Between the sheets
Ms. Damrau unleashed a Blitzkrieg of charm upon her audience.
diana damrau
A couple of misfits
Diana Damrau and Joseph Calleja presented an uneven program in a lavish setting this weekend in the most recent entry in the Met’s concert series.
Honor and harmony
It’s that time of year again, cher public: the 47th 15th annual announcement of the recipients of the F. Paul Driscoll Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence!
“I am the girl with golden hair”
At last weekend’s Opus Klassik Awards, Diana Damrau sings ABBA (with Juan Diego Flòrez among the backup artists.)
Paris mismatch
La Cieca is almost certain that Diana Damrau will not appear at the Met this fall for La traviata.
Das Süsses Mädel and the Boy from Berlin
Diana Damrau has chosen for her new Erato recital disc Grand Opera 11 high-flying showpieces from ten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer.
‘Ja, ja’ land
We leave behind the Vienna of the 1740s, the time of breeches, fans and white wigs.
A time to ill
“Pretty Yende will sing the role of Elvira in tomorrow evening’s performance of Bellini’s I Puritani, replacing Diana Damrau, who is ill.”
“Something great in itself”
Now we have considered the three “winners” in the Tristan competition, let’s turn to the also-rans, or, to be more optimistic, the runners up.
Der Sommer schauert still seinem Ende entgegen
The first “La Casa della Cieca” chat of the 2016-2017 season features Diana Damrau.
A fire upon the deep
Returning after 99 years for the Met’s annual New Year’s Eve gala, Bizet’s youthful exercise in Orientalia Les Pêcheurs de Perles proved a real crowd-pleaser.
Money on the dresser
“Hailed ‘the Meryl Streep of opera’…” begins one sentence of a promotional piece for a Diana Damrau recording of another opera, reproduced on the soprano’s website.
Here’s Lucy
The breaking news from San Francisco Opera is that Nadine Sierra will sing the title role of in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor, replacing Diana Damrau, who will not.
Protestant movement
La Cieca is sure that Meyerbeer fanatics will be delighted to hear that the Royal Opera House Covent Garden is preparing a new staging of Les Huguenots.
The kids are not all right
“’They’re young… they’re in love… and they kill people’ goes the tagline for the 1968 film Bonnie and Clyde, but the slogan could apply almost as well to the outlaw pair at the center of the Metropolitan Opera’s white-hot revival of Massenet’s Manon.”
Je sens une pure flamme
Our Own JJ‘s take on the Massenet will not appear until next week, but for now you are invited to make do with Zachary Woolfe‘s rave in the New York Times.
Count me in
The legions of New York opera buffs who now can’t talk about anything but Javier Camarena will be happy to know that there’s now a DVD release
of their new favorite tenor in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory available.
The Met: What is to be done?
Coming as Peter Gelb did from the music industry, opera lovers hoped that he would display a more distinctive knack for casting and an improved talent pipeline than Joe Volpe offered during the waning years of his tenure.
“Forever,” darling
Divalicious Diana Damrau sings cuts from her new disc Forever tonight at Le Poisson Rouge, and, you, cher public, can see it livestreamed right here starting at 7:30 PM.
Liebestraum
“Opera can, in fact, be something beautiful and moving even when all a performance has going for it is some really excellent singing.”
A dream walking
The hostile reaction to the Mary Zimmerman production of La sonnambula was well documented after the premiere in 2009.
Blonde, bombshell
So we may all be on the same page as we discuss, following the jump is the video of the December 7 Traviata from La Scala.
Zing went the strings
This DVD
of a Diana Damrau recital (accompanied only by the harpist Xavier de Maistre) is sure to please her legions of fans.
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).