In honor of the final Oprah episode, La Cieca invites the cher public to Oprahfy themselves or favorite divas, then email the resulting images to [email protected] from whence your doyenne will post them for everyone’s enjoyment. (If you can figure out how to download and then upload the photo, you can just insert it into […]
The Bay Area Chapter of Parterre (pictured) would like to invite all out-of-town Parterrians for a social schedule of sniping, snarking, and general conviviality (hair-pulling strongly discouraged) during the three cycles of the San Francisco Ring.
You, the cher public have voted, and the results are in. Have we chosen the Met’s next Giovanna Seymour? The results were very close indeed!
Now that it’s more or less official that Elina Garanca is dropping out of the Met’s production of Anna Bolena, it’s obviously up to you, the cher public, to decide who should inherit the role. In interest of gathering the broadest range of opinion on this crucial subject, a poll follows the jump.
Since a number of parterre’s better reviewers have recently left the fold (for the happiest of reasons, to be sure!) La Cieca is looking for a new crop of writers to critique the latest DVD and CD releases. If you’d like to audition for a spot, drop an email to your doyenne including a shipping […]
“You’re so resourceful, darling! I ought to go to you for plots.” “You ought to go to someone.” La Cieca knows that when plots are in question, she need go no farther than the cher public, which is why she’s reminding you (late in the game, admittedly) of the annual Omniscient Mussel #Operaplot Competition. No, […]
You have spoken, parterrriani, and your message is loud and clear: Calixto Bieito should be tapped to direct the 2013 Bayreuth production of Der Ring des Nibelungen (seen here in artist’s conception.)
Don’t worry, La Cieca isn’t going to let politics rear its ugly head (or, since we’re talking about La Cieca here, let’s say “its pretty head”); rather, the “social” we’re talking about here is as in “social media.” Just a housekeeping tip or two for you after the jump.
La Cieca will next post from the dear old Deutschland, cher public!
Or, for those of you who don’t take pleasure as La Cieca does in inventing totally bogus German compound words, Itinerary for the Regie Tour. Your doyenne and faithful sidekick Dawn Fatale (also pictured) will be hitting the continent later this week for a taste of productions done in the German style. Any European members […]
Since you so adroitly identified the voice of the mystery Leonora as Anja Harteros, La Cieca thought you might like to hear the soprano in the complete Act 4, Scene 1 of Il trovatore.
The first opera film to be presented in 3D, Carmen , shows up on screens worldwide (and in New York City, too) on March 3. And some lucky member of the cher public will have the opportunity to view this milestone in cinematic opera, as the guest of La Cieca! Details after the jump.
Thanks to the valiant (not so) few of you, cher public, parterre.com garnered its highest-ever single day of pageviews in history this week. On Wednesday (the day of the Met press conference) the site registered 30, 729 views, most of them on the liveblog, which now ranks as the sixth most popular page in parterre […]
Faithful reader Sadie Salome writes, “Don’t know if you saw last night’s marketing email from the Met promoting their Valentine’s Day e-card website: “This Valentine’s day fall in love at the Met Opera.” Well, I did not like their schmaltzy selection of cards, so I made some of my own from my favorite romantic opera […]
La Cieca (center, in chair) has listened carefully to the Bühnenweihfestspielkrieg commentary of the cher public (also pictured) and, though practically overwhelmed by the brilliance of all of you, really, has managed to settle on a single winner, who, in addition to the hand of Eva Pogner, will receive the complete DVD set of Der […]
La Cieca reminds the cher public that today is the final day of the Bühnenweihfestspielkrieg competition, with the first prize a sparking new copy of the complete Ring cycle on DVD! Put on your thinking tarnhelms and comment!
The Germans have a word for everything except what La Cieca is about to propose, which is why she made up her own Mammutwort for, well, a contest having to do with stage productions, specifically those of Wagner music dramas. (The “consecration” is understood, you see.) The rules and what you can win, after the […]
La Cieca welcomes “the boys” (and girls, too!) to a chat during this afternoon’s broadcast of La fanciulla del West from the Met. The first shot will be fired at 1:00 pm precisely!
“I must say choosing from among these finalists is almost impossible, as there are bits and pieces from each one I like and admire the thought process and the experience each one highlights for us. For me they are all intelligent and quite wonderful— skewed perhaps by their times and what is and is not […]
As La Cieca (pictured, alas) whoops it up somewhere in the vicinity of Lincoln Center tonight, she hopes that you, the cher public, will at least kick off your festivities with a chat during tonight’s Met prima of La traviata, beginning at 7:00 pm. Details after the jump.
A loyal member of the cher public writes: “Very nice performance of Fanciulla last evening. Although I still love Debbie, and am quite willing to see her in anything she does, I think this was the best of the three Fanciullas I’ve seen so far.”
La Cieca wishes a festive and safe (if such a combination is possible) holiday season to all the cher public, who in turn are invited to offer each other such greetings in the comments below.
La Cieca is simply overjoyed to announce a handy and fascinating innovation at parterre.com: The Author Archive Page. Each of your doyenne’s stable of scribes will be assigned his and/or her own unique page where every story under that byline will be easily accessible—as, for example, the many and wondrous reviews of Ercole Farnese. Look […]
Adroit, awesome, autononomous Anne Midgette nominates her Top 10 Classical and Opera Releases of 2010 over at Soundcheck, and, La Cieca thinks to herself, why should Anne have all the fun? What are your favorite opera CDs and DVDs of the year, cher public? (Here are a few reviews to jog your memory.)
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
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