So, any guesses who’s funding the Tea Party Astroturfing campaign backing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker‘s proposal to strip state workers of collective bargaining rights? La Cieca urges all you opera fans to keep in mind the image of the National Guard called on striking teachers when you are enjoying the ambiance of the Auditorium Formerly…

on February 19, 2011 at 6:11 PM

NYCO benefactor and all around darling David H. Koch is the subject of an infographic detailing his long and distinguished career and that of his nonoperatic sibling Charles. La Cieca suggests you print out a few copies to take on your next trip to Lincoln Center, though she would not think of advising you to…

on January 21, 2011 at 2:02 PM

La Cieca was bcc:ed on this response from a member of the cher public to a request from the New York City Opera. With the permisssion of the author, she is publishing the note here for your discussion.

on November 18, 2010 at 2:56 PM

With the new opera season about to begin in The Venue Formerly Known as The New York State Theater, what better time to recall what else David H. Koch does with his spare billions, i.e., conniving to deprive Americans of affordable healthcare, as well as “to conflate crony capitalism with free enterprise, and free enterprise with…

on October 26, 2010 at 12:43 PM

One of the buildings at Lincoln Center has become infested by a disgusting, blood-sucking parasite. And besides that, the David H. Koch Theater now has bedbugs. [AP] UPDATE: And now, like Beverly Sills and Sam Ramey, the bedbugs have “graduated” to the theater across the plaza. [Wall Street Journal]

on October 14, 2010 at 11:29 AM

David H. Koch, best known here in New York as the guy they named the theater after, is active on other coasts as well. In fact, just this morning it was announced that he (and his brother) have invested ONE MILLION DOLLARS in an effort to overturn a California law “that many hoped would serve…

on September 21, 2010 at 5:32 PM

“It doesn’t fucking matter if he means it, because the dancers need to dance!” No, that’s not, in fact, the refrain of the latest techno hit burning up the dancefloor, but rather society chronicler David Patrick Columbia, talking with Zachary Woolfe about “the web of money, power and ambiguous motives that has for a long…

on September 15, 2010 at 10:52 AM

Congratuations to David H. Koch for a lavish profile in The New Yorker celebrating his social success with Kennedys and Trumps and especially his munificence with artistic and cultural organizations including the New York City Opera!  And further kudos to The New Yorker for noting high up in the article that the publicity-shy philanthropist is…

on August 24, 2010 at 12:43 PM

Hey, remember how New York City Opera threw this big gala last fall to salute the billionaire teabagger, Astroturfer and enemy of Net Neutrality David H. Koch? Now, La Cieca is sure that in the intervening months you have been asking yourself, “What could NYCO possibly do to top this ill-advised exaltation of someone who…

on February 22, 2010 at 10:25 PM

Oh, La Cieca just hates herself when she get a detail wrong. It seems that languid wunderkind Rufus Wainwright will not be performing his hit aria “Les feux d’artifice” at the gala opening of the New York City Opera saluting noted teabagger David H. Koch. The air will be performed by an actual operatic soprano,…

on October 13, 2009 at 8:20 AM

Billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne  David H. Koch, slated to be celebrated for his boons to humanity at the November 5 “American Voices” gala by the New York City Opera,  is namechecked in this month’s Rolling Stone. The article, “The Lie Machine,” details how this summer’s “spontaneous” demonstrations against health care reform “were tightly orchestrated from the top down…

on September 29, 2009 at 2:16 PM

Today, September 12, thousands of protesters opposed to health care reform marched in Washington and elsewhere, carrying signs like the ones pictured above.  This “9/12 Project” is brought to you in part by Americans for Prosperity, which you will all recall is headed by David H. Koch, the billionaire who is to be honored at…

on September 12, 2009 at 8:23 PM

La Cieca is delighted to learn that “the New York City Opera and the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO, have reached agreement on a new collective bargaining contract, helping to ensure City Opera’s continuing place in the forefront of American opera,” according to a press release from the NYCO. Since Alan Gordon and George…

on August 21, 2009 at 12:27 PM