After three years of failed legal motions by four legal teams, “felonthropist” Alberto Vilar will emerge from the close confinement of his heavily chandeliered 5,500 square foot apartment to face trial in September for defrauding investors of millions of dollars. [via ABC News]
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Hunks in skimpy loincloths have long been a feature of productions of twentieth century opera, especially during the Christopher Keene era at New York City Opera. But you don’t often get to see much homoerotic action in bel canto works like Norma, more’s the pity. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/sFdrWy8TzSQ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] [via Barihunks]
The opera will be called Le convenienze ed incovenienze terrestriali. The first act aria will begin “Your tiny globe is frozen; let me warm it with my own.” More jokes to follow — cher public, don’t be shy.
As several of you informed La Cieca (some in no uncertain terms) our most recent Regiequiz was a bit dodgy — the opera represented was hardly a standard repertory work, and the stage direction was fairly straightforward. Richard “Wallpaper” Jones directed this production of Gerald Barry’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, a Bremen…
First the bad news, or anyway the bad news for us New Yorkers. Why the hell should Seattle Opera get Mariusz Kwiecien in Puritani, whereas we get — whatever his name was? Now the good news, though Seattle may think otherwise: Nick Scholl is moving to New York! (The photo’s a detail of an image…
Actually this next sound clip dates back over a decade but has recently re-emerged (like the Creature From The Black Lagoon, actually) on such sites as Dial “M” for Musicology, Boing Boing and Wired. It’s a project by conceptual artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid based on an online poll of people’s likes and dislikes…
. . . much to our dismay, we caught a glimpse of high-C-flaunting Juan Diego Florez coming out of the Juilliard School’s Meredith Wilson Residence Hall with fiance Julia Trappe in tow at around, oh, 1pm. That’s like 30 minutes before curtain! Little sister Counter Critic goes to the movies and gets a surprise preview.…
Some commenters are more perceptive than others when it comes to the game of Name That Regie. In our previous competition, the quick-witted keithmc and the more cautious Ginevera were both correct: the opera is Cherubini’s Medée, in a production by Krzysztof Warlikowski for La Monnaie. The “Amy Winehouse” sorceress in the black pleather sheath…
Resilient tenor Rolando Villazón makes a guest appearance on the TV talent search show “Musical Showstar 2008.” In a serious mood, RV performs “The Impossible Dream,” but then things turn very silly indeed when host Thomas Gottschalk (the Ryan Seacrest of Germany) joins the tenor for a production number from Monty Python’s Spamalot. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Xdtfqvj-Gr8″…
In what will surely be a highlight of the 2008-2009 musical season here in Gotham, mean, moody, magnificent (and blogorific!) Aprile Millo is set to perform the title role in Cherubini’s Medée with Opera Orchestra of New York under the baton of Eve Queler. Other presentations in the concert company’s repertoire do not perhaps set…
La Cieca wants to reassure her cher public that she has neither fallen off the face of the earth nor succumbed to that mysterious illness that’s killing all the bloggers. The last few days have been something of a slow news period for opera gossip and your doyenne has taken advantage of that fact by…
The barihunk on the right is Jonathan Lasch, in character for The Rape of Lucretia. [via barihunks, naturally]
As guessed so cleverly by Nerva, John and a couple of others, our previous Regie puzzler was in fact Gounod’s Faust, with barihunk Marian Pop as the mohawked Valentin. And now for another unusual take on a classic work. Can you guess the opera?
It used to be that us li’l online scribblers tried our best to imitate big-time print writers like James McCourt or Ethan Mordden. But now it seems, everyone wants to be bloggy. And since you asked, yes, La Cieca does have an example. Here’s Justin Davidson doing his best impression of Opera Chic!
As you may recall, last year the BBC Music Magazine published a list of “The 20 Greatest Sopranos of All Time,” and one or two of you didn’t quite see eye to eye with their selection. Well, this year they’ve turned their attention to the top 20 among tenors, who are (in ascending order of…
“You’d been so cruel to me at the party. Imitating me, making people laugh at me. I watched you get out of the car and I wanted to run you down, crush you. You saw the car coming. I hit the gates. Snapped my spine.”
A member of Facebook (which, La Cieca is told, is some kind of Information Superhighway thing that the youngsters seem to enjoy) forwards this invitation to what your doyenne (channeling Andy Samberg channeling Diablo Cody) likes to call Die Bloggerdammerung:
La Cieca offers a most heartfelt “bravi” to her colleagues over at Barihunks, the website devoted to ogling the most bodacious of bods among the lower male voice types. This week they have managed to snag a New York Times scribe to pen one of their panting puff pieces: His good looks, trim physique and…
Your doyenne is always diffident about asking you for financial aid, cher public, but recently a few of you inquired how you can help out. It’s easy, actually: using PayPal, you can donate as much (or as little) as you choose (or do not choose) using any major credit card. (For more information on PayPal…
No doubt about it, Stephanie Blythe needs to get another picture taken for the New York Times. (It was unflattering enough the first time around.) On the other hand, it’s nice to have a general manager who says things like “I worship the ground Stephanie Blythe walks on,” and (ever adept at providing a mini-scoop)…
The author, now viewed as an early feminist, based the plot on her own difficult experience with postpartum depression, which was then diagnosed as a nervous disorder curable only by a long period of bed rest, over-feeding and withdrawal from the world of family and friends. The character in the opera ends up going mad…
Such a fame whore is La Cieca that she delights in seeing any mainstream media mention of herself even when the item in question a) is less than complimentary and b) doesn’t even mention her by name. But she has little doubt to whom David Patrick Stearns refers when he writes: The odds – and…
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