We all sleep alone We all sleep alone

Dame Judi Dench! Anna Netrebko! Anne Midgette! Need I say more?

on November 14, 2019 at 2:19 PM
French tips French tips

Valerian Ruminksi, that bass-baritone who shot off his mouth all over Facebook about a drag queen’s manicure and got fired from a prestigious gig with Opera Lyra—remember him?

on September 12, 2014 at 2:31 PM
Talking headspace Talking headspace

Our Own JJ (pictured) joins in the debate over the Düsseldorf Tannhäuser with Anne Midgette and John Berry.

on May 13, 2013 at 6:49 PM

So Placido Domingo was all like, “Oh, that Anne Midgette is just a mean girl and she is SO JELLUS,” and then Anne was like, “Actually, nuh-uh, maestro, I’m so not.”

on October 01, 2011 at 11:33 AM

Adroit, awesome, autononomous Anne Midgette nominates her Top 10 Classical and Opera Releases of 2010 over at Soundcheck, and, La Cieca thinks to herself, why should Anne have all the fun? What are your favorite opera CDs and DVDs of the year, cher public? (Here are a few reviews to jog your memory.)

on December 16, 2010 at 2:20 PM

Placido Domingo will not renew his Washington National Opera contract when it expires in June 2011. Anne Midgette has the story! [Washington Post]

on September 27, 2010 at 4:55 PM

Once again it takes an out-of-towner to write sensibly about Peter Gelb and the Met, though the “out of town” here refers only to geography: Anne Midgette is at heart and soul a New York newshen. [The Classical Beat]

on July 01, 2010 at 9:53 AM

“I agree that Gelb has had problems actually identifying what’s going to make a successful production. But I submit that the real problem is exactly the same problem the Met had under Gelb’s predecessor, Joe Volpe: not that the company engages unusual directors, but that it doesn’t let them actually do what they’re good at.…

on April 23, 2010 at 8:14 AM

According to Anne Midgette, baritone Carlos Alvarez has withdrawn from Washington National Opera’s production of Hamlet, to be replaced by Michael Chioldi and Liam Bonner, with their individual dates TBA. [The Classical Beat]

on March 30, 2010 at 9:59 AM

“Why can’t a general director with the fame, charm and ability of Domingo roll up his sleeves and work to realize his vision, rather than distancing himself from the results? The answer: because he isn’t actually there, running the company. He’s conducting Stiffelio, or singing Simone Boccanegra, or trying to keep up with his other…

on January 13, 2010 at 11:59 AM

Thrill to double-barreled diva excitement as that most regal of Kennedy Center honorees Grace Bumbry converses with always awesome Anne Midgette! [Washington Post]

on December 07, 2009 at 5:34 PM

Classical Beatnik Anne Midgette, obviously still reeling from the experience of The Letter in Santa Fe, addresses a problem we’ve been seeing more and more of in opera: even those who supposedly love the art form, and who are involved in putting it on, are increasingly laboring under the delusion that it is inherently over-the-top,…

on August 13, 2009 at 3:44 PM

La Cieca usually goes pea-green with envy when some other opera blogress launches a successful promotion, but in this case she’s going to make an exception because this story has the happiest ending imaginable. As detailed by Anne Midgette today in the Washington Post, Priscilla Barrow, who has taught music in public schools for over…

on May 20, 2009 at 9:54 AM

In contrast to the high-minded sentiments expressed by the Ring directors recently interviewed by Anne Midgette, here are a few light and lively moments from a youth theater show called Her den Ring produced by the Studiotheater Bayreuth. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/aFm_48PJTHw” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]

on April 27, 2009 at 4:29 PM

Bloomberg News (your go-to source for bad news about New York City Opera) today laments that the company has “once again reached deep into its endowment.” According to scribe Zinta Lundborg, that endowment has suffered perhaps irreversible shinkage, dwindling from a massive, bulging $51 million in 2001 to a puny, humiliating $3 million currently. Lundborg suggests…

on April 22, 2009 at 11:35 AM

Latest to join the ranks of classical music bloggers: intrepid Anne Midgette, whose Classical Beat offically launched today. Coverage includes la Midgette’s recent head-butt with Norman Lebrecht on the subject of the Wizard of Bayreuth.

on March 31, 2009 at 12:00 PM

Cher public, La Cieca begs you to consider yourself among the little people to be thanked as your doyenne accepts the award for “Best Overall Classical Music Coverage in a Blog or Newspaper” as awarded by artsjournal’s Life’s a Pitch.  La Cieca is honored to be recognized among so eclectic a group of honorees as Mark…

on January 06, 2009 at 11:22 AM

In an interview in the Washington Post, Anne Midgette and Ruth Ann Swenson say the word “box” so often it starts to sound dirty.

on November 21, 2008 at 1:48 PM

Just in time for Halloween, an all-new profile by Anne Midgette, “The Undead Diva: Renée Fleming Has Virtuosity Under Control.”

on October 31, 2008 at 12:57 PM

La Cieca’s old, old, old (and yet somehow ageless) friend Anne Midgette isn’t just sitting around for The Season to begin like us lazy bloggers. She’s been listening to new recordings of operas by living composers including Michael Nyman, Scott Wheeler and Douglas J. Cuomo. Mr. Cuomo is best known (as they say) as the…

on September 05, 2008 at 6:50 PM

Members of the cher public indigenous to the District of Columbia and its environs will welcome Anne Midgette as music critic for the Washington Post, as leaked this morning on Ionarts.  In fact, Midgett’s full-time appointment is good news on a national scale, given the media’s current scary cutbacks in arts coverage. The scribe’s current…

on June 30, 2008 at 12:59 PM

The American Opera Theater makes its New York debut this weekend at BAM with Charpentier’s remarkable 1688 opera David et Jonathas, featuring the Ignoti Dei period orchestra conducted by Timothy Nelson and joined by the Chamber Singers of Virginia Tech. Per the America Opera Theater’s press release, “David et Jonathas explores the relationship between three…

on May 05, 2008 at 11:56 AM