According to Gay City News, our editor JJ loved Angela Gheorghiu‘s Violetta, and he was more than a little enthused about Herr Jonas Kaufmann. Le public have spoken, and they want their video to stream quickly and reliably. So save this bookmark and visit frequently: it’s the parterre box page at Google Video. Here’s a…
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
Fanny Brice burlesques an operatic diva. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-4886971964734781240″ width=”400″ height=”326″ wmode=”transparent” /]
La Cieca is both delighted and heartbroken to announce that, on the occasion of Madame Vera Galupe-Borszkh‘s twentieth Annual Farewell Recital, the celebrated “Traumatic Soprano” will, at long last, take the “F” word literally. Madame Vera will say “addio senza rancor” to New York once and for all when she returns to the Thalia Theatre…
So, this is what La Cieca read on the website of the Italian newspaper Il Mattino: Roberto Alagna . . . sta male a causa di crisi ipoglicemiche e non potrà cantare per almeno tre mesi . . . . A dare la notizia lo stesso cantante accompagnato dalla moglie, il soprano Angela Gheorghiu, che…
La Cieca hears that the Met has promised Renee Fleming a production of Rossini’s Armida in 2010-2011. The five years advance notice should allow plenty of time to complete all the necessary tranpositions to the score, and no doubt the ultra-busy diva is already figuring out how she will balance rehearsals against quality time with…
A double-header of Tony Tommasini delights this weekend in the Times. On Sunday, TT puts on his Captain Obvious hat to ask the musical question, “is it possible that [Nathan] Gunn‘s appearance has drawn attention away from his fine vocal artistry?” You’ll find that story right next to the photograph of Gunn with his shirt…
“She had awakened desire in him, and he had once approached the house of Thais. But he stopped on the threshold of the courtesan’s house, partly restrained by the natural timidity of extreme youth– he was then but fifteen years old– and partly by the fear of being refused on account of his want of…
Too late, I’m afraid, for a holiday gift, but what looks to be the must-have CD of the season has just become available. It’s a “new” Elektra, — actually a release of a live 1990 performance with the Valhalla-level pairing of Dame Gwyneth Jones and Leonie Rysanek as daughter and mother. (This is of course…
Be sure to check back here on parterre.com at noon (17:00 GMT) tomorrow for the First Unnatural Acts of Opera Gala and Quiz, featuring performances by Leontyne Price, Placido Domingo, Beverly Sills, Simon Keenlyside, David Daniels, Regine Crespin, Piero Cappuccilli, Regina Resnik, Diana Soviero and Eleanor Steber. (There will be some filth as well, but…
La Cieca hears that Patti Lupone will make her role debut as Mama Rose in Gypsy next summer at the Ravinia Festival. La Lupone has previously graced the festival’s Sondheim series with her performances of Desiree Armfelt, Fosca, Mrs. Lovett and Cora Hoover Hoople. In the future — perhaps Joanne in Company?UPDATE: La Lupone muses…
The next time you roll your eyes at an operatic plot complication involving mistaken identity, just consider this: Mirella Freni‘s cancellation of her gala peformance of Fedora at the Washington National Opera last month was apparently due to a bungled phone message. According to a WNO insider, La Freni telephoned the company’s main office to…
Beginning tonight on “Unnatural Acts of Opera,” La Cieca presents a potpourri of operatic scenes and arias sung by latter-day stimmdiva Aprile Millo, including selections by Rossini, Verdi, Beethoven , Dvorak and Cilea.
Starting tonight on “Unnatural Acts of Opera,” something of a departure, in more ways that one. To begin with, it’s La Cieca’s first snippet show, featuring individual scenes and arias instead of the more familiar whole acts. The other strange part about this show is that it features the type of singer La Cieca doesn’t…
James Conlon, Régine Crespin, Plácido Domingo, Susan Graham and Dolora Zajick are to be lauded at all-new set of honors, “The Opera News Awards,” the occasion to be marked with cocktails, musical performances and other revelry at the dear Pierre Hotel on November 20. If La Cieca may offer just one teensy opinion (and who’s…
It appears that La Cieca has finally acknowledged that there is more to opera than high-voiced divas: tenors can be pretty amazing as well. As such, we’ve declared Mario del Monaco week at Unnatural Acts of Opera. The celebration begins this evening with the first act of Puccini’s La fanciulla del West, the 1954 Florence…
… down at Carnegie Hall. Or will be, on October 14, when the soprano performs a solo recital at the venerated venue. Details are sketchy at the moment, but La Millo is always good for golden-age tone and demeanor. Diva-fanciers should find themselves either run ragged or in heaven that week (depending on the quality…
It occurred to La Cieca that she might be well advised to listen (with her mind and with her ears?) listen to the music files she’s posting into her podcast “Unnatural Acts of Opera.” Not that there are technical problems with the source materials, oh, no, never that, but rather she thought she could start…
La Cieca’s fingers are trembling as she types these words because she has only just learned that amazing, awesome, authentic Aprile Millo will take on the title role of Leoncavallo’s Zaza for New York’s Teatro Grattacielo this fall. This latest installment in La Millo’s matriculation at the School of Verismo transpires November 12, 2005 at…
La Cieca notices that those lovely people over at Berkshire Record Outlet are offering what might fairly be called a plethora of opera performances on DVD, for just $8.99 a pop. Particularly drool-inducing selections include La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein (Regine Crespin), Lakme (Joan Sutherland), Carmen (Denyce Graves, Roberto Alagna), Un ballo in maschera (Carlo Bergonzi,…
The ineffable Leyla Gencer gives a master class in grandezza in the latest episode of Unnatural Acts of Opera. The diva stars as La Gioconda in a live 1971 performance of Ponchielli’s opera.
At long last, the final act of Bellini’s sublime bel canto masterpiece Norma, with Montserrat Caballe, Gianni Raimondi and Ivo Vinco. A 1974 performance from Moscow, Francesco Mollinari-Pradelli conducting. Plus: a new, user-friendlier web player! Unnatural Acts of Opera
La Cieca hears (from very reliable sources indeed) that one of the first initiatives of the new Peter Gelb regime at the Met will be to build up Angela Gheorghiu into “house diva.” Apparently the new attitude will be “you’re going on, with or without that wig.” Another top-priority item on the Met’s agenda: a…
Did you know Unnatural Acts of Opera is the only all-opera podcast in the whole, uh, podosphere? Even better, this podcast features only live opera performances, preferably demented. Our opera this time is both live and demented, with even a soupcon of backstage drama to add an extra frisson. La Cieca presents the first act…
Those of you who haven’t had the chance to hear the “Oper” section of La Cieca’s podcast of Ariadne auf Naxos should take the time today; starting tonight a new opera will be programmed on the free player. (Both parts of the Ariadne, as well as last week’s Macbeth, will remain available for downloading via…
