In preparation for tonight’s Angela Gheorghiu/Jonas Kaufmann Sternstunde at Carnegie Hall, La Cieca invites the cher public to share your favorite memories and YouTube clips of Adriana Lecouvreur performances present and past. (Photo: Alastair Muir)

on November 08, 2011 at 10:57 AM

The untold want by life and land ne’er granted: Now, voyager sail thou forth to seek and converse during the week of October 16.

on October 16, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Today is the dress rehearsal/preview of Anna Bolena at the Met, and naturally La Cieca has infiltrated the event with a veritable phalanx of spies. After the jump: all your latest Anna Netrebko related news.

on September 22, 2011 at 12:20 PM

Even though that other soprano, whatever her name is, has garnered a lot of ink for opening the Met season with Anna Bolena, the real news here is the “dream team” Gheorghiu/Callas collaboration, a highlight of which has been the “Divina Draculette” photo retouching competition. La Cieca has sifted the many fine entries and has…

on September 19, 2011 at 3:38 PM

La Cieca would like to nudge gently the cher public with a reminder that there is only one day left in the great “Divina Draculette” photo retouching competition, noting the slight change in rules calling for you to email La Cieca with your photos. Prizes for the best in show include Sony’s live Met CD…

on September 16, 2011 at 2:48 PM

On this day 34 years ago, Maria Callas died in her apartment in Paris. Since then the iconic diva has been recollected, documented, analyzed, digitized and portrayed by Tyne Daly.  La Cieca invites you, the cher public, to keep her mind today by sharing your favorite Callas performances in the comments section.

on September 16, 2011 at 11:09 AM

Since this lyric will not be sung in the Broadway revival of Follies this weekend (the performances are canceled), La Cieca has decided to invite the cher public to share their own favorite operatic hurricanes, storms and tempests. Your doyenne will start you off, after the jump.

on August 26, 2011 at 8:54 PM

A live webcast of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw from Glyndebourne may divert the parterrians this afternoon. The event commences at 12:45, with a place to discuss the proceedings at La Casa della Cieca.

on August 21, 2011 at 12:01 PM

Friend of the Box Zachary Woolfe follows up his provocative NYT article on charisma with an invitation to discuss this elusive quality with his cher public, a group of which La Cieca is sure you parterriani represent a significant subset. Let yourselves be heard!

on August 19, 2011 at 10:04 AM

La Cieca was cced the following letter sent by a “long-time patron of NYCO” in response to “the recently received Subscription Renewal Brochure.” She has withheld the patron’s name by request.

on August 16, 2011 at 11:28 AM

Here’s your discussion thread for this morning/afternoon’s webcast of Lohengrin from Bayreuth, cher public. La Cieca herself is grabbing a bite of lunch and will join you later!

on August 14, 2011 at 3:49 PM

Your doyenne and parterre are back from wherever it was they were. Bless you all, cher public!

on August 05, 2011 at 10:22 AM

Here it is, cher public (pictured, right to left), your general conversation and off-topic thread for the week of July 10.

on July 10, 2011 at 9:22 PM

A reminder to the Regie-fanciers among the cher public: this afternoon at 19:45 (1:45 PM EDT), the Munich Festival will present a live webcast of Fidelio featuring Anja Kampe (Leonore) and Jonas Kaufmann (Florestan) with Adam Fischer conducting the Bayerische Staatsorchester. The production is directed by Calixto Bieito!  UPDATE: The webcast player is now on…

on July 08, 2011 at 8:07 AM

Reactions to the Zambello Ring may have been mixed, but the response to the Parterrian meet-ups was roaringly positive, as shown by the massive turnout for the last pre-Götterdämmerung brunch. So here (well, actually, not here, but rather after the jump) are the faces behind some of the monikers. 

on July 06, 2011 at 1:28 PM

Here it is, cher public (pictured): your off-topic and general discussion thread for the week of July 3.

on July 03, 2011 at 8:55 PM

La Cieca is always delighted but never, never surprised when a parterrian makes good, so permit her to congratulate Miguel Esteban, who has just been named Managing Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Cher Miguel is one of your fellow commenters here, but La Cieca will not offer any clues to his secret…

on June 30, 2011 at 4:01 PM

Appearances to the contrary, La Cieca can’t be everywhere at once, so she’s relying on you, cher public, to share your impressions (written, not vocal) of the Rufus Wainwright/George Steel extravaganza last night at the World Financial Center. (Extra points for the use of the word “travertine.”)

on June 29, 2011 at 8:27 AM

For you, cher public (pictured), your weekly off-topic general discussion thread.

on June 19, 2011 at 11:00 AM

Your season planning for Opera Orchestra of New York, cher public, looks a lot more interesting than what the company’s own artistic adminstration is likely to come up with. Thus far, La Cieca has heard one date for certain:  that Eve Queler default choice Rienzi, this time with Elisabete Matos—presumably in the not very interesting…

on June 17, 2011 at 2:58 PM

Today  is the 211th anniversary of the day the events in Puccini’s Tosca took place, June 17, 1800. (This detail is not mentioned in the libretto, but it is specified in the stage directions for Victorien Sardou’s play La Tosca: “La scène à Rome, le 17 juin 1800.” To celebrate this anniversary of this most…

on June 17, 2011 at 10:25 AM

You asked for it, cher public, and La Cieca is happy to olige: a post to anchor the week’s off-topic and general converation threads.

on June 15, 2011 at 10:25 AM

Our Own Batty Masetto gently prods, “The first cycle of the San Francisco Ring starts Tuesday, and time’s running out for those who haven’t checked in yet to share in the Parterre festivities. A dazzling array of Parterrians (pictured) have signed up already, so you won’t’ want to miss out on the meet-ups at the…

on June 09, 2011 at 1:58 PM

A member of the cher public has an interesting offer: “I have about 40 years’ worth of the British magazine Opera, most of them bound, which I would love to get rid of (no charge.) No library here is interested, but I thought some opera fanatic might want them. He or she would have to…

on June 08, 2011 at 3:45 PM