As was perhaps inevitable, Anna Netrebko is on the cusp of the Mildred Pierce phase of her career. The soprano talks about her plans to open a restaurant, her reasons for retiring Violetta from her repertoire, and her distaste for inflated ticket prices in an interview appearing in the German magazine Stern.
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.
UPDATE, Tuesday, 7:45 AM: The Met sent out a press release at 1:27 AM New York time today announcing major changes to its roster for the tour of Japan this month. La Cieca has revised the following gossip item (which appeared at 11 PM last night) to reflect the Met’s confirmations.
Sean Michael Gross, Director of Marketing and Special Projects for 21C Media Group, who is in charge of public and press relations (in North America) for Anna Netrebko, has informed La Cieca that the rumor-magnet diva “‘is not pregnant.”
So what does it mean when the owner of Anna Netrebko‘s fan blog says, “An ‘a-priori’ important press conference will be held in Munich on Monday 17. May 2011… We are looking forward to hearing what are the news….”?
It’s Holy Week (as I write) and I just received this new CD from our Doyenne. Good timing. For the concert stage (and the opera house), I think of Pergolesi as essentially a one-hit wonder (each). I won’t pretend to know his opera buffa, La Serva Padrona, let alone hide the fact that I drove right…
La Scala will announce its 2011-2012 season perhaps as early as tomorrow, but in the meantime La Cieca has discovered that the Milan season will open with a gala new production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Robert Carsen. The delectable cast is scheduled to include Anna Netrebko (Donna Anna), Elina…
A quick clip from today’s telecast of Anna Bolena; unfortunately the sound is slightly out of synch and the stage director is more than slightly “Kulturbanause.” But, still: Anna!
“There was little glamour in Anna Netrebko’s first years on the banks of the Neva River. She lived in a notoriously horrible dormitory belonging to the St. Petersburg Conservatory on Ulitsa Doblesti and worked as a floor cleaner at the Mariinsky Theater where she dreamed of performing.” [St. Petersburg Times]
Not to scoop Brad Wilber (if such a thing were possible!) but La Cieca has just heard that the much-discussed opening night of the Met’s 2012-13 season has been settled. Starring in a new Bartlett Sher production of L’elisir d’amore will be Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecien, with Dulcamara and conductor TBA.
Opera’s girl next door—if you live on Riverside Drive—Anna Netrebko discusses her many egg recipes and her favorite pajama boutiques in the Sunday Routine column in the New York Times. (Her own John Raitt, in the person of Erwin Schrott, put in a cameo appearance not in pajamas but a tight t-shirt.)
So stop me if you’ve heard this one: a, shall we say, mature diva gets stranded in the snow, and in her place a substitute (carefully hidden, no doubt!) gives a performance! Out of nowhere – gives a performance! Well, according to Intermezzo, life imitated art (and what better art to imitate than All About Eve?)…
As we look forward to New Year’s Eve and to the gala opening of Willy Decker’s La Traviata at the Met, it seems fitting to look back—by way of the official, live, DVD recording of the production’s sensational world premiere at the Salzburg Festival in 2005—to get some sense of what’s behind all the hype.…
A Netrebko can flutter her wings over a flower at the Vienna Staatsoper and cause an hurricane in Avery Fisher Hall. [Wig & Pen]
The annual Richard Tucker gala came and went at Avery Fisher Hall with the usual quota of gaffes, wardrobe malfunctions, no-shows, too-much-shows, substitutions and surprise guests (well, guest). And sandwiched between the routine, the egocentric and the just plain dull were moments of true dementia, the moments that we melomanes live and die for. Most…
Guess who stole the show last night at the Richard Tucker gala? [ABC News]
Don Pasquale is one of those operas that make listeners feel very happy and gay, who, after seeing it, live happily ever after and gayer than before. It’s about a whore who needs to get laid, with an eye on the young (once and still bottom) hunk versus the older (once top, yes you guessed…
“After a sketchy start to the season, the Met hit its stride on Friday with a revival of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale that’s as crisp as autumn in New York.” [New York Post] (Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera)
Forget all the others: we’ve found our Anne Welles! [Opera News]
Awesome Anna Netrebko wraps her considerable talent around a the Europop hit “La Voix.” Note the correct use of hair extensions (without those ridiculous “rocker chick” bangs) and the plain but striking red gown.
So a member of the cher public writes, “The odious Command Opera says that Netrebko has cancelled the Mariinsky Bolenas” which, according to the Mariinsky site certainly seems to be true. Or at least what seems to be true is that the rumored or planned production of Anna Bolena at the Mariinsky is not happening…
Sweet Betsy again rounds up the Saturday afternoon listenables. La Cieca leans toward Manon naturellement, but she should warn you that she’s off like Des Grieux’s cassock at 3:00 pm to jump on the Caramoor Caravan. After the jump (not onto the Caravan!) the complete list of what’s singing who.
La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Intermezzo (not pictured) reacts to last night’s prima of Manon at the Royal Opera: Anna Netrebko “sang strongly, the voice fuller and darker than ever before, looking gorgeous” and Vittorio Grigolo‘s “technique and stamina were truly spectacular.” The pair “were, deservedly, a huge hit with the audience…. authentic and…
La Cieca is of the opinion that there are some sopranos who can act Manon, some who can sing Manon, and some who simply are Manon. This snippet from a recent interview may suggest which category Anna Netrebko fits into.
The results are in for the first annual Pubie Awards, nominated and voted upon by you, the Cher Public. Turnout this year was spectacular, with some categories racking up as many as 2,647 votes. A few of the races were close, and La Cieca thinks you’ll see an upset or two among the winners, after…
