La Cieca, ear to ground as always, has picked up some reliable-sounding scuttlebutt about the incoming Peter Gelb regime at the Met. The first decade will probably be known as “All Villazon All the Time” since (per our source), Rolando Villazon has inked a pledge to sing two operas a year at the Met for…
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Which regional opera honcho just got booted because he (and the Mrs.) were caught trolling for sex on the internet? Funny, they seem like such ordinary people!
La Cieca scoured Google Images but couldn’t seem to come up with an authentic poster for Leoncavallo’s Zaza (which of course you and everyone you know will be hearing tomorrow night at Alice Tully Hall). As such, she decided she’d have to create her own. Click on the image for a larger version, suitable for…
The only thing better than knowing that a singer has had the greatest Sternstunde of her career is having that performance documented. Montserrat Caballe‘s Norma at Orange, for example, which is one of truly must-have DVDs for any true opera fanatic. Now, Dame Gwyneth Jones has had many great nights in her amazing career, but…
“As I have never in life felt the real bliss of love, I must erect a monument to the most beautiful of all my dreams, in which, from beginning to end, that love shall thoroughly satiated. I have in my head ‘Tristan and Isolde,’ the simplest, but most full-blooded musical conception. With the black flag…
Sister Sieglinde summarizes the roiling controversy so far in her Diary, and the most recent whisper La Cieca has heard is, “if that rock promoter wanted Avril Lavigne, he should have hired Avril Lavigne; Aprile is an opera singer.” Among the rumors La Cieca doesn’t believe: Millo is afraid to sing high notes. [Duh, she…
La Cieca just heard this on opera-l just now, and checked the Ron Delsener Presents web site, which states, yes, “this show has been canceled.” No idea why, but La Cieca will ask around. Update: a source close to the Delsener organization has told La Cieca that the promoter and the artist had “artistic differences,”…
“Tell me, Roberto, does this costume make my manly butt look big?” Speaking of which, has Anthony Tommasini started writing under an assumed name?
Which mega-manager went on a quest to fleece other agents of the most glittering stars on their rosters, but managed to sign only one medium-major name — a soprano whose star vehicle at a swanky summer festival was almost immediately scuttled in favor of a Gilbert and Sullivan revival? (A pity this soprano’s repertoire doesn’t…
La Cieca is delighted to announce that our editor JJ is directing yet once again, this time a production of Die Fledermaus for the [working title] opera. The single gala performance of the Johann Strauss II operetta is scheduled for September 18, 2005 at The Ballroom at the Century Center Theatre, 111 E. 15th Street…
In response to the recent lively(ish) discussion about the suitability of Maria Guleghina to the rigors of the role of Elena in I vespri siciliani, La Cieca has decided that she should demonstrate how this music should be sung. No, actually La Cieca is not going to sing it herself; rather, she will present Renata…
Which suave singer, perhaps distracted by his not-so-noble legal problems, suffered a meltdown at a public master class this weekend, repeatedly snarling “motherfucker” at his startled students? Shocked witnesses swore that the event should have been retitled “I hear America swearing!”
“While humor and story telling can warm any occasion, a good scoop spreads through a room like an illicit and irresistible drug, passed along in nods and crooked smiles, in discreet walks out to the balcony, the corridor, the powder room.” La Cieca is delighted to learn that gossip is the new meth, at least…
This week on “Unnatural Acts of Opera,” a 1998 live performance of Gomes’ opera Maria Tudor conducted by Luis Fernando Malheiro. The heroine of this opera (based on a rather improbable play by dear Victor Hugo) is the Queen of England known to history as “Bloody Mary.” As depicted by Gomes, Maria is regal, highly…
Due to the sensitive yet detailed nature of the following item, La Cieca thought it would be amusing (not to mention safer) to present it in the enigmatic manner of “One Blind Vice,” Ted Casablanca‘s gold-standard column: Leggy Artiste commandeers a whole range of roles, French and otherwise, but lately she’s been panting for a…
Which intendant was hoping to steal away from the city of his current post, either to that American A-house, that chic summer festival, or even that international theater so beloved of Alberto Vilar — but, alas, lost out on all three deals owing to a bad case of loose lips?
At first glance, the photo from San Francisco Opera’s Billy Budd looks like any other opera featuring Nathan Gunn, i.e., pug nose in profile, chin a-jut, freshly waxed chest front and center. But on closer inspection, it turns out that Billy is getting a tweak from Mr. Squeak: “Warm as a sailor’s pants, gay as…
Piero Cappuccilli, considered one of the finest Italian baritones of his generation, lies in an advanced state of putrefaction today. He died July 12, but for reasons best known to Anthony Tommasini of the Times, that passing was not noted until today, i.e., nine days after the fact. Perhaps if Cappuccilli had achieved “international stardom”…
More bad news for Alberto Vilar. The Royal Opera House has given him 60 days to pony up the 10 million pounds he promised in return for their naming a reception area of the theater “The Vilar Floral Hall.” (Is this guy the Gladys Glover of opera or what?) Says Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas (chair…
La Cieca has to say she is just plain appalled at the turn of events in the Opera Barga / Motezuma fracas. Not that she’s any particular fan of Vivaldi opera, but the behavior of the officials at the Berlin Sing-Akademie (who claim copyright ownership of this 270-year-old opera) strikes her as unartistic and just…
San Francisco Opera, as always right on the crest of the wave, introduced its own podcast over the weekend. Pamela Rosenberg and Donald Runnicles yak about the 2005-06 season, which will include the premiere of the new John Adams piece “Dr. Atomic,” and some musical highlights of the rest of the repertoire are included too.…
Music fans of all orientations, gay, straight and bi (oops, the Times says you don’t exist, my mistake), well, anyway, music fans around the world finally have news worth talking about. No, we’re not talking about Alberto Vilar, but you’re getting warm. Which is to say, it’s good news. Sir Elton John and George Michael…
Which young Spanish-speaking artiste is going to the “dogs” with her sex, drugs and coloratura lifestyle? You’re not Bolivian, my dear, so lay off the marching powder before you turn into a mess o’ soprano! Which soprano should learn to care more about punctuality at her bel canto rehearsals? Toward her we feel nothing but…
The reviews for Apple’s iTunes 4.9 are mixed but the consensus is “thumbs up.” La Cieca downloaded and installed the new version last night; very smooth. The interface with podcasts is something less than lavish, the one part of the application that feels “freeware.” But La Cieca realizes there are a lot of people out…
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