In an unexpected bonus round of “This Diva Looks Like That Diva,” conspiracy theorists will surely puzzle over the eerily similar headshots of these two New York Post columnists.
By squirrel
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Once again we have an email from a budding member of the cher public (and you know La Cieca never could resist a budding member), so put on your thinking caps, cher hive mind, and offer a little advice:
By La Cieca
Among the “auditions” that have come flooding in from the cher public are reviews of three very different productions of Don Giovanni. Your doyenne has taken the liberty of combining the three critiques into a single posting, but she urges you to remember, remember well the names of the authors of this troika of treatises.
By La Cieca
In the past ten years there has been a renaissance of the countertenor, perhaps from a renewed fascination with period pieces performed in authentic period style. While no one is thinking of lopping off body parts just yet (although with some of these Regie productions, who knows?), many major opera houses now engage David Daniels,…
“Gloria Davy, Claudia Muzio, Renata Scotto and Lynne Strow Piccolo.”
By La Cieca
Four of the cher public caught yesterday’s HD presentation of Tosca and have agreed to share their impressions with La Cieca and the rest: “The death of Puccini’s Tosca was much exaggerated, in fact it did not take place.” “After about 34 years of going to the opera, I don’t think I’ve ever left a…
By La Cieca
La Cieca sat in on the “Cognitive Theater” discussion tonight at the New York Public Library, and the main impression she came away with is that Patrice Chéreau is a very quiet, soft-spoken man who happens to be a genius. (She was expecting something more fiery, but like many of the great divas, it seems…
By La Cieca
What no one dares talk about in New York — at least not yet: …the medical leave will add to the debate about whether Levine is in fact overextended in his two jobs leading both the BSO and the Metropolitan Opera …. Levine’s current contract at the Met ends in 2011 and one presumes he’ll…
By La Cieca
Anthony Tommasini‘s Sunday Times think piece about opera direction (fetchingly adorned with the Susannesque headline “Halfway Won’t Do”) is online now. La Cieca thinks TT’s heart is in the right place (and of course she’s still all aglow after the Babs interview), so she’s going to stay mum about that Herbert Wernicke production of Die…
By La Cieca
La Cieca is idly wondering how James Levine‘s back is feeling this morning, after yesterday’s flareup that left him unable to conduct Tosca at the Met last night. Rather an important question, too, since he’s scheduled for that high-profile Stravinsky-Mozart concert with the Boston Symphony tonight. In the absence of any hard evidence, your doyenne…
By La Cieca
The headlined phrase is a neologism (La Cieca should know, because she just made it up) and therefore will require a bit of explanation. Bear with your doyenne, cher public, because there’s eventually going to be a CD review in here somewhere. So. Many, many years ago, ere the earth was young and all that,…
By La Cieca
Zachary Woolfe asks the musical question, “Who is this Peter Gelb anyway?” [NY Observer]
By La Cieca
La Cieca would like to introduce a new feature to parterre.com in which questions on opera-related etiquette (and probably “life issues” and stuff) sent in by the puzzled, the concerned and, perhaps on occasion, the merely inept. Our first question come to us from “Baffled By the Bay” — I have an opera friend who…
By La Cieca
La Cieca hears that after two days of negotiations a “tentative agreement” has been reached between AGMA and the New York City Opera. Members of AGMA will vote on August 20 whether they choose to ratify the agreement as the negotiating committee has recommended. According to our source, AGMA has made “some concessions,” though apparently…
By La Cieca
La Cieca is simply beside herself to announce what she is confident will be both the biggest and most exciting parterre box competition of all time. This competition is called “Reading the Letter,” and it will test that most basic of opera queen skills, i.e., pretending to be a soprano. After the jump, La Cieca…
By La Cieca
[La Cieca is happy to present a guest review by Our Own Lindoro Almaviva.] Cincinnati Opera makes a good case for the 4 act version of Don Carlo. I think it is a great idea that they used projected titles to give us the background of the opera (since we lose the Fontainebleau scene). This…
By La Cieca
La Cieca has obtained a copy of the main part of the email sent to AGMA members by the organization’s national executive director Alan Gordon in the wake of yesterday’s abortive meeting with NYCO’s George Steel.
By La Cieca
Leyla Gencer: The very name is exotic. She was an artist of Turkish ancestry who, during the 1950s and 60s, held her own despite the presence of Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Renata Scotto, Montserrat Caballe, and Magda Olivero, all of whom shared roles in her repertoire. Ironically, Gencer has a number of important credits attached…
By La Cieca
Member of the cher public ellerveira informs La Cieca: Juan Diego Florez has given several very fascinating interviews to the Spanish media while in Madrid for his two recitals that will replace his canceled performance of Rigoletto. He explained in some detail why he stopped singing Rigoletto (tessitura too low for his voice and if…
By La Cieca
Cher public, here’s the schedule for group listening/viewing of the MetPlayer on Saturday and Sunday:
By La Cieca
La Cieca just returned from the HD of The Audition, a documentary about the 2007 Met National Council Auditions. The film puts her in an optimistic mood about the future of opera performance, or at any rate opera performers. Focus is on three young tenors who (spoiler) all end up winning the competition.
By La Cieca
The operatives were busy over the midnight hours: “Act 3 was a mixed bag. The opening showed Villazon in much better form, with solid phrasing. The Mad Scene started out beautiful, Netrebko spinning out haunting legato. She was completely involved and engaged. Then she fell apart at the flute solo, sounding under supported and wavering…
By La Cieca
According to BBC News, “Classical star” Katherine Jenkins hopes to “take up” Placido Domingo‘s “offer” to “train” her to be an “opera singer.” “Placido Domingo has offered to train me and I’ll probably go to his house when we both have the time free,” Jenkins explained. “He’s a very generous person and he’s always trying…
By La Cieca
[This article originally appeared in the print zine precursor to this site, one of a series of surveys of live recordings by critic Leila de Lakmé.] Leyla Gencer. The very name is exotic. She was an artist of Turkish ancestry who, during the 1950s and 60s, held her own despite the presence of Maria Callas,…
By La Cieca
