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.
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La Cieca realizes she hasn’t devised a contest for you competitive members of the cher public in, oh, ages. So she’s going to direct you to the Omniscient Mussel blog, where the game is to offer an opera plot synopsis via Twitter.
Our Own JJ makes his farewell to Gay City News, — not “in a box — simple pine” à la Morgana Neri — but with a review of the Met’s current production of Il trovatore. Meanwhile, still in place, and festive as ever, is that pearl among podcasts, The Entertainment Beat with Frances Gumm.
Gay activists say they were attacked last weekend by members of the orchestra and the security staff of the Greek National Opera during a demonstration over a production of Rusalka. Members of the orchestra had voted not to play the opera in protest against a scene in which two male characters were to kiss. The…
La Cieca is happy to announce that you, cher public, have set a new record for pageviews in a single day here at parterre.com. On February 6, dear people, you viewed this little blog a whopping 16,713 times. Over the past 12 months parterre.com has averaged around 1,500 vistors per day, totalling more than 2.6…
In the spirit of the equal time for all impresarios, La Cieca will note that both of New York’s operatic honchos will be making public appearances this week. Tomorrow (February 10)the Met’s Peter Gelb will do his annual season announcment pitch to the media, an event La Cieca will liveblog (connectivity permitting) for your information…
“It’s been long enough, Ephraim.” JudyCast has decided to join the human race again!
All the way from exotic Portland, Operaman writes: Yesterday I attended the Met HD transmission of Orfeo ed Euridice and, once I have told you my reactions and feelings about this show, I cannot wait to hear what members of your cher public who saw or heard it have to say about it. And I…
Given the probable continued volume of news concerning the New York City Opera, its new General Manager, and the various melodramas thereto, La Cieca will institute a new policy starting today. A single post will serve to anchor all the NYCO news for the day, with updates as needed. This will also help to centralize…
Counter Critic reports today that he met George Steel last night and planted his seed.
La Cieca wants to give a quick “shout-out” (as the youngsters say, they tell me) to “critic, novelist and record-store clerk” Daniel Stephen Johnson, who on top of all that is not only one of our newest and nicest commenters, but a smart and sassy blogger in his own right. He writes somewhat in the…
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…
Yesterday “nonplused” Counter Critic Ryan Tracy unveiled his detailed plan for his directorship of the New York City Opera. Even if his manifesto is meant less than completely seriously, there are some provocative ideas there. But surely the cher public will have their own opinions.
A casual mot by your doyenne clocks in at #6 on Gawker’s list of top ten comments of 2008.
Counter Critic eschews false modesty long enough to offer a proposal for the New York City Opera.
“The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead – they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.” That’s how La Cieca (as author of…
“I’m also confident that both the long-overdue New York premiere of Daniel Catán’s sumptuous Florencia en el Amazonas and Spike Lee’s fiery new staging of The Gospel at Colonus—a retelling of the Sophocles in the form of a gospel church service—will continue to bring new visions to our audiences and new audiences to our vision. …
Official word from the Met concerning rumored cutbacks in next season is that Ghosts of Versailles is to be replaced with a revival of Traviata, rolling over Angela Gheorghiu and Thomas Hampson. No word on what happens to Kristen Chenoweth, but Peter Gelb promises that the new productions are going ahead as scheduled. [via NYT]
This afternoon, after breaking the tragic news that Baltimore Opera seems to be on its last legs, Opera Chic added the startling tidbit that even the mighty Met is planning major cutbacks for next year. The blog says (with no source offered) that the company “is about to excise four [productions?] from their 2009-10 season.”…
In this, as in so many things, La Cieca follows the lead of friendly firebrand Maury D’Annato. Your doyenne calls on you, cher public, to help defeat California’s Proposition 8, a measure that, according to some legal scholars, could nullify thousands of existing marriages. Even in a best-case scenario, this measure would rob same-sex couples…
Got to give credit to Bryn Terfel: he’s now canceling a whole season in advance. The bass-baritone scrapped his spring 2009 appearance in the Met’s L’elisir d’amore several months ago, and now he’s pulled out of the company’s 2009 opening night, a new production of Tosca that now stars Karita Mattila and Marcelo Alvarez. The…
You have to hand it to Gérard Mortier: he manages to get press coverage in most unexpected places!
Who says media overexposure isn’t good for the career? Note, for example, how the heavily hyped bass-baritone Erwin Schrott has now made the transition into a dual career as lyric baritone and spinto soprano. And that poor schlub who used to update the blog for Martha Stewart now writes captions for the New York Times!
“Oh, Mary, was I wasted last night! After a few ‘Rene Flemings’ I was so polluted that I mistook Rufus Wainwright for a girl! Hey, wait a minute. There’s no alcohol in this drink…” [The Martha Blog]
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