ailing Marco Berti. Which means, if you haven’t guessed it yet, that Marcello Giordani is jumping into tonight’s Butterfly. By the end of the season, Giordani will have five different roles in his Met repertoire for 2007-08:…
Missed the Met’s cattlecall for War and Peace supers? Don’t worry! All the really cool kids are going to Toronto to be extras in the opera house sequence of Repo! The Genetic Opera, lensing this week. According to the myspace site of director Darren Lynn Bousman (auteur of Saw II), the production is looking for…
“If Marilyn Monroe was the 1950’s’ blond bombshell, Grace Kelly was the era’s tenor sex — sleek, sophisticated and above all, cool.” — New York Post
La Cieca performs a dramatic reading from The Greatest Opera Novel Ever Written — and that’s merely a curtain-raiser to the second act of Verdi’s Ernani, starring Anita Cerquetti, Mario del Monaco, Ettore Bastianini and Boris Christoff, under the baton of that icon of gaiety Dimitri Mitropoulos. Well, what are you waiting for? Go directly…
La Cieca notices there are only a few tickets remaining to the Met’s October 25 Lucia, featuring, as if she has to tell you, Stephen Costello‘s role debut as Edgardo. Don’t waste any more time, cher public.
Worlds collide, or maybe converge, when Alex Ross (right) the New Yorker‘s classical music go-to guy sits down with Doree Shafrir (not pictured), gawker gossip girl emeritus, for a confab about life, love, Ugly Betty and, of course the long-awaited The Rest is Noise, skedded to drop October 16. Look for the interview in the…
La Cieca introduces a new feature on parterre.com, the guest review. First up to bat is longtime print zine stalwart Little Stevie, who saw Lucia di Lammermoor last night. Take this as you will: based on this evenings performance the new Met Lucia is pretty bad. The acclaimed Ms. Zimmerman simply doesn’t know how to…
One of La Cieca’s dear colleagues (a Signor Maldè) forwarded some interesting information about this early but definitive example of the hunkentenor. The name of the gentleman (the tenor, that is, not the informant) was Eddy Ruhl, and he is perhaps best known for his recording of Cavaradossi in the notorious Vassilka Petrova Tosca. A…
Cecilia takes “the Bartolettes” out for a night on the town. Now, to be perfectly honest, La Cieca must admit that the above photo is an obvious fake. It’s easy to see how in fact it’s a composite of two other photos, as seen below:
A composer I know, a neighbor,once dropped the electrifying newsthat the great Anna Moffo has sung his songs,and telephones him every New Year’s. Whenever I see him on the street,scurrying along with music scoresclutched to his chest,I stop him to askif Miss Moffo, as I,in my utter adoration, like to call her,has phoned him yetto…
La Cieca hears the good news that Ruth Ann Swenson has recovered well enough from her cancer treatment to jump into a couple of performances of Maria Stuarda at the Opéra de Lyon this past week.
Placido Domingo stars as “himself” in what looks to be a steamy episode of The Simpsons this Sunday, September 30 on Fox. It seems Homer Simpson is tranformed into a tenor after he suffers a freak head injury (in other words, he’s no different from most tenors) and seeks the advice of maestro Domingo. Not…
The regularly scheduled podcast from Unnatural Acts of Opera will be delayed a bit, not really because of “technical difficulties” but rather because La Cieca is getting herself out of the house for once and attending the opera. Tonight it’s the seconda of the Met’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and your doyenne (squired by Milton Host)…
According to Rush & Molloy in the Daily News, Annie Proulx has given the go-ahead to an opera based on her story “Brokeback Mountain.” Charles Wuorinen will compose. UPDATE: Now PlaybillArts is confirming the rumor, complete with quotes from Howard Stokar, Charles Wuorinen‘s agent. La Cieca would boast that she called it, but alas that…
Thanks for joining La Cieca for the first online chat of the 2007-2008 season. If you enjoyed the chat, please visit the Amazon Honor System to help support parterre.com.
“And the charismatic, powerful baritone Gregg Baker, a compelling Robert, seems on the brink of a big career. ” New York Times, September 13, 2007. Gregg Baker made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1985, creating the role of Crown in the company premiere of Porgy and Bess. (“Gregg Baker, as the villain Crown, looked magnificent,…
Your doyenne La Cieca goes it alone on the current podcast of Unnatural Acts of Opera, doing her best to introduce the third act of Spontini’s La Vestale starring Leyla Gencer. Co-host Milton Host, it seems, was unable to reach the studio, and so La Cieca attempted to contact him via the telephone. An unfortunate…
La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Ed Rosen of Premiere Opera writes: In tribute and loving memory to Luciano Pavarotti, I am proud and humbled to present a complete recital given relatively early in Pavarotti’s career, 1973. He had just finished the first big step toward super stardom by triumphing as Tonio in Donizetti’s Fille…
Tending the sacro fuoco this week at Unnatural Acts of Opera will be that priestess of the primo ottocento Leyla Gencer. The diva sings the title role in Spontini’s La Vestale in a performance from Teatro Massino di Palermo, December 4, 1969. Ferando Previtali conducts, and the young Renato Bruson is heard as Cinna. Also…
This just in: you know who else was schwul? Herbert Janssen!
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.
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.