Hunka hunka burning tenor Darío Volonté jumped into San Diego Opera’s production of Il trovatore last night, replacing Nicola Rossi Giordano as Manrico. (Does Rossi Giordano ever actually sing anywhere? All La Cieca has ever heard about is his cancellations.) Anyway, this is Mr. Volonté’s second time out with SDO, following up on his Calaf…
“Opera that depicts Bush, Blair dancing in underwear is canceled.” From the Associated Press. And while we’re on the subject, the scene in question (from Robert Carsen‘s production of Candide, which will not be seen at La Scala in 2007.)
La Cieca has just heard that Juan Diego Flórez has canceled tonight’s Carnegie Hall recital: tracheitis.
Pronounced “oog,” as in Wowkle, that is. You may recall that La Cieca said something a few days ago about a rumored departure of soprano Andrea Gruber from a Met revival of La fanciulla del West scheduled for next season. Well, further information has filtered in that suggests a different story. You might say, in…
UPDATE: Per Robert Tuggle of the Met archives, the “cancellation” of Millo’s Gioconda broadcast was actually a clerical error in the database. The show (and the Sirius) go on as planned on Wednesday night! Now, this is puzzling. As we all know, next Wednesday’s Met performance of La Gioconda (featuring Aprile Millo in the title…
The Deutsche Oper, which last week cancelled a production for fear of protests by Muslims, announced Wednesday it was reinstating their Hans Neuenfels production of Idomeneo, but set no date. Opera house spokesman Alexander Busche said, “The earliest slot for the production is in December, but first we need an okay about security from the…
Years ago, Diva Past (whose career, by that point, was really done) canceled a prima donna gig at a major American opera house. Diva Present won overnight stardom when she substituted. Now, years later, Diva Present has booked a return to both venue and role of her triumph. At the moment, though, her schedule is…
Which soprano’s sudden cancellation of all her future engagements thankfully has nothing to do with illness, and everything to do with, well, spite? She was in love, and he she loved proved bad, and did forsake her. For his secretary. Since the songbird’s soon-to-be-ex-husband still has an interest in her future revenue stream, she has…
How hot was it yesterday? So hot that New York Grand Opera canceled their Central Park performance of Tosca, that’s how hot it was. Rather ironic, too, because Tosca is specifically set in midsummer in metropolitan Rome, where the climate is comparable to yesterday’s Gotham scorcher. Remember that the next time you see a Tosca…
Due to server snafu, La Cieca has had to repost the “Che Faremo” poll. Please feel free to vote again (or for the first time!) Who should replace Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in the Met’s production of Orfeo? Alice Coote David Daniels Susan Graham Bejun Mehta Ewa Podles Dolora Zajick Nessuno — cancel the production!
Yes, that’s our own Susan Graham, starring in an operatic version of the hit film Transamerica. Kudos to the hair, makeup and costume people of the Opera national de Paris for making Susie look so convincingly like a pre-op transsexual! Well, no, actually, the opera is Iphigenie en Tauride, and apparently the opening night audience…
La Cieca hears that Ben Heppner has canceled today’s dress rehearsal of Parsifal at the Met; Mark Baker will go on. (He’s Heppner’s cover for the run as well.) UPDATE: Baker went on, and as if things are not already exciting enough, the Met has rushed Gary Lehman into town to cover-cover.
Like many of you, La Cieca was a little surprised at the blitz of publicity attendant upon the Met debut of Erika Sunnegardh last Saturday afternoon. A front-page feature in the New York Times, and then, a few days later, a followup article with photographs taken in the soprano’s dressing room. But did you notice…
That Eveready Rabbit of a diva, Montserrat Caballe, is going to camp it up once more at the Vienna State Opera when she makes her role debut as the Duchesse de Krackenthorp (the Ljuba Welitsch part) in Laurent Pelly‘s production of Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment in April 2007. This production, starring Natalie Dessay and…
Which veteran Met star had his nose buried so deep in his score that he collided clumsily with a chorister at a final rehearsal? The low-voiced divo erupted in threats, but calmed down soon enough when he realized that he was yelling at the AGMA Rep! Which soprano now has a large hole in her…
Which star canceled his Met season due to a very “committed” performance… of his own personal Mad Scene?
According to an article in the New York Times, James Levine will cancel all his remaining Met performances this season, including a tour to Japan. He is scheduled to have surgery to repair and injured rotator cuff on March 20. House management is currently scrambling to find replacements for Levine’s characteristically heavy workload: preparation of…
La Cieca has just heard that Neil Shicoff has canceled the dress rehearsal of Luisa Miller at the Met; Eduardo Villa (cover for the run) will do it. And La Cieca has heard further that Sergio Blazquez, scheduled to make his NYCO debut in La boheme in April, is having visa problems, so Gerard Powers…
La Cieca can’t, at this stage, direct her questions to the source of this item, but at least one Met insider at the Met is whispering that Placido Domingo will cancel some (if not all) of his performances in Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac beginning Thursday. UPDATE: The cover (who sang the closed dress rehearsal on…
So, this is what La Cieca read on the website of the Italian newspaper Il Mattino: Roberto Alagna . . . sta male a causa di crisi ipoglicemiche e non potrà cantare per almeno tre mesi . . . . A dare la notizia lo stesso cantante accompagnato dalla moglie, il soprano Angela Gheorghiu, che…
The next time you roll your eyes at an operatic plot complication involving mistaken identity, just consider this: Mirella Freni‘s cancellation of her gala peformance of Fedora at the Washington National Opera last month was apparently due to a bungled phone message. According to a WNO insider, La Freni telephoned the company’s main office to…
Rodgers and Hammerstein is as far as Aprile Millo is willing to cross over at Carnegie Hall, and that’s what led to the rift between her and promoter Ron Delsener — and to the cancellation of the October 14 event. La Millo tells her side of the story: NYT.
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 us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
