le public affair
The cher public have spoken, and their chosen Rossini oeuvre, to be featured on the next Unnatural Acts of Opera, is…
Cher Public
rossini runoff
Here’s a snapshot of the current Unnatural Acts of Opera poll:
godwin’s quiz
The last couple of quizzes have been perhaps not quite challenging enough for you, cher public. The most recent one, for example, you guessed was Luisa Miller almost immediately. So La Cieca has decided to up the ante a bit.
technicolor twaddle tonite!
La Cieca is sure that her cher public will not want to miss Sunday morning’s (4:30 AM) screening of the camp classic Yes, Giorgio. This 1982 crossover attempt by Luciano Pavarotti (from tenor to matinee idol) must have sounded like a good idea at the time, but, fortunately for music lovers, the film flopped mightily, […]
ready for her turban
So La Cieca thinks it’s time to declare this officially: Kiri te Kanawa has become a mean old bat. The downbeat diva, most recently in the headlines for her controversial anti-panty policy, has gone and dished Hayley Westenra, who apparently is a New Zealand popera singer. (Well, to be perfectly fair, “apparently” isn’t so accurate […]
the cieca caucus
Faust (Gounod) Acts 4 and 5 Since our this podcast completes our series of Faust episodes, La Cieca needs to decide which work should be featured next on “Unnatural Acts of Opera.” Your doyenne has narrowed the selection down to five works of maestro Rossini, and now it’s up to you, cher public, to tell […]
cieca’s angels: full throttle
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 […]
al dodicesimo impero
UPDATE: We have a winner! Francesco guesses all 12 divas correctly at 2:09 AM today, narrowly defeating Pedro, who achieved another perfect score only three hours later. Congratulations to both gentlemen. The rest of you may continue to play just for fun, and La Cieca will post the solution to the quiz on Friday. The […]
the top 20
La Cieca is happy to report that you, cher public, have made the Amazon Associates Program a rousing success, generating considerable income for the improvement and expansion of parterre.com. Over the past four months, you have purchased literally hundreds of items, of which the most popular can be seen right after the jump:
regie or reality?
In contrast to some of our former Regie subjects, this production certainly appears to be set realistically in period. So it should be child’s play for you, cher public, to name the opera. (As always, if you know this production, hold your tongue while others guess!)
mud will be flung…
… well, not tonight, actually, but on Saturday afternoon, when La Cieca once more will convene the faithful for a live chat on the topic of the Met broadcast of Manon Lescaut. Now, honestly cher public, how was La Cieca to resist? You’ve already read Our Own JJ‘s reaction to the performances of Karita Mattila […]
valentine
To you, cher public, from your doyenne, via Eleanor Steber. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/9UvBwKHsk8U” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
garden, mary!
La Cieca muses at some length on the audience’s relationship with the audience, but then Diana Soviero demonstrates the point in only a few seconds of singing in the third act of Faust. (Neil Shicoff and Samuel Ramey aren’t exactly slouching either in this 1986 performance.) Faust (Gounod) Act 3
housekeeping
La Cieca urges you in the cher public to register on parterre.com. After the simple registration process, you should remain logged in to the site indefinitely, or anyway until you deliberately log out (see the “meta” section of the menu bar to the left). The advantage of registering is that you will not need to key […]
negative one
La Cieca, being a very girly sort of girl, is not so good at math, so she is asking you, cher public, to help her with this diffy word problem. So, pick up your Number 2 pencils, and begin. According to the New York Times, when you add all these things together: ….burly presence, effortless power and […]
the leggy libertine
As quite a few of the cher public surmised, the most recent Regiequiz depicted a production of Don Giovanni (at the Landestheater Linz, to be precise) featuring barihunk Martin Achrainer as the eponymous erotomaniac: Herr Achrainer has become something of a blogger’s darling of late, featured at Barihunks as well as Our Own site in […]
the past is not forgotten
The entirety of the “old” parterre.com (including over 30,000 comments from you, cher public!) is preserved at the parterre box archive site.
leave it to cleavage
Okay, La Cieca knows a bit about fashion and even a smidge about clothing construction (you should hear her dishing the godets during Project Runway) but she must admit she can’t figure out what the hell Anna Netrebko is wearing here. Did she just take a dip in the pool? Was she performing a nude […]
Norma non mente…
but she can be a little mysterious a times. The cher public averaged seven out of 11 answers correct on our Casta Diva Quiz, with a four-way tie-up for first position. (By which, La Cieca should perhaps add, she means that four contestants had exactly 10 correct answers, not that your doyenne resorted to some […]
Tea with La Cieca
Le cher public have spoken! La Cieca is delighted to have hosted yet another of her popular chat sessions, this one devoted to your choice, this afternoon’s broadcast of La traviata from the Royal Opera.
lazy afternoon
For no particular reason (oh, all right, she wants to try out some new software) La Cieca would like to have a little informal chat with her cher public this afternoon (Saturday) during the broadcast. Oh, but wait a moment! Which broadcast? With all the selections available on internet radio, your doyenne will have to […]
ite sul colle, o publicco!
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/swCCLgzP7Bo” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Here they are, cher public, your Normas. Very special thanks to bodacious Beau for creating both the quiz and the solution! La Cieca received several entries with 10 correct answers, so she’ll announce the winner of the amazon.com gift certificate.
some people can’t even give it away
Okay, the score is tied and nobody has all 11 correct … so far. There are two Normas in the group that seem to defy identification. And so La Cieca has decided to give you a hint, or, in fact, three hints. Listen carefully, cher public. Both the mystery singers were born during the 1960s. […]
Sediziosa voce poco fa
La Cieca was just recalling that soon after she arrived in New York back in 19-mumble-mumble, she screwed up her courage to audition for that most august of impresarios, Ira Siff of La Gran Scena Opera. Back in those days your doyenne thought she had what it took to be a great prima donna (including […]
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
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!
I’ll take the fall
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).
