The Artists Formerly Known As The Love Couple made one of their now-rare duo appearances last weekend singing something called “Come Prima” at a BBC concert in London’s Hyde Park. The poster for the event suggests that Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna are shall we say, growing apart. Why the distance between the once-inseparable team?…
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.
The first donnybrook of the Gelb era may well be the Revolt of the Standees. As most of you know, the Met’s Standing Room policy for the past 20 years or so has been to sell tickets for each week’s performances on Saturday morning. The queue that formed early in the a.m. has been under…
As La Cieca rather broadly hinted yesterday, the Met Opera will indeed bump up their number of broadcasts (and telecasts) this season. Six simulcast video performances (to be viewed in movie theaters) and “more than 100” audio-only Web and satellite radio presentations are promised according to a press release on the Met’s website. The first…
Speaking of the Ynimitable Yma, La Cieca was just sent a track from the Queen of Exotica’s 1971 acid-rock classic “Miracles!” You only think you know Camp until you experience “Let Me Hear You.”
An image La Cieca herself would have been proud to Photoshop, along with a skeptical take on the Met Opera’s new advertising blitz, over at Gawker.
Among the celebs at the opening of Brecht’s Mother Courage presented by the Public Theater, glimpsed were Renee Fleming (who perhaps should have been reminded that she was on hand to see Mother Courage, not to be Mother Courage) , and the perennial Jessye Norman, whose transformation into Star Jones is now complete.
Not many people know this, but soprano Virginia Zeani was actually born in Brooklyn under the name “Amy Camus.”
Isn’t that Angela Gheorghiu on the cover of the New York magazine fall fashion issue?
“Among the distinguished Camp alumni are opera and concert soprano Jessye Norman, ‘Roseanne’ star Sara Gilbert, actor Tom Hulce, ‘Cathy’ creator Cathy Guisewite, vocalist Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary, and CBS News Correspondent Mike Wallace.” (Well, actually that paragraph is from a news article about Interlochen, but it certainly sounds like it belongs…
La Cieca has decided to do as the (other) young people are doing and so she has joined MySpace. Won’t you visit her there?
La Cieca hears that the new regime at the Metropolitan Opera (or the MET Opera, as it will henceforth be called) is moving forward with the recording of selected 2006-2007 live performances, to be sold via download on the “iTunes” model. An agreement reached a couple of weeks ago with the American Federation of Musicians…
Our old, old, old friend Enzo Bordello has been laying low for the last year or so, but he seems to be sniffing about the web again in search of the latest operatic news. He’s uncovered quite a trove over at Brad Wilber‘s Met Futures page. Enzo’s sum-up: Maria Guleghina‘s star appears to be on…
A new way to listen to podcasts, courtesy of the wonderful folks at Odeo.com: a new pocast player that looks like a video Ipod. If you would like to add this player to your web page, just go here, click on “copy to clipboard,” then just paste the code on your page. Easy, no?
From today’s obit of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in the New York Times. Why, yes, you’re right. That is Anneliese Rothenberger, who not only is not Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, but is also not dead.
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf died this morning at her home in Switzerland. She was 90. The first report of the soprano’s passing was on Deutchlandradio Kultur: “Elisabeth Schwarzkopf ist tot. Wie der Deutschlandfunk erfuhr, starb die Sopranistin im Alter von 90 Jahren in ihrem Wohnort Zumikon in der Schweiz. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf besaß eine der schönsten Sopranstimmen ihrer…
Sigh . . . it does seem a pity to conceal in a covered orchestra pit a conductor who looks like this!
Nothing more fun on a scorching summer day that a friendly game of “Name that Opera.” Below you’ll find two photographs from a recent production of a familiar opera. Can you name the opera? (Bonus: who’s the director?) (P.S. — no fair “guessing” if you know the answer from having seen the production or reviews…
La Cieca rushes back into blackout-torn Queens, New York to podcast Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, starring Barbara Frittoli and Anna Caterina Antonacci. Unnatural Acts of Opera.
The mystery is solved, and, as usual, La Cieca predicted it well ahead of the official announcement. Per the Met’s website, David Daniels will sing the four performances of the new Orfeo ed Euridice production in May 2007. David joins a distinguished group of artists who have interpreted the role of Orfeo at the Met,…
Here are the results of La Cieca’s informal and utterly unscientific poll of her readers, asking “Who should replace Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in the Met’s production of Orfeo?” As you can see, a large plurality favored Ewa Podles, with David Daniels and Susan Graham also receiving numerous votes.
This is what makes conductors wake up screaming. From a performance of Madama Butterfly, Philadelphia, February 1967, with Montserrat Caballe in the title role, and Richard Karp doing what he can to keep things together in the pit. The trainwreck. (La Cieca likes to think of this excerpt as the “Berio Completion” of Butterfly.)
“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Actually, no, Mark Twain didn’t say it. That means this public-domain quotation is available for use by Donald Runnicles, who, according to the August Opera News, is about to find out what it means: “Runnicles, of course, was not my appointment,” [David Gockley]…
La Cieca hears that tenor Dongwon Shin saved the day at Opera Australia last night (or would that be tomorrow night?) when he jumped in on barely a day’s notice as Calaf in Turandot. And most of that “day” was spent on a plane from Chicago to Sydney! First reports are that the Sydney audience…
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.