Compare and contrast the bel canto stylings of Elizabeth Futral and Anna Netrebko tonight when La Cieca hosts yet another of her live chats here on parterre.com. The live Met/Sirius broadcast of Bellini’s I puritani featuring Futral begins at 7:30 Eastern and the taped PBS telecast with Netrebko begins at 9:00. That’s here in New […]
“I could not have been alone in the audience in responding with something like parental concern when [pianist Till] Fellner appeared onstage. Lanky, rail-thin, wholesome-looking and still boyish at 34, he seemed as shy and awkward as ever . . . . A regimen of free weights at a gym in Vienna, where Mr. Fellner […]
In observance of the 100th anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Madama Butterfly, La Cieca presents a podcast featuring the original cast of that production: Geraldine Farrar, Enrico Caruso and Antonio Scotti. The three superstars are heard in ten selections from Puccini’s score. Unnatural Acts of Opera
Our fourth and final runner-up in the Madlib competition. Do check back at Unnatural Acts of Opera later this evening when the Grand Prize winner’s creation will be performed as the latest episode of Apocryphal Opera Anecdote Theatre of the Air. Margaret Junktrunk Hello there and welcome to the Sirius Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Krzysztof […]
Margaret Junktrunk Hello there, I’m your announcer Margaret Junktrunk. Welcome to the Sirius Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Benjamin Britten‘s beloved masterpiece Bangers and Mash, a work that illustrates the idea, first expressed by Julia Child, “Eat, drink and be Mary,” or, as the libretto puts it, “Mangia, mangia!” In today’s performance we will hear tenor […]
Dame Kiri perturbed by flying underwear, court told Underwear tossing a deal breaker for opera star TE KANAWA PULLED OUT OF CONCERT BECAUSE OF RAUNCHY FANS Court told of dame’s fear of undie throwers Dame Kiri got knickers in twist over concerts
“Of Edita Gruberova‘s debut here two weeks ago, Hanslick wrote in Latin Inches, ‘Not since Elisabeth Schwarzkopf melted the heart of a gazillion year old fan seated far up in the loge of the great Everard Baths has any artist managed to slide both the waggish and buxom aspects of Wagner’s strapping little jailer-girl. Her […]
On a new episode of Unnatural Acts of Opera that can only be called fabulous, we hear the first act of Un ballo in maschera as it was performed at La Scala in April of 1956. Gianandrea Gavazzeni is the conductor, and even by the lofty standards of Unnatural Acts of Opera the cast is […]
The HD video of the Met’s “special 100-minute version” of The Magic Flute makes its network television debut tomorrow night on PBS. Julie Taymor‘s production of Mozart’s opera can be seen on Wednesday, January 24 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS; as usual, check local listings and your mileage may vary. Headlining the telecast are […]
Angela Gheorghiu will replace Krassimira Stoyanova for a single Met performance of Traviata on Saturday, March 24.
On the current episode of the all-new Unnatural Acts of Opera, the Apocryphal Opera Anecdote Theatre of the Air presents the two-act radio drama “Adelina Patti’s Shoe.” Also in this episode: La Cieca spills the beans about the Met’s planned German repertoire through 2012. Oh, and did she mention Act 2 of Der Barbier von […]
“In Leonard Bernstein‘s clever one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti, the heroine describes a gaudy movie musical as so much ‘Technicolor twaddle.’ If Tan Dun‘s new work The First Emperor (heard at the Metropolitan Opera on December 29) can hardly be dismissed as twaddle, it never attains the epic status to which it aspires.” Our publisher […]
The all-new (or at least somewhat-new) Unnatural Acts of Opera relaunched this morning at 8 a.m., only 12 hours behind schedule. Thrill to the dulcet voiceovers of new guy Milton Host! Delight in La Cieca‘s flattering new microphone placement! Tingle with excitement as the superstar team of Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills sing I puritani! […]
La Cieca has only recently been able to catch up with the excellent programs produced by some of her podcasting compatriots. A particular delight is Handelmania, produced by the inimitable (and prolific!) Charlie Handelman. Each show is a virtual master class in the art of the recorded voice, and the current holiday-themed show is no […]
Remember that prediction that La Cieca made about how Renee Fleming would bring her Norma into New York? Turns out that may have been inaccurate. (Yes, you have every right to be shocked and amazed. This is surely a first.) Yes, La Cieca hears, the Met is planning a production of the Bellini masterpiece, but […]
“Tony Danza will play Max Bialystock in the Broadway production of The Producers starting Dec. 19.” — Playbill News On the stage of The ProducersMamma mia, I had a shock!Was that really Tony DanzaPlaying Max Bialystock?On the stage of The ProducersMamma mia, I had a shock!Was that really Tony DanzaPlaying Max Bialystock?Was that really Tony […]
Poorish quality video, but the soundtrack is familiar.
Per Opera Chic, Roberto Alagna is off for what promises to be an interesting weekend at Franco Zeffirelli‘s palatial villa near Rome. According to Alagna’s “Chief Counsel Avvocato” Marco Rocchini, the tenor will apparently spend much of the weekend in transit, since he plans a quick visit to Paris on Tuesday, and then will return […]
Our editor JJ sounds off about the Alagnapalooza on WNYC’s “Soundcheck.”
You’ve seen the dress. Now you can hear the song! UPDATE: No, she wasn’t drunk, so far as La Cieca knows, and no, the singer is not Joanne Worley, it’s our Renaay.
BREAKING! La Cieca has been informed that a stray RAI microphone in the wings of La Scala picked up an emotionally heated conversation between Roberto Alagna and Franco Zeffirelli immediately following the tenor’s angry walkout on Sunday night. A translated transcript follows: FZ: Calm down. The gong rang. The fight’s over. RA: I will not […]
Yeah, I guess you have to figure that singing at such a low-profile, unimportant event as the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert really doesn’t merit investing in a whole new frock. I mean, the dress that everyone in the freaking universe has already seen on television is plenty good enough to recycle for the Oslo […]
Milan is just one little corner of the world, after all. Meanwhile, back home in the ‘Side, La Cieca’s managed to podcast a couple of times in the past dizzying days: Unnatural Acts of Opera
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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