Long live the Queen!
Happy 95th birthday soprano Leontyne Price.
diva
Serve with caviar and vodka
“It was all surprisingly good? Even the Party Pork, which has you marinate a piece of pork neck in vermouth and steak seasoning. It shouldn’t work, and yet it did.”
Beauty and the ‘Bis’
Maria José Siri gives a historic encore performance of the aria “Io son l’umile ancella” during the March 25 performance of Adriana Lecouvreur at the Ópera de Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.
The vanities of the divas
Maria Callas and Montserrat Caballé are two of the most highly-regarded and esteemed exponents of the great soprano roles in both bel canto and in the operas of Verdi, and their recordings are held as artistic triumphs of the highest order.
Expansion and ostentation
February was a month for diva admiration on parterre box.
Living in the future
What does the opera singer of the future look like?
It’s the operas that got small!
No one ever leaves a star. That’s what makes one a star.
Raspberry bouquet
Lise Davidsen, who makes her role debut tonight as Leonore in Fidelio, is still very early in what appears to be a most promising career.
“Madame is the greatest star of them all”
“What happens when that music no longer comes easily, or when the public’s attention shifts elsewhere?”
Serial duchess
Kathleen Turner will join the cast of Donizetti’s comedy La Fille du Régiment at the Metropolitan Opera February 7–March 2.
Mortal raises veil from before goddess’s face
Anna Netrebko is the greatest performing artist singing opera today. Nobody else comes close; she makes me love her in a way that verges on the erotic.
Something lies beyond the Scene
I was overjoyed by the coincidence that Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival would be presenting Façade.
Chenez turn
Dapper countertenor Ray Chenez is temporarily putting aside the turbans of his operatic career for, well, the turbans of a Broadway diva as he appeals via Indiegogo for funding to record a CD of show tunes.
The queen’s speech
Legendary diva and long-time friend of parterre box Aprile Millo offers a gracious and witty speech in acceptance of the Verdi d’Oro Prize in Busseto.
I’m every diva, it’s all in me
La Cieca, fashion arbiter though she may be, cannot figure out what is going on with this day-to-evening (and then some) look Sonya Yoncheva is flaunting.
d’Arc victory
Tonight’s program at the New York Philharmonic, Arthur Honegger’s massive oratorio dramatique Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher, has been an occasional visitor to the orchestra’s repertoire starting with the performance conducted by Charles Munch in January of 1948.
Ecco un artista!
Just discovered: a Swedish documentary about Birgit Nilsson.
Battle of Broadway
Fall 2015 is the target date for an as yet untitled one-woman show based on the life of Kathleen Battle, scheduled to star Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o.
Divas merrily on high
Cecilia Bartoli and Joyce DiDonato are not the only ladies who have recorded recitals this year featuring music from the 17th and 18th centuries.
“Dispettosetto questo riccio!”
La Cieca supposes that maybe the reason Angela Gheorghiu doesn’t include any music from Manon Lescaut on her new “Homage to Callas” CD is that she can’t quite identify with the character?
Blonde item
“It’s just that it seems rather perverse to have cast such opulent voices and then given them not much to sing…. the role of Anna Nicole would not stretch Danielle de Niese.” Loyal parterrian Jondrytay (not pictured) looked in on the Royal Opera’s Anna Nicole and shared this thoughts on his blog Not So Wunderbar.
Happy Birthday Raina Kabaivanska!
The Bulgarian diva was born December 15, 1934.
Mai più, mai più
This is the way the public used to greet the entrance of a beloved star, and La Cieca is very unhappy to think that she will never hear the like again.
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).
